Maryland is back in the NCAA Tournament. Maybe back in the Final Four hunt as a possible No. 4 seed.
As the Terrapins finish the regular season on Saturday versus N.C. State, coach Gary Williams doesn’t have a told-you-so on his lips. He doesn’t need it. The recent resume still reads 2002 national champions, two Final Fours, the 2004 ACC Tournament crown and a 2003 Sweet 16. Missing the last two NCAAs after an 11-year run doesn’t define his program as a loser.
“We haven’t gone anywhere. That’s other people saying that. In my mind, we’ve gone nowhere,” Williams said. “We’ve been 19 wins, .500 record in the league last year, winning an ACC Tournament game. We haven’t gone anywhere.”
Well, not exactly. The No. 24 Terps (23-7, 9-6 ACC) needed an amazing six-game winning streak to turnaround a midseason slump. Really, this season was a roller coaster with a 14-2 start bumping expectations sky high before a 3-6 ACC start left them for dead. Many fans dreaded a third straight NIT. A few openly pondered Williams’ future.
But Williams didn’t become Maryland’s career leader in victories (376) with 10 20-win seasons by listening to fair-weather fans. He managed to mature two freshmen guards and an underperforming senior class into a remarkable 5-0 run over North Carolina teams.
“We had to shut out some bad stuff for awhile,” Williams said, “but now people are saying nice things. Everybody likes to hear nice things said about you, but the way to handle that is to remember when people said bad things about you.”
Senior guard D.J. Strawberry exemplifies the Terps’ comeback. His ankle injury contributed to the team’s 2005 collapse. However, the senior plays his final game at Comcast Center holding two straight ACC Player of the Week awards and possibly a third for leading the 85-77 victory over Duke on Wednesday.
Strawberry and fellow seniors Mike Jones and Ekene Ibekwe along with Will Bowers are finally fulfilling expectations as one of the early recruiting classes following the national title. How far they go into March Madness is nearly irrelevant compared to not exiting with three straight misses that would have made them a memorable bust.
“We kind of took that for granted when we came here thinking we would be in the tournament every year and people would give us stuff,” Strawberry said. “But we’ve had to take everything. Now we’re just looking to play whoever in the tournament.”
“Whoever” better watch out.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
