June 26, 2002

NEW YORK, N.Y. - At Madison Square Garden, Maryland forward Chris Wilcox was selected with the eighth overall pick of the 2002 National Basketball Association draft, making him just the fifth NBA lottery pick in Terrapin history. An All-ACC third team selection and a member of the all-tournament team at the NCAA Final Four while leading the Terps to the 2002 NCAA championship, Wilcox was a first round selection of the LA Clippers.

Wilcox, a 6-10 power forward with sensational athletic skills and seemingly unlimited potential, joins former Terps Steve Francis (2nd pick in 1999), Joe Smith (1st in 1995), Walt Williams (7th in 1992) and Len Bias (2nd in 1986) as the only lottery picks in Maryland history.

Overall, Maryland joins Duke (10), North Carolina (8), Michigan (7), Arizona (5), Georgetown (5), Kentucky (5) and UNLV (5) as the only college programs with five lottery picks in their schools' histories, since the draft lottery was instituted in 1985.

Wilcox averaged 12.0 points and 7.1 rebounds through 36 games and 26 starts during his sophomore season at Maryland. He averaged 13.3 points and 7.8 rebounds through 16 games in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is the sixth player coached by Gary Williams ever to be chosen in the NBA draft lottery.

Said Williams about Wilcox, "Chris' potential is unmatched in this year's draft. He's 19 years old and has a tremendous topside. He's got that prototype NBA body that everybody looks for. He's that 6-9 or 6-10 guy that can run and jump as well as any player that plays his position. He's got great physical attributes that separate him from many players. And his leaping ability is excellent. And he's gotten better, too. In the two years he was here, he really improved his game. Being that he's young, there is no reason that his improvement won't continue to happen. His development as a shooter was just starting to happen at the end of this year. I think he was very similar to Joe Smith who was the college player of the year here as a sophomore in 1995. Joe was probably a better shooter than Chris when he left here as a sophomore, but Chris is more powerful an inside player than Joe was at that stage."