Brenda Frese feature for PressBox

The Hottest Coach in Garyland

By Greg Abel

One week after the University of Maryland women's basketball team won its first-ever national championship, head coach Brenda Frese hustled into her office at the Comcast Center chattering away with one of those wireless gizmos attached to her ear.

After finishing the call, she warmly welcomed a visitor, apologizing for running late even though she was exactly on time. Frese set out to explain how such a young coach -- she's 35 -- could lead such a young team -- no senior starters -- to a Final Four and an unlikely, inspirational national championship.

Brenda Frese captured the title in just her fourth season at Maryland. (Photo: Greg Fiume/Maryland Public Relations)

"I am living out my dream," said Frese. Seated at the conference table in her spacious office, she was the walking, talking image of her program, dressed in black pants and a red Maryland sweater.

Frese received 650 emails and scores of phone calls after she and her Terps became the fresh, new championship faces of women's basketball. Just a few days after Maryland's 78-75 overtime thriller over Duke, she had already been back out on the recruiting trail.. That game, complete with a shot that may forever be remembered as "the shot" -- the step-back three-pointer that freshman Kristi Toliver drained over a lunging 6-foot-7 defender to force OT -- brought more buzz to the program than anyone had expected.

"Everything about that game symbolized our season," Frese said. "You take one 45- minute game and look at it. We were down by 10 at the half and by 13 at one point. What are you going to do? We make a major comeback and all five players scored in double figures. During the season, all five of our starters averaged double figures.

"We were so young and we used it to our advantage instead of as an excuse. Then the game goes to overtime, and we hadn't lost in overtime all year. There were so many variables that went our way."

Frese's dream of a national championship for Maryland seemed implausible before her arrival to College Park in 2002. The program had not been a factor in the national rankings or NCAA tournament in 15 years, and Frese went 10-18 in her first year on the sideline at Comcast Center.

But the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native -- already legendary among women's coaches for her recruiting tenacity and success -- put together a succession of top 10 classes, and the Terps were on their way.

Under Frese, Maryland has improved dramatically every year:18-13 in her second year and a first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1993; then 22-10 last season and another second round exit in the tournament; to this year's 34-4 top five national championship juggernaut.

Along the way, Frese injected her program and players with boundless optimism and confidence. She brought in seven high-school all Americans and allowed them to play an open, attacking style. With balanced scoring, undeniable chemistry, and just a dash of magic, there they were a few years later -- cutting down the nets in Boston after spectacularly defeating North Carolina and Duke in the Final Four and championship game.

Suddenly, all over Maryland and even around the country, basketball fans were talking about Maryland women's hoops. Toliver's shot was the highlight of the week on SportsCenter. Everyone, it seemed, had seen the game, or at least a replay of the shot.

"I hired Brenda because I thought there was something special about her," said Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow, who lured a then 31-year-old Frese from the University of Minnesota after just one year with the Gophers and just three as a Division I coach. "Certainly winning the national championship in only her fourth year puts us ahead of schedule, but I did believe under her leadership that we would eventually win a national championship."

Toliver, a native of Harrisonburg, Va. and former state player of the year, has only good things to say about Frese. "I just like how she is involved in every play on the sidelines, pacing up and down, clapping and reinforcing that good things are going to happen. I just love her enthusiasm."

That enthusiasm and good old-fashioned hustle has helped Frese land big-time players such as Toliver and fellow starters Crystal Langhorne, Laura Harper, Marissa Coleman, and Shay Doron. Doron selected Maryland over Duke and Harvard three years ago and her arrival was one of the first signs that Maryland women's basketball was about to change for the better.

"I think her youth has really helped her out," said Doron, a junior and the most veteran member of the starting five. "Communication is really important with Coach B. If you are not a good communicator, she is going to force you to communicate."

Midwestern Roots, East Coast Style

The story of how Brenda Frese got to Maryland and turned the Terrapins into a national power starts back in Iowa, where the fourth of Bill and Donna Frese's six children grew up playing basketball. Early on she displayed the kind of work ethic and confidence that would make her a Division I head coach before her 30th birthday.

Her father remembers an AAU tournament when Brenda was a 14-year-old ninth grader and won a free throw shooting contest. Each player got 10 warm-up shots and then had to take 25 for the competition. Frese knocked down 35 in a row and wanted to keep going.

"One of the officials came up and said, 'young lady, you can stop shooting now,'" Bill Frese recalled. "She always was very motivated. As I look back, I can remember after her high school games, she'd almost act like a coach at the time, always asking what she could do to improve."

As a star forward for Cedar Rapids Washington High School, Frese helped her team win a state championship over a more highly regarded opponent after trailing by 10 at the half -- exactly as Maryland did against Duke. Bill Frese said a teammate of his daughter's recalled Brenda telling her teammates, "we got 'em right where we want 'em" before going out and winning the championship.

In Boston during the Final Four, Bill Frese said the entire immediate family, save one sibling who could not make it, gathered for the weekend to watch Brenda's team pull off an even more astounding championship. "It was so inspiring," he said. "I just looked around and everyone had tears in their eyes."

