The Comeback.
Ever since that surreal January night in College Park, when the hated Blue Devils overcame a double-digit deficit in the final minute to stun the Terrapins 98-96, Maryland has struggled to move the media's focus onto anything else.
Coach Gary Williams and his players could not hide their disbelief after the game, and their 1-4 performance over the next two weeks signaled to fans and the media that the loss may have broken the back of a Maryland team with a reputation for being mentally fragile.
"[It was] the worst loss I've ever been associated with," center Mike Mardesich said.
Although the players called it just one game and resolved to overcome it, Williams acknowledged the effect that the defeat had on his team's mentality.
"We did something that nobody else has done to Duke this year, which is get a 10-point lead and keep it for most of the game," the coach said the week following the loss. "But then to lose that game at the end, that was a tremendous blow to us psychologically."
The ensuing skid was punctuated by a 74-71 embarrassment in College Park to lowly Florida State, a loss that had some alumni calling for Williams' firing and put Maryland in a position where even making the NCAA tournament was in jeopardy.
All this turmoil made it nothing short of remarkable to see the Terps blast No. 1 seed Stanford in Anaheim last weekend to reach their first Final Four. But for those who have followed Maryland since Williams' arrival just over a decade ago, the fact that the notoriously fiery coach got his team to recover from its mid-season nightmare may not be so surprising.
That is because Williams had a much bigger challenge to confront in 1989, when he arrived at a Maryland program facing NCAA sanctions for numerous rules violations. The sanctions, which banned Maryland from postseason play for two years and limited recruiting activities, threatened much more than an entire season.
When the little-known Williams replaced Bob Wade as coach, he inherited a program that many in College Park sensed was headed for long-term mediocrity.
At the time, the Terrapins revolved around sharp-shooter Walt Williams, who was building the type of career that would lead to jersey retirement and an NBA future. With sanctions restricting the program's growth, most figured the sophomore would transfer or turn professional. But the player nicknamed "the Wizard" pulled a magic act by remaining in College Park, and his choice proved critical in allowing Maryland to build toward the elite program it is today.
"He could have gone to just about anywhere, [but] he stayed," Williams said. "He helped us because he kept us where we could at least play with the good teams that we had to play against, and kept the crowd there, so we didn't lose the crowd. And then four years later after we got better, we didn't have to make that great leap in terms of getting our crowd back, and I think that was very important for us."
Indeed, Maryland has survived as a competitive program, though before last week, none of its teams had made it past the Sweet 16. But this year, with all five starters returning and being ranked as high as No. 3 in preseason polls, the Terrapins had the talent and balance to match anyone in the country.
Regardless of this weekend's result, Williams will not relax next year just because he reached Minneapolis this season.
"It's not automatic because you get there once," he said of the Final Four berth. "I mean, we've all seen programs that get there before that don't get back there. So that's what we build toward.... We hope that we can use this as a foundation toward making the [Final Four] in the future."
Williams has maintained throughout his career that coaches should not be measured by the number of Final Fours reached or titles won, but by their teams' performances over an entire season. Even after finally reaching college basketball's ultimate weekend, Williams clearly has not let his sudden success go to his head.
"I feel this is our first time, so it's great for the school and all that," he said. "But as a coach, you know, [your team has] played hard for three months, and it always will be a big thing for me just to make the NCAA tournament. I just think that sometimes there is too much emphasis on one game."
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