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The back-to-back ACC Player of the Year, Alyssa Thomas, will be linking with SLAMonline throughout the season, as her eighth-ranked Maryland Terrapins aim to reach the Final Four. Her first entry spans the Terps’ the first three games of the ’13-14 season—including a disappointing loss to defending champion UConn. But the Pennsylvania native is already looking toward the team’s next challenge. Catch the diary below for exclusive info on the team’s journey and their shoutout from the President and First Lady.—Ed.
by Alyssa Thomas / @athomas_25
This year has already been action-packed for us, and we’re only three games in. We started off at USF, who went to the NCAA Tournament last year, and we all struggled with the new rules and foul calls. I got in some foul trouble and spent most of the game in my least favorite place ever—the bench. We were all really proud of our freshmen and teammates coming back from injuries to step up and hold off USF. It was really great to see that we have players who can take over and make plays when it matters most.
I’m sure most of the basketball world saw our game against UConn on Friday. Not the result we wanted or expected, but I do think there were positives to take away from it. We are only three games in and as Coach B said beforehand, this game would not make or break our season, no matter which way it went. I think we saw things we definitely need to work on and we saw things that worked for us too.
I think the bottom line for us right now is to blend everyone together and take care of business on the court. We have so many options and so many people who are great enough to help us be where we want to be. It’s so awesome to see previously injured teammates back and ready to contribute like we all know they can.
We had something really cool happen to us this week. President Obama and the First Family came to Comcast Center to see our men’s team play Oregon State Sunday night. We had Secret Service men around all week scoping things out. We were told that they might use our locker room and team lounge for a private VIP meet and greet with the President. The President and the First Lady both left us notes! (Check out the gallery above—Ed.) So cool to find that Monday morning. It’s really neat to live so close to, DC and how many people can say the Obamas came to their locker room?
We’re all looking forward to our trip to Puerto Rico next week over Thanksgiving and closing out November strong!
