Hard to believe it's been thirteen years since the Ole Miss Rebels have won a first round game in the NCAA tournament, but it's true. The win over TCU (88-74) on Sunday gave reason for that celebration alone but the cherry on the sunday was the fact that this also marked the Rebel's highest scoring game in tournament history. Armintie Price scored 21 points as the team scored 39 points off 23 TCU turnovers. Ole Miss averages 13.7 steals per game thanks in large part to Price. "I love taking the ball away from people," said Price. "That's how we get our points on the board is defense."  Armintie leads the nation in steals (3.8 per game) and needs only seven more to join Cheryl Miller.

Fear the Turtle ...The Terps took a chunk out of the Rebels in November when they beat them by a score of 110-79.  But even Maryland guard Shay Doron expects this to be a tougher test.  "We've got to make sure that their athleticism doesn't make us turn the ball over as much, and offensive rebound and just do what we do best," Doron said.  Echoing that sentiment, Coach Brenda Frese said that Ole Miss "really likes to get out and trap and pressure you.  We're just going to have to be really sharp and fundamentally sound with the basketball." 

This game is sure to be a foot race as both teams enjoy a rapid pace on the court.  The question for Ole Miss will be whether they can continue to force turnovers, an achilles heel of Maryland.  In their November meeting, the Terps had 26 turnovers yielding 39 points to the Rebels.  If they can keep up that defensive pressure, they could just take a bite out of the Terps this time around.  But don't be fooled, Maryland has prepared itself quite well for this game having played both North Carolina and Georgia Tech during the regular season.  "We love to run," Coach Frese said. "I like the fact that our conference prepares us for games like this. . . . As long as we're in an attack mode and we're playing with confidence, good things are going to happen for this team.

Regardless of the outcome, this should be a highly competitive match-up and quite enjoyable to watch.  If Ole Miss grabs those rebounds and continues to steal the ball, the next popular phrase could be "Fear the Rebels".