Frese credits her parents, who work together in real estate, with instilling in her the work ethic and dedication that has made her successful. After high school, Frese went off to the University of Arizona on a basketball scholarship, but injuries limited her playing career. After starting as a sophomore, she did not play at all during her senior year and gravitated toward coaching. When a spot opened up at local Pima Community College, Frese became the only assistant coach, and did a little bit of everything -- coaching, recruiting, even scheduling.

After graduating in 1993, Frese took an assistant position with Kent State and stayed there two years before accepting an elevated role with Coach Bill Fennelly at Iowa State. There she helped rebuild the program and also coached her younger sister, Stacy, an all Big 12 performer.

A Recruiting Force

It was at Iowa State that Frese began earning a reputation as a recruiting force, someone who would out-hustle, outsell, and out-travel her competition. "She does the work, has great people skills … she knows how important it is to a program and she can really relate well to young people," said Fennelly.

He recalled a now famous instance when Frese drove through a terrible snow storm to see a player -- Megan Taylor -- who eventually became one of the best players in Cyclones history. In her four years with Fennelly at Iowa State, the Cyclones made the tournament three times. In 1999, Frese went off to Ball State to become the head coach at the tender age of 29.

She wouldn't stay long. Frese coached Ball State to records of 16-13 and 19-9 in her two years there, somewhat remarkable considering that the program hadn't had a winning season in nine years. Then Minnesota and the Big 10 came calling, and Frese hopped another rung on the coaching ladder. Her first and only season in Minnesota resulted in another attention grabbing turnaround job -- a 22-10 record for a team that went 8-20 the season before.

Yow lured Frese to Maryland during the men's team's championship season, landing her at a time when she was red hot, having been named AP national coach of the year and with other pursuers, including Ohio State, on her trail.

In 2004, Frese signed a contract extension that will keep her in College Park through 2010. Open to renegotiation at any time, it includes a $500,000 buyout clause, should she jump ship to the WNBA or another program.

"I feel like I have the best job in the country," said Frese. "I made three moves in four years to get to the University of Maryland. They were all the right moves, but it is very hard personally to be able to rebuild three programs and devote that amount of energy and time along the way. I love being here and having stability with both feet on the ground."

Along with all Frese's quick and remarkable success has come criticism and rumor mongering. A few articles have popped up in places like The Washington Post and ESPN.com citing coaches (who would not go on the record) saying Frese pushes the limits of the recruiting rules, and even suggested that the NCAA is poking around.

Yow would hear none of it, and referred any questions about an NCAA inquiry to Kathy Worthington, the executive senior associate athletic director, who heads compliance.

"We are not under investigation at all," Worthington said. "The NCAA has a national program where they interview high profile recruits in every sport to see how the recruiting process is going. We've had a number of high profile recruits on our women's basketball team and they did talk to several members of the team to review the process. If anything, it shined a good light on the standards we work by when we're recruiting."

Frese chalks up the negative talk to jealousy or envy and some of the unfortunate sides of human nature.

"It's something I've had to deal with," Frese said. "When you have success, there are a lot of people who support you and then there's a lot of people who don't want you to succeed for one reason or another."

What Now?

How do you top a national championship? It's an interesting problem, of course, and one that any coach in the country would love to have. Maryland fans need look no further than the men's program at College Park to realize that championships and those "special seasons" can be fickle things that can come and go.

But unlike the Gary Williams team that won the title in 2002, and then lost most of the nucleus to graduation or the NBA or both, the Maryland women's team returns all five starters and 97 percent of their scoring from this year's team.

So, of course the Terps will be the No. 1 team heading in to the year, with a bulls-eye on their back and the status as leaders rather than chasers.

Aside from more wins and titles, another item on Frese's agenda is increasing attendance at the Comcast Center. Frese says she and her team will take care of the winning, but she is hoping that the community, which rallied around the team and its tournament run, will come out in greater numbers next year to see the same bunch try to defend.

The team averaged only about 4,500 fans at home games this past season, but has already sold 2,000 new season ticket plans since the national championship. Whatever happens, Frese said her coaching style and attitude won't change. "I just try to be as positive and confident for my players as I can," she said. "I want to surround them in an environment that's nothing but supportive. When you have players on the floor who believe in each other, you can withstand anything that comes up."

Issue 1.2: May 4, 2006

Good Gracious Terrapin Nation, We Have a National Championship

Whenever students in College Park take to partying on Route One, I feel compelled to sound off in some fashion, so here are some random thoughts and comments in appreciation of the women's national championship:

It is ALWAYS fun to beat Duke. I don't quite have the same level of distaste for Coach G. as I do for Coach K., that would not be possible, because I can actually can spell krzwesyschbdski (was that right?) and I can't even remeber what the G stands for, but don't you just love watching Dukies sulk and Terps celebrate? That's like chocolate and peanut butter in my book people, two great tastes that taste great together.

How about that three-pointer to send the game in OT? That was just SICK! Toliver (oh, we're going straight to last names now), pulled off a step-back three in the face of that huge behemoth of a center for Duke and it was all net. Wow. On second thought, WOW!!During halftime