March 17, 2009
NCAA Tournament Interactive Bracket
NCAA Tournament Printable Bracket
Maryland-Cal Game Notes (PDF)
NCAA® March Madness® on Demand -Maryland-Cal Live Online!
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
Maryland makes its 23rd appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and its 2nd in 3 years with its berth in the West Regional... The Terrapins are a No. 10 seed for the second time and will face 7th-seeded California Thursday (2:55 p.m.) in a first-round game in Kansas City, Mo... The game can be seen on CBS or heard on the Terrapin Sports Radio Network (pregame begins at 2 p.m.). Note: Due to NCAA contractual arrangements, audio of tournament games will not be streamed live on umterps.com.
The Terrapins reached the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament last weekend in Atlanta, defeating NC State and 8th-ranked Wake Forest en route to a semifinal loss to 9th-ranked Duke... Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes were named second team All-ACC Tournament picks in balloting by the media...
Maryland's most recent appearance in the NCAAs was in 2007, when the Terps reached the second round of the Midwest Regional in Buffalo... The Terps, then a No. 4 seed, beat Davidson (82-70) before losing in the second round to Butler, 62-59...
The matchup with California is only the second ever between the schools... Maryland beat the Golden Bears, 80-64, on 12/8/1996 in the Franklin National Bank Classic held in Landover, Md...
The matchup features two of the top coaches in the nation, with each ranked among the top 10 in the country among active coaches in victories... Maryland's Gary Williams is 6th on the list with 624, while California's Mike Montgomery is 10th with 569.
Gary Williams' 20th Season
Head coach Gary Williams reaches another in a career filled with milestones when he coaches his alma mater for the 20th season in 2008-09...
He is the 6th-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball with an overall record of 624-356 (.637)... He ranks 3rd all-time (2nd active) among coaches at ACC schools with 417 victories at Maryland, and also ranks 2nd among active league coaches with 172 ACC victories... Williams is the Terps' all-time winningest coach...
He earned his 400th victory at his alma mater on 11/21 with an overtime win over Vermont... His 417 wins in 20 years are an average of 20.9 wins per season with the Terps...
Maryland's 70-65 victory over Boston College (2/6/2008) gave Williams his 600th career victory... Only six other active head coaches in Division I have 600 career wins...
Williams picked up his 400th victory at Maryland against Vermont (11/21)... The milestone came in dramatic fashion, as Vasquez buried a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to force overtime... The Terps scored the first 17 points of the extra period, earning the most lopsided OT victory in school history with a 17-2 edge in the extra session... Williams picked up the victory over former assistant Mike Lonergan, now in his 4th season as head coach at Vermont.
Milestones, Streaks, etc.
Maryland has hit at least one 3-pointer in 353 consecutive games.
The Terps are 62-6 in non-conference games in Comcast Center.
Maryland has won at least 19 games in 13 straight seasons.
The Terps have made 16 consecutive postseason appearances.
Maryland's last losing season came in 1992-93, the last season of devastating NCAA sanctions levied against previous staffs at Maryland... Each school in the ACC has had a losing season since the Terps fell below .500 some 15 seasons ago... In fact, 9 of the 11 ACC opponents have suffered through a losing season since the Terps won the NCAA title in 2002... Duke and UNC are the exceptions.
Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, Maryland won 82 games, an average of 20.5 per season... That matches the number of wins that Gary Williams directed during the first four seasons (1994-97) of Maryland's run of 11 straight NCAA Tournaments.
The NCAA Tournament
Maryland, the 2002 NCAA Champion, is the 10th seed in the 2009 West Regional, marking the second time the Terps have earned a 10-seed in the tournament... The last time was in 1994 when the Terps beat St. Louis, 74-67, and 2nd-seeded Massachusetts, 95-87, en route to a Sweet Sixteen loss to No. 3 Michigan, 78-71.
Maryland is 36-21 in its 22 previous appearances in the tournament... Maryland is making its 13th appearance under head coach Gary Williams, who is 27-14 all-time in NCAA games and 23-11 all-time in NCAA games while at Maryland... Williams also took Boston College (1983, 1985) and Ohio State (1987) to the Big Dance.
Four Terrapins - Dave Neal, Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne - were on the Maryland team that last appeared in the NCAAs in 2007.
Maryland has won a first-round game in each of its last 8 appearances... The Terps' most recent first-round loss was in 1997, when it lost to Charleston, 75-66, in Memphis.
Maryland Among ACC's Best Last Ten Years
Maryland has been one of the top programs in the ACC over the past 10 seasons:
With 107 wins since 1999, Maryland is 3rd among all ACC schools in regular-season conference wins.
Head coach Gary Williams ranks 2nd among active ACC coaches with 172 career wins in league play.
The Terps captured the 2002 ACC regular-season title & the 2004 ACC Tourney championship.
