The biggest game of the season...

Greetings and welcome to the Joel for tonight's game between Wake Forest and Maryland.

This should be a very different game to what we saw back in mid-January, as both teams have grown up a great deal in the past 45 days. Think about how much Jeff Teague has progressed week-by-week... it's fair to say the Teague-Vasquez matchup could be different this time around.

Both the Deacs and the Terps have had their share of ups and downs. Either can play with the best in the nation(wins over Duke and UNC). They also can look bad against weak competition(Georgia and Ohio).

After the UNC game, many Wake players talked about how they NEED to win the last 4 to guarantee themselves an NCAA bid. With Miami and Virginia Tech's re-emergence into the postseason discussion, this has become a late-season reality. Wake is a half-decent final 10 minutes against GT away from having one of the longest home winning streaks in the country, and utilizing the home-court advantage tonight is essential if the Deacs have serious aspirations over the next couple weeks.

Couple keys to the game:
First and foremost, get a body on Bambale Osby. I really believe this game is gonna come down to McFarland and Skeen keeping Osby off the glass. He absolutely abused the Deacs in this area in College Park. Good news is that his hair his corn-rowed, so there's no intimidating afro to contend with.

Secondly, Wake cannot waste possessions. This mostly boils down to Ish. If Ish finds himself dribbling 30 feet from the basket with 8 seconds on the shot clock multiple times tonight, the Deacs are in trouble.

Referees for tonight's showdown are Jamie Luckie, Bryan Kersey, and Ray Natili. Tip scheduled for just after 8PM.

Thanks to Zach for giving me a chance to share some thoughts. Hope you check back throughout the ballgame.