Oct. 30, 2003
Maryland fans, be sure to catch the Terps in action on Saturday, Nov. 1, as the team holds an open intrasquad scrimmage at Comcast Center. ADMISSION IS FREE and tip-off is scheduled for 10 a.m. as part of the University's homecoming celebration. Comcast Center doors will open at 9 a.m.
CHICAGO - Two springs ago, Terrapin teammates Juan Dixon, Steve Blake and Lonny Baxter cut down the nets in Atlanta, posting a 64-52 victory over Indiana and lifting Maryland to its first-ever national championship in the sport of men's basketball.
Wednesday in Chicago, the championship trio was reunited on the court at the United Center as the Washington Wizards faced the Bulls in the NBA season opener for both teams. Dixon and Baxter, who played 19 and 21 minutes, respectively, were joined in the last three minutes of the game by Blake, who made his professional debut.
Baxter, the MVP of the NBA's Rocky Mountain Summer League, made his first career start for the Bulls at forward and fouled out with six points and seven rebounds. The foul he committed was on Dixon, who made both free throws to finish with 11 points. Blake grabbed a rebound in the game's final minute to break into the box score as the Wizards earned a 99-74 season-opening victory.
The NBA schedule brought the three national champion Terps together on Wednesday, but with eight former Maryland players gracing pro rosters for the 2003-04 season, such instances are bound to happen again in the not-so-distant future.
Maryland's rising success under Gary Williams over the past 14 years has resulted in a growing number of Terrapin stars in the NBA ranks, and professionally overseas.
In the NBA specifically, the annual draft has become a barometer of Terrapin success, as Maryland has landed 15 players overall in the draft since Williams' return to College Park (more than one per season) and eight draft picks since 1999 alone.
During Williams' 25-year career as a head coach, an incredible total of 28 players have been NBA draft choices.
Last June, four-year point guard Blake became the eighth Terp drafted in the last five years with his selection in the second round by Washington. In 2002, the Terps landed a pair of first round picks and three selections overall, as Chris Wilcox (8th, Los Angeles Clippers), Dixon (17th, Washington Wizards) and Baxter (44th, Chicago Bulls) all were chosen from draft proceedings at Madison Square Garden. Wilcox, chosen eighth overall, was Maryland's first lottery pick since Steve Francis three years earlier. When Dixon was made the 17th pick of the draft, Maryland had placed two players in the first round for the first time since 1981.
Buoyed by three first and second round draft picks during the 1999 NBA draft, Maryland and Williams have asserted themselves in recent years among the most prominent schools in developing NBA talent.
In '99, Francis was chosen as the second pick of the first round, followed by second-round selections Obinna Ekezie and Laron Profit. One year later, Terence Morris was taken in the second round of the draft.
The Terps' NBA draft tally since 1999: eight draft picks, three first-round choices and two lottery selections.
What's more, Francis, the No. 2 pick in that '99 draft, went on to become the NBA's Co-Rookie of the Year. By the 2002 season, Francis was voted to the NBA All-Star Game, and again in 2003.
Chosen on draft day by the Vancouver Grizzlies, Francis was traded in the preseason to the Houston Rockets for whom he led all NBA rookies with 6.6 steals in 1999-00, and was the second-leading rookie scorer with 18 points per game.
Had Francis been the No. 1 overall selection, Maryland would have become the first school in NBA history to have three No. 1 selections. Previously, John Lucas was the top pick by the Houston Rockets in 1976 and Joe Smith was picked first by the Golden State Warriors in 1995.
The Terps' 2002 draft windfall brought the number of all-time Maryland lottery selections to five - a number that is tied for seventh among all NCAA schools. Wilcox's selection brought the number of lottery selections at Maryland under Williams to four. Overall, seven Maryland players and nine overall since 1987 have played for Williams and become first-round draft picks with guaranteed contracts.
