Maryland coach Gary Williams wants to try to salvage something from one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory when the Terrapins play at Minnesota tonight in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
“We’re trying to win the game,” he said. “If we can use some guys, great, but I owe it to the team to try to win. We finished tied for fifth in the ACC, so we don’t have our tail between our legs or anything like that.”
The fifth-seeded Terrapins (18-14) visit the fourth-seeded Golden Gophers (20-13) at Williams Arena at 9:30 in front of a national television audience on ESPN. It’s the third time in four years the Terrapins are playing in the second-tier tournament composed of 32 teams that were not selected for the NCAA tournament. Maryland is 10-5 all-time in the NIT, including winning the title in 1972.
The Terrapins didn’t envision playing in the NIT just a few weeks ago, when they were 17-9 overall and 7-4 in league play before suffering a major collapse in which they lost four of their final five games.
But still, Williams doesn’t understand why the Atlantic Coast Conference, which boasts the country’s top Ratings Percentage Index, has just four teams in the NCAA tournament.
“From their standpoint, your league RPI doesn’t mean anything,” Williams said. “I think the one thing our league was this year was competitive, top to bottom. What they’re saying is, that doesn’t matter. It’s what you do in December and against outside competition.”
Williams did not make any of his players available to the media.
Maryland’s non-conference schedule won’t be easier next year. Aside from a Big Ten-ACC Challenge game, the Terrapins are tentatively scheduled to face Gonzaga and Arizona before conference play begins.
But as Maryland’s fans are distraught with the culmination of their team’s season, Minnesota’s fans are ecstatic their team made a postseason tournament a year after going 9-22.
The Golden Gophers, who are coached by St. Mary’s County native Tubby Smith, advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament before falling to Illinois, 54-50. The Gophers are led by senior guard Lawrence McKenzie (12.2 ppg) and senior forward Dan Coleman (11.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
“Tubby is a proven winner,” Williams said. “Wherever he’s been, he’s won. He won a national championship [at Kentucky in 1998]. I think he’s excited. It’s nice having people saying nice things about you instead of killing you all the time, and he was in that [situation] in Kentucky. People can say it doesn’t bother you, but it bothers you.”
