Terps Tabbed As Nation's No. 4 Men's Basketball Team For 2000-2001 Season
4/6/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 6, 2000
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland men's basketball team has been tabbed as the No. 4 team in the nation in an early 2000-2001 pre-season poll by ABC-ESPN analyst Dick Vitale. Vitale's pre-season poll appeared in the April 5 edition of the USA Today newspaper.
Maryland returns all five starters including its top 10 scores and rebounders from its 1999-2000 team that won 25 games and finished second in the ACC. Sophomores Juan Dixon (Baltimore, Md.) and Lonny Baxter (Silver Spring, Md.) earned All-ACC first-team honors, junior Terence Morris (Frederick, Md.) was an All-America honorable mention selection and freshman Steve Blake (Miami Lakes, Fla.) earned All-ACC honorable mention honors.
Vitale says: "I have a feeling that next season's edition (of the Maryland Terrapins) will be really special. Gary Williams has five starters back, including 6-9 Terence Morris, who passed on the option of joining the NBA. Add an all-Marco polo transfer stalwart from Tulane, Byron Mouton (Rayne, La.), who has an abundance of offensive skills."
Dixon, also an honorable mention All-America selection, ranked second in the ACC in scoring and first in steals this past season. Baxter led the team and was ranked second in the ACC with a career-high 8.8 rebounds per game average. Blake established a Terp freshman record for assists with (217). The Terps' fifth returning starter is sophomore Danny Miller (Mt. Holly, N.J.) who averaged a career-high 8.5 points per game.
Morris (Frederick, Md.) enjoyed a terrific season as he averaged a career-high 15.8 points and a career-high 8.6 rebounds. He has earned All-America honorable mention honors twice during his career and is a two-time All-ACC selection. Morris, a finalist for the Naismith Award, recorded a career-high 12 double-doubles during the season to rank tied for second in the ACC. He also ranked third in rebounds (8.6 rpg), fourth in blocks (2.1), sixth in field goal percentage (49.6%), sixth in free throw percentage (76.1%), seventh in scoring (15.8 ppg), and 10th in steals (1.6 spg) in conference statistics.
Dick Vitale's Pre-season Top 5 1. Duke 2. Arizona 3. Florida 4. Maryland 5. Stanford
