GaTech Also Likes To Press

Maryland isn't the only ACC squad who's ability to operate effective pressure defense will go a long way towards determining its success this conference season. Georgia Tech likes to hassle its opponents as well, and it would seem freshman guard Nick Foreman (6-foot-3, 197 lbs.) is one of the keys to the Yellow Jackets' aggressiveness.

Foreman, a walk-on, came to Georgia Tech for its biomedical engineering program and eventually will head off to med school. Meantime, he's using the tricks and fundamentals he learned from his father -- former Harlem Globetrotter Willie "Skyy" Foreman -- to help provide the Yellow Jackets a boost off the bench.

"He’s a really, really smart basketball player,” Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt told the AJC. “You just don’t expect a walk-on to come into your program and be that sound defensively and that tough.”

One of the elements of today's game worth keeping track of is which team snaps first under the pressure of each other's defense. While the Terps employ such defensive schemes themselves, they have not had to face intense pressure that mirrors their own on too many occassions this season. It will be interesting to see how they respond.