There's obviously plenty of nuggets and angles left over from Maryland's loss on Sunday, and maybe the most salient thing to look at the use of reserves Adrian Bowie and Jerome Burney that night (and in the case of Burney, other nights as well).

It comes as little surprise Bowie would have his best outing in more than enough against Clemson. His slashing style is perfectly suited to facing a team willing to extend its defense in the full court at the cost of giving up opportunities at the other end. The freshman didn't miss any of his six shots from the floor and tied a career-high with 12 points.

So why was he on the bench at the end, beyond simply parroting a line about being loyal to veterans like Eric Hayes? Maryland wasn't going to try to get into an up-tempo game in the closing minutes, and Bowie isn't exactly a great halfcourt option at this point. Even with Hayes struggling, it was smarter to have his perimeter (and free throw) shooting on the floor as an option.

The case of Burney is more befuddling. The genial redshirt freshman had six points, four blocks, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes, the third straight game Burney has provided a positive boost as the top frontcourt backup. But even as Bambale Osby suffered through another quiet night (just three points and a rebound in the second half), Burney was not deployed in the end game.

His activity over three games --- and willingness to aggressively do anything, even if it leads to a foul --- makes it even more confusing why he didn't see the floor for seven weeks. There's no practice observations to work with, but Burney was impressive in an early victory over Illinois and come up with some crazy blocks and dunks over the last three games.

Some numbers to consider: Burney has six blocks in ACC games this season, while WND (Shane Walker-Dave Neal-Braxton Dupree) have three.

Burney has 12 points in 44 minutes. WND have 34 points in 225 minutes.

Burney has 10 rebounds in 44 minutes. WND have 35 rebounds in 225 minutes.

You don't have to be good at math to realize Burney has provided a more efficient option. And yet he toiled at the end of the bench for almost two months for a team desperate for a backup forward who could both rebound effectively at one end and catch a pass and then go up for a layup/dunk at the other.

It's a real puzzler, and one of those things fans probably were out in front of the media on. From talking to Burney a few times during his PT drought, he never gave an indication there was anything in particular causing his situation and insisted he just had to be ready whenever he was called upon.

So he was. But it's still a mystery why he wasn't deployed sooner by Williams, who provided some replies in bland coachspeak whenever the topic of Burney came up in January and much of February.

Gary's taken some heat this season for various things. In some of those situations, his hands were tied (Really, who else on that roster is going to create a lot of scoring opportunities at point guard besides Greivis Vasquez? Really, what else was there to do other than handle some growing pains early on with Landon Milbourne at the three?)

But given the evidence both early in the season and of late, it's hard to make sense of where Burney was all season when the Terps could have used someone to capably spell James Gist and Osby.

--- Patrick Stevens