Maryland is focusing on ACCs, not NCAAs
Don’t ask the Maryland Terrapins what the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament means in terms of seeding for the NCAA Tournament. At the moment, they don’t care.
As Maryland (23-7) prepares for an ACC quarterfinal game Friday, the Terps are focused solely on the proceedings this weekend at Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.
“All year I haven’t worried about any of that [NCAA] stuff. I’m not going to worry about it now,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “We’re No. 2 in the ACC. That’s the only seed I’m worried about.”
Maryland arrived in Greensboro on Wednesday afternoon and practiced at the Coliseum at 7 p.m. The Terps will watch Thursday night’s game between Georgia Tech (19-11) and North Carolina (16-15) with interest. They will play the winner at 7 p.m. Friday.
No team comes into the ACC Tournament hotter than Maryland, which has won seven straight. On the day he was named ACC Player of the Year, however, Greivis Vasquez was quick to point out that the Terps’ streak is no predictor of tournament success.
The 6-foot-6 senior remembered his freshman year, when the Terps entered the tournament on a seven-game streak (which included a pair of wins over Duke) but lost in the opening round to a last-place Miami squad that had an 11-19 record and dressed only eight scholarship players.
“We have a tremendous amount of confidence. We’re playing great as a team. But we’re still humble,” Vasquez said. “We know what we have ahead of us is unbelievably tough. So in order to keep winning, we have to work hard.”
When Maryland takes the court Friday, it will be after six days off. Williams didn’t sound concerned about the Terps losing their momentum, saying he and his team needed the rest.
Maryland appeared fatigued in the second half of a 74-68 win Saturday at Virginia, where they saw a 14-point second-half lead shrink to one.
“The guys on the team were pretty worn down,” Landon Milbourne said. “We needed a little bit of time to step back, enjoy the wins, but use this to get our energy back and our legs back.”
The break gave Williams an opportunity to examine the Terps’ most recent games and make some adjustments.
A tournament title would make Maryland the first non-North Carolina school to win more than three. In fact, Maryland’s championship in 2004 is the only title for a team outside of that state since Georgia Tech won in 1993.
Duke (17), North Carolina (17), N.C. State (10) and Wake Forest (four) have combined to win 48 of the 56 championships. Clemson, Boston College, Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech have never won the tournament.
Now it is time to see whether Vasquez & Co. can deliver Williams his second ACC tournament title.
“We set our goals at the beginning of the year,” Milbourne said. “It’s just a matter of going out and accomplishing it. Our next goal is to win an ACC championship. We have to go out there and play like we’ve been playing.”
Williams believes his team will not look ahead.
“So many things can happen depending on this week, how it goes, who wins, who loses. We can’t get caught up in that. That’s gonna be there Sunday,” Williams said. “We’ll take whatever we get [in the NCAAs] and go fight.”
