No. 2 Maryland Expects To Finish No. 1
11/7/2001 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2001
By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Getting into the NCAA tournament is a given. Merely returning to the Final Four won't be good enough.
Coming off its initial Final Four appearance and ranked second in the nation behind Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke, the Maryland Terrapins have one overriding goal this season: winning the national championship.
With four starters back from last season's 25-11 team, including All-ACC stars Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon, extending the school-record run of NCAA tournament appearances to nine is virtually assured.
"In football, you get to a bowl game and you're happy. For us, it's not an accomplishment anymore to get to the tournament. You have to win it," coach Gary Williams said.
Nothing less will do. Last season, Williams took the Terrapins where no Maryland team had gone before. In the process, he silenced those who complained about his inability to get past the round of 16.
After a stretch of five losses in six games, the Terrapins went 10-2 the rest of the way, capturing the West Region before falling to Duke 95-84 in the NCAA semifinal round. Now, Williams must deal with the pressure that comes with making a run at winning it all.
Bring it on.
"That's fine. Very few schools have those expectations," said Williams, one of only five NCAA coaches coming off three straight 25-win seasons. "You work hard to get those expectations. Anybody we play against who's ranked has those same expectations."
It all begins Thursday night at Madison Square Garden against NCAA finalist Arizona in the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic.
"We're nowhere near where we're going to get to this year if we expect to be a good team," Williams said.
Yet, because of their experience, the Terrapins should already be close to midseason form. Starters Baxter, Dixon and small forward Byron Mouton are seniors, and point guard Steve Blake and Tahj Holden are juniors. The deep bench includes junior guards Drew Nicholas and Calvin McCall and forward Chris Wilcox, who played in 34 games as a freshman last season.
"We've got four returning starters, guys who have been together for a long time," Blake said. "We've already got a lot of plays in, so I think we do have a little advantage."
Although Maryland lost starting forward Terence Morris, who averaged 12 points and eight rebounds last season, Holden and Wilcox form a capable 1-2 punch at the position.
If Holden and Wilcox, both of whom are 6-foot-10, provide rebounding help to Baxter, then the frontcourt will be sound.
There's no question about the backcourt. Dixon, who led the team with in scoring (18.2 average) and steals (2.6) last season, is one of the finest shooting guards in the country. Blake had a school-record 248 assists last season and in on pace to become only the fourth college player to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 assists over his career.
"Steve Blake has done everything you can ask a point guard to do," Williams said.
Now he's being asked to bring the Terrapins their first NCAA title.
"We're not even thinking about that stuff. We're just looking forward to playing Arizona," Blake said. "We have to put the Final Four behind us and look forward to the next NCAA tournament."
