Jan. 13, 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In his new book, Washington Post sportswriter Josh Barr goes inside the University of Maryland's storied basketball season and brings readers along for the ride all the way to the school's first national championship. In "Good Enough to Be Great," Barr takes you from the locker room, to the weight room, to the team hotel, providing never-before-published stories about the drama inside the dream season.

Josh Barr has enjoyed unrivaled access to Terrapin players and coaches, and now he gives the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of Maryland's rise to glory. This was a season marked by daunting expectations, unwanted distractions, and even tragedy. Barr shows how the Terps coped with it all-from the devastating phone call Coach Gary Williams received before the biggest game of the year, to the shocking news that the brother of starting forward Byron Mouton had been murdered.

He also reveals how, under Williams's leadership, players most observers had sneered at became the best team in college basketball. Barr offers keen insight into just what separated the Terrapins from every other team in the country-and from previous Maryland teams that always came up short.

Along the way, Barr provides riveting portraits of unlikely All-American Juan Dixon, who in high school lost both parents to drug-related AIDS; standout center Lonny Baxter, once considered too short and too chubby to play big-time college basketball; sophomore Chris Wilcox, the amazingly talented but frustratingly inconsistent forward; fiery Gary Williams, the coach who, many critics had said, could never win the big one; and many others.

"Good Enough to Be Great" is a remarkable story of talent and determination at college basketball's highest levels.