April 5, 2004
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The youthful Maryland basketball team of 2003-04 provided a season full of excitment for Terrapin fans of all ages. From Gary Williams' surprise entrance at Midnight Madness on a Harley, to the Terps' ACC champion net cutting ceremony in Greensboro, to the clash of the last two national champions during Maryland's record 11th-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the 2004 season is certainly one that will be remembered.
The Terrapins (20-12, 7-9 ACC) captured the 2004 ACC Title, winning the conference tournament for the third time in history and the first time since 1984. The Terrapins defeated No. 3 seed Wake Forest (87-86), No. 2 seed NC State (85-82) and No. 1 seed Duke (95-87 (ot)) to mark the third time in ACC Tournament history that a team has knocked off the top three seeds.
The Terrapins earned a school-record 11th-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth under head coach Gary Williams, making Maryland one of only five programs with an active streak of that length (Maryland, Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kentucky).
The Terrapins posted a 20-12 record in 2004 (7-9 ACC), continuing a school record of consecutive 20-win seasons to eight (1996-97 to 2003-04). The Terps won six of their last seven games in 2004, and five straight headed into the NCAA Tournament.
Maryland was recognized in a national study by a University of Michigan professor to be one of the five most recognizable and popular programs in college basketball. The top five teams, in terms of fan interest, were found to be: Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland and UCLA.
The winningest NCAA Tournament coach in school history, Williams has won nearly 70 percent of his NCAA games as the head coach of his alma mater (22-10), and his 26 NCAA Tournament victories overall places him ninth among active coaches.
The Terrapins played 16 of their 32 games against teams ranked in the AP and ESPN/USA Today Top 25. The Terps' seven victories over Top 25 opponents marked the most for a Maryland team since their school-record nine ranked victories during their national championship season in 2002.
Maryland's second round match-up with defending national champion Syracuse marked only the third time in NCAA history that the previous two NCAA titlewinners squared off in the NCAA Tournament. The only other instances of matchups between champs occurred in 1995 (1994 champs Arkansas def. 1993 champs North Carolina, national semifinal round) and 1962 (1961 champ Cincinnati def. 1960 champ Ohio State, title game).
With the Terps' top 10 student-athletes comprised exclusively of first or second-year players, Maryland's team was the youngest in all of NCAA Division I and the youngest at the University since 1993-94. Maryland's freshmen and sophomores alone combined to start 122 games - by far the most of any team in the ACC.
Sophomore point guard John Gilchrist led the Terrapins in both scoring (15.4 ppg) and assists (159), becoming the first Maryland player to do so since Walt Williams in 1990-91 and the first true point guard to do so since John Lucas in 1973-74.
Gilchrist, the ACC Tournament MVP, was the first Terrapin to earn that distinction since Len Bias in 1984. He averaged 24.0 points, 6.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals across the three ACC tourney games, including a 30-point, seven-assist, four-rebound, four-steal performance in Maryland's comeback victory over NC State in the semifinal round. The Terrapins overcame a 21-point deficit in that game, and trailed by 19 points at halftime - setting a new record for the largest deficit overcome in the 51 ACC Tournaments.
The Terps' lone senior, Jamar Smith, finished second on the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg and led the Terps and finished second in the ACC in rebounding (8.8 rpg). Smith's 7.0 ppg increase from his transfer junior season to his senior year ranked third among all ACC players in 2003-04, and his 19.7 ppg and 8.0 rpg conference tournament averages earned him ACC All-Tournament first team honors.
Junior Mike Grinnon played key minutes in the Terps' ACC title game vs. Duke, including making 2-of-2 free throws in overtime to help the Terrapins hold on for the victory. Grinnon, the only member of the 2003-04 squad remaining from Maryland's 2002 national championship team, cemented a place of distinction in the Terrapin record books - he is the only player in school history to have won both the NCAA and ACC Tournament titles.
In 2002-03 the Terps established a new single-season mark for season home attendance total (281,057) and per game average (17,566), and eclipsed it in 2004 with a total attendance of 287,200 for an average attendance of 17,950. The Terps had 16-full sellouts in 2003-04 - another record-breaking year. Their home average of 17,950 will undoubtedly rank in the nation's top-5 for the second straight year when the official numbers are released by the NCAA.
