Fifteen times. In 130 career games at Mount St. Joseph, senior Dino Gregory has lost just 15 times.
That trait ? the 6-foot-7 forward?s ability to win ? is possibly the most important one he?ll take with him when he goes to College Park this summer to join the University of Maryland basketball team.
“He?s used to winning and used to winning at a high level,” Mount St. Joseph coach Pat Clatchey said. “No matter where you play, you can never have enough guys on your roster that know how to win and have won.”
This season, Gregory has taken the helm of a young Gaels squad and steered them to a 16-4 start, heading into a weekend that includes Saturday night?s televised game with St. John?s of Washington, D.C., at American University.
After playing with the likes of current George Mason University standouts Will Thomas and Louis Birdsong, Gregory is now the big man on campus.
“It?s a big change ? a lot of new faces,” Gregory said. “And towards the end of games, people look towards me. It?s different.”
Gregory has embraced that role. He?s averaging a double-double and possesses a strong basic skill set that has room to improve.
“I think Dino has vastly improved himself from last year to this year,” said Baltimore Catholic League commissioner Jack Degele. “He has much more of an outside presence. He can face the basket and put the ball on the floor now going to the basket.”
More importantly, Degele said, Gregory wants to improve. Maryland coach Gary Williams and his staff saw that talent and desire early and had Gregory committed to Maryland before he had even played a game in his junior season.
But his improvement can be dated back to his freshman season, when a wiry Gregory, whom Clatchey described as a “gangly colt,” was challenged in practice every day by Thomas.
“It helped me out a lot,” Gregory said. “I?m a lot tougher than I was. Just watching how hardhe practiced every day, it showed me [what it takes].”
Clatchey described Gregory as an athletic power forward with the skills of a wing player. That?s the type of role that Gregory expects to play for the Terrapins, who feature a freshman backcourt this season. Those freshmen, Eric Hayes and Greivis Vasquez, share a common trait with Gregory ? the capacity to work hard.
“They talk about the same things I talk about all the time,” Gregory said.
Because of his background, Gregory should have no trouble fitting in at Comcast Center.
“He?s played in front of big crowds, in championship games,” Clatchey said. “Going to college will always be an adjustment, but I think his transition will be a little smoother than most.”
