March 21, 2003
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Maryland Terrapins sound a little defensive
about finally getting their chance to defend their national championship.
Sure, four starters are gone from the team that went 32-4 in winning
Maryland's first title, and this season's Terps stumbled to a 19-9 record
and a No. 6 seed, well below the top seed they enjoyed in 2001.
They backed into this NCAA tournament, losing at Virginia to end the regular
season and then to North Carolina in the ACC tournament. They are the
lowest-seeded defending champion since 1989, when Kansas was barred from the
64-team field for recruiting violations after winning the title the previous
year.
All irrelevant say the Terps.
"As of right now, we're still the defending champion," Maryland senior Drew
Nicholas said. "It doesn't matter what seed we are."
The Terps will try to become the first team since Duke in 1991 and 1992 to
repeat as champs, when they play 11th-seeded North Carolina Wilmington
(24-6) in the final game Friday night of the South Regional in Nashville.
Coach Gary Williams said he saw something from his Terrapins when the NCAA
brackets were announced.
"It just seems like a light switch was turned on and suddenly we were the
defending national champions for the national tournament," Williams said.
"That took a big load off us. We just want to go play now. When we were good
during the season, we weren't talking national championship. We just went
and played basketball. I think we can do that again now."
They must do it without Juan Dixon, Chris Wilcox and Lonny Baxter, who are
in the NBA now. But Williams has a quartet of seniors led by four-year
starter Steve Blake at point guard. He has played 409 minutes in 13
tournament games, and he is 11-2 in this tournament with Tahj Holden and
Nicholas.
In other action, No. 14 Troy State (26-5) makes its tournament debut against
third-seeded Xavier (25-5) in the other night game in the South Region here.
Kentucky (29-3), the Midwest Region's top seed, opens this session against
No. 16 IUPUI (20-13), and No. 9 Oregon (23-9) meets ninth-seeded Utah (24-7)
in the other afternoon game.
Maryland doesn't have an easy opening opponent. The Seahawks are making
their second straight appearance and third in the last four seasons, but
they grabbed plenty of attention with their performance last year.
North Carolina-Wilmington upset fourth-seeded Southern California in
overtime last year and played very well before losing to eventual runner-up
Indiana 76-67. Senior guard Brett Blizzard said upsetting Maryland would be
huge for the Colonial Athletic Association team.
"We know after last year's success we're not going to sneak up on anybody.
We know Maryland has prepared the right way for us," he said.
But the Seahawks will not play Maryland at full strength. First-year coach
Brad Brownell announced Thursday night that junior guard Tim Burnette, who
averages 11 points, has been suspended indefinitely for violating team
rules.
Brownell said he reminded his team that the Seahawks are a good program now
accustomed to the NCAA tournament. But Maryland offers a different
challenge.
"I'll be perfectly honest. We have not played anybody that probably has
their athletes and their size," he said.
Troy State might be better known for being the only NCAA team to top 200
points in a game from the Trojans' record-setting 258-141 victory over DeVry
on Jan. 12, 1992. But senior guard Ben Fletcher warned anyone against
thinking a Trojans' victory would be an upset.
"Numbers don't mean anything now. It's whole wants it the most," he said.
Xavier, enjoying the highest seed ever in 15 appearances, will not take the
Trojans lightly. Senior forward David West easily rattled off the reason
why.
"They forced 555 turnovers this year, so our No. 1 priority has to be to
take care of the ball. We can't give them the basketball plain and simple.
We can't turn the ball over," he said.
