Terrapin Kieran
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    Kieran Leary, who created a big-time stir on this website during the 2000-2001 school year by creating the "Juanny Wagz" character (and several others -- Jim "Father of the Millenium" Nally), is now a freshman at Maryland, majoring in journalism (Lord help us -- smile). Several "Philly Boyz" are playing for squads down that way and Kieran has agreed to file occasional reports. (Kieran played for McDevitt in our basketball Fan Tourney. He impressively rained down some long bombs.)
    You may reach him at kieranleary@hotmail.com.

NOV. 24
Maryland 77, Delaware State 53
   This one wasn't supposed to be much of a contest and it wasn't. But me and my favorite sidekick Mike Morak didn't make the three hour drive from Philadelphia to College Park, MD to see a competitive game. We went to see two Philly guys, Miles Davis, from Dobbins and later Philadelphia Christian Academy, and Isaiah Nathaniel, from Central, play against one of the top college basketball teams in the country. I don't know Miles personally, but me and Mike both know "Zeke" pretty well since we all played at Mallery Recreation Center together.
   Delaware State put up more of a fight than expected. They stalled for the majority of the game, which frustrated the Terps. It was evident that it wasn't going to be the most entertaining of games. Miles, a 5-5 sophomore guard, is a starter for Delaware State and is the MEAC's returning freshman of the year. He put up 6 points and 5 assist a game last year. Against Maryland, Davis got off to a good start and didn't look rattled. However, after a half, the Maryland players and fans seemed to start getting to him. Miles is a very vocal player and plays hard and it seems that the Terp team took offense to that. On one play early in the second half, Terp PF Tahj Holden pushed Miles to the ground and Miles got up and threw an elbow at Terps SF Byron Mouton. The same posession, Maryland PG Steve Blake purposely tripped Miles, slightly injuring him. That was a delight to Mouton who ran over to Blake and gave him a chest bump for his dirty play. The fans chanted "Webster" at Miles, referring to the diminutive and ridiculous sitcom star of the 80s. Miles put up with the abuse and still registered 6 points and 3 assists in 36 minutes. One of his buckets came on a sick crossover on Blake followed by a lofting Iverson-like shot over Holden. I think the Maryland fans may not have liked Davis, but they respected his play.
    Isaiah is a 6-5 sophomore small forward/shooting guard who Delaware State has playing out of position at backup power forward due to their lack of height. He saw 9 minutes in the Maryland game, missing both of his shots. He would have seen more time if not for spraining his ankle early in the second half. While in the game Isaiah looked a little timid to shoot the three, a shot he definately will put up in the next couple years. He had a great crossover where he completely lost Terp C Lonny Baxter but PF Chris Wilcox sent the shot out of bounds. Isaiah was not afraid to mix it up down low with Maryland big men Wilcox and Baxter. He had a couple boards in the game and kept several other balls alive. He played very hard and looks like he'll be the 6th man this year for Delaware State. He didn't play in their next game against Old Dominion. Hopefully Isaiah will only be out a few games before coming back.