There’s no crying in baseball, but a few whimpers were heard in the Maryland women’s basketball locker room yesterday.
It was feeding time for Markus and Tyler, the five-week-old twins of coach Brenda Frese. Husband Mark Thomas and two staffers took turns feeding them while Brenda Frese talked to the media. The top-seeded Terrapins meet eighth-seeded Nebraska tonight in the NCAA Tournament’s second round at Comcast Center and Frese’s life remains as frantic as ever.
“The last five weeks has been a whirlwind, but it’s been amazing,” Frese said. “You can’t plan for everything, but having a system in place is critical. To lean on as much support as you canis important when balancing twins and a season.”
The Terps (31-3) haven’t missed Frese too much, but she also hasn’t been too far away. The 2006 national champions are now only sans one starter from that title team so it has been a long time together for a very good squad. That familiarity helped Frese balance life between the monumental tasks of giving birth to twins during a season and still leading one of the nation’s elite teams.
“When you have moments of time with the children, I’m able to do that. I’m [also] able to keep my focus on the team and the season,” Frese said. “When the season ends I’ll spend more family time. I understand the different paces.”
Frese feels “human” again now that her sons sleep three to four hours straight at night. It was her team’s poor outing on Sunday — when the Terps barely escaped 16th-seed Coppin State, 80-66 — that probably caused the some late-night anxiety.
Eliminated in the NCAA second round last year, Maryland endured second-guessing over whether the Terps were too complacent with a title on their resume. They finished second in the ACC regular season this season before losing the conference tournament semifinal. They haven’t quite proven to be the same championship team of two years ago and barely beating a 16th seed didn’t quiet second-guessers.
“I was disappointed,” said Frese of the first half versus Coppin State. “I thought we had a great spark to start the game and then got a little lulled to sleep and lost some of our focus. The way we dominated the second half, we gained some momentum going into the next game.
“We’ve faced this for two years in terms of getting every team’s best shot. It isn’t the same team, it isn’t the same season and that’s why it will be a different outcome. This team isn’t worried about a year ago.”
Whether the season ends tonight or the national final on April 8, the offseason will give Frese a respite to completely concentrate on her family. For a few weeks, maybe. OK, not really. She’s a workaholic. Babies and basketball are shared passions.
“You can’t completely forget about your job,” Frese said. “If you don’t work you’re not going to be successful.”
The whirlwind will blow … forever.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected]
