Snap Judgments From Maryland Basketball's First Three Games .

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This is what the style of the mail says it is. We're three games in against bad teams. We've seenone semi-convincing blowout of a bad team, asqueaker over a decent team, and aseriously convincing blowout over a bad team. Let's not get carried away.

It's light to get up on bad teams, and these games may or may not imply anything at all.

That's said, it's a Monday morning. I'm working, you're probably working, and if aught else this is all right for some discussion and pass the sentence with some talk. DISCLAIMER: EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IT'S TOO EARLY TO Take FINAL JUDGMENTS. (That said, we have learned a small bit about Maryland's players, so there is about accuracy in apiece of these).

Onwards:

• Jordan Williams is beastly. That's three double-doubles in his first three games and five straight if you admit the two NCAAT games from last year. He's averaging 22 and 15. He's not perfect - still not as athletic as he could be, still form of awkward in the post - and those weaknesses will get exposed by some of Maryland's better opponents. He's not the character of guy that will have over an ACC game by himself and isn't a saint of athleticism. But he is by far Maryland's best actor and the most productive big man they've had since Lonny Baxter, and maybe even farther than that. He runs hard down the story to get easy buckets, still has awesome hands, knows how to use his body, and has a surprising knack for scoring no matter how wretched the points are. He will be, in short, a double-double machine this year.

• Cliff Tucker has made the leap. I'm stopping short of declaring him Maryland's second-best player just yet, but he's not far off. After a solid, if unspectacular, game against Seattle, Tucker's had two awesome outings against CofC and Maine. He closed down Andrew Goudelock, which might be the biggest reason Maryland got out of that back with a win, and pitched in four steals against Maine. He was Maryland's best perimeter scorer in both of those games, and had 16 first half points - including four three pointers, making him the only consistent deep shooter of the team so far - against Maine, where he was outstanding. If he can support this up, Maryland has a fairly high ceiling.
• Sean Mosley hasn't. I'm not panicking yet, but this was the moment really bad game out of Mosley. He was heavy against Seattle and led Maryland in points, but looked distracted and lazy against CofC and couldn't see the story against Maine. He's been hesitant with the ball, and yet when he hasn't been he's lost the shot. I'm not certain if he's only in a rut, if he's struggling to witness his character on the team, or if he's just not taking kindly to the "top scorer" role, but it hasn't been working two games in. It inevitably to.
• Maryland's very favourable to have Pe'Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin. Neither see like legitimate stars in their careers yet, but both are real effective and very advanced. My memory's a little spotty, but they're similar to where Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes were at the same point. Neither Vas nor Hayes played with almost as much court awareness, level-headedness, confidence (well, Vas did there), or scoring ability so early in their career. They will get major minutes this year, and the fact that both can meet the 1 or the 2 gives Gary Williams some flexibility in his lineups. (And yeah, I got done that whole matter without mentioning The Pe'Shot).
• Adrian Bowie isn't going to go quietly. Howard and Stoglin are both making major pushes for minutes and perhaps even a starting spot. Bowie's two rough performances at the beginning of the year - barely on the story against Seattle, plus a lot of turnovers, then getting passed-by by Howard against CofC - were partly made-up for with a big game against Maine. His statline was positively Rondo-lite: 9 points, 3-3 from the field, 8 boards, 5 assists, and, most importantly, 0 turnovers. One good game doesn't rub the two bad ones off the board, but Bowie will get a lot of time to establish his face to support his job.
• The 3rd best newcomer, behind Howard and Stogs, is Haukur Palsson. (And he's followed by Berend Weijs). This has more to do with the want of PT from Mychal Parker and Ashton Pankey than awesome play from Hawk or Berend, but they've been fine in their own right. Palsson has the voltage to be really sound and his outside shooting, if it arrives, will be crucial. If aught else, he'll give Maryland a minor scoring presence, quality defense, okay rebounding, a lot of hustle, and a few dozen minutes off the bench. Weijs gets the adjacent spot by default; Parker and Pankey have been rooted out of the playing time spectrum and are distinctly not yet where Gary wants them to be.
• Terps still want a consistent outside shooter/perimeter scorer. Cliff Tucker shooting 4-6 in one game doesn't work all of Maryland's problems here. There's still no clear-cut replacement for Eric Hayes, as Tucker hasn't been a force (yet) and everyone else has been inconsistent. This will be key as the season goes on, as Jordan Williams will pull more and more double-teams, meaning open threes for whoever can take them. Palsson? Stogs? Bowie? They each accept the potentiality to serve out, but they want to express it before I'm a believer.
• There are a lot of awesome nicknames here. MVPe'. The Pe'Shot. The Red Berend. Hawk. Stogs. The Flying Dutchman. The Iceman. J-Wow. Currently accepting applicants for more.

What are your snap judgments? The like as mine? Different? Let 'em rip.