Maryland owns the league's best record in games against Duke and North Carolina over the past 10-plus seasons. The Terps are 20-28 in games against Duke and Carolina since the 1998-99 season... No other ACC team has more than 14 wins against the Blue Devils and Tar Heels in that time.
Tough Schedule
Between playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (currently ranked 1st as a league in the Sagarin Computer Ratings) and facing three ranked teams in the 2008 Old Spice Classic, the Maryland men's basketball schedule is formidable:
This season, Maryland faced 11 teams that have made the NCAA Tournament field.
In this week's rankings, 5 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 are currently ranked in the Top 11 in the ESPN/USA Today poll (#2 North Carolina, #5 Duke, #7 Michigan State, #10 Gonzaga, #11 Wake Forest).
7 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 were ranked among the Top 25 teams in the coaches poll (previous schools along with #16 Florida State and #21 Clemson).
8 Terrapin opponents for 2008-09 were either ranked or received votes in the Associated Press poll, including American.
Maryland has played 8 games against teams ranked in the Top-10 at the time of the contest... That's the most since the 2000-01 Final Four team played 10 Top-10 opponents.
Maryland is the lone ACC team that faced conference home-and-home series with North Carolina and Duke... The Terps also played twice in the regular season against Miami.
Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams Quotes - Tuesday, 3/17
On California's 3-point-shoot ability:
"They're a very good 3-point-shooting-percentage team. They were leading the country most of the season, and I think they're shooting around 43 percent from the 3-point line. It comes from three players primarily, and they're all very good 3-point shooters. It's not just from right against the line - they can go back and shoot the 22, 23-footer. Their point guard (Jerome Randle) is a little guy, 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9, but he really has great range on his 3-point shot. Randle is tough to play because he's quick enough to get by you if you do come out and play him tough in transition. The thing that's interesting is that they don't shoot a lot [of 3-point shots]. They shoot 15 or 16 [per game] so they take quality threes. They're not just firing every time, and they have some other things they do well, like shoot free throws at about 76 percent, which is also outstanding. They're just a good offensive team. They have a good field-goal percentage. It's a challenge to try to stop them with your defense."
On the similarities between Maryland and California:
"They start a 7-footer in (Jordan) Wilkes, but they take him out pretty quickly. Once that takes place, the size of the teams is similar. We both have good guards. I think both teams have outstanding guards, so I think there're definitely some similarities."
On having his team put aside its accomplishments to date and focus on Thursday's game:
"We have to - we don't have any choice. That has to be behind us right now, but I want the players to go back to that once they get through with the NCAA Tournament because it was a great accomplishment. But right now this week the whole thing is to get ready for Cal and see how prepared we can get."
On guards Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes having previous NCAA Tournament experience:
"They can certainly help us. I think any experience to the level where you're at really helps you, so I think those two guys, having done what they've done by playing and getting in those games in the NCAA Tournament, certainly will help us. The thing that everybody realizes, players and coaches, is that it is a [single-elimination] deal. But at the same time, you can't change the way you play because of the sense of urgency of that particular game. That's what we have to do. We have to go in there and play our game. We can't act like this is anything different than what we've been through the last three weeks because when you play in the ACC, most of the time you're playing NCAA Tournament-level teams. If you can play at that level, you don't have to play up."
On the recent performances of Eric Hayes:
"I've always felt with Eric that he's a great competitor. He doesn't show it like Greivis Vasquez does emotionally on the court, but Eric inside is a great competitor. I felt bad for him because he was good enough to get good looks. In other words, to get open in college basketball, you have to be a pretty good player, and Eric was getting open and not making some shots that I knew he felt he could make. To see him not losing faith and keep working to get open...Eric has worked hard and come out of it, and now he's shooting the ball really well."
On having his players appreciate the moment:
"I tell the players that all the time - there're no guarantees about anything. Last year, for example, I think a lot of those guys felt we'd play in the NCAA Tournament. You look at the NIT bracket and you see a lot of schools in there that I'm sure at the start of the year felt they we're going to make the NCAA. There're not guarantees. Seasons are funny how they go. I tell all our players to really appreciate this because there are no guarantees in the future. This is where we are this year. We're in the NCAA Tournament so let's go see what we can do."
On the tournament preparation provided by playing in the ACC:
"I think it helps because you try to sell to the players that we don't have to change anything. In other words, if you've had some success against those teams, then the way you're playing is good enough to go play those same-level teams in the NCAA Tournament, so I think it does help you."
On if the pressure is off the team now that it made the NCAA Tournament:
"I don't want the pressure off. I told the players I was going to be my usual self in practice yesterday. I want the players to feel the pressure of winning. If you don't have the pressure on you to win, if you don't feel nervous before the game about whether you're going to win a particular game or not, then things aren't going to go well. The first question about being satisfied - that can never come into play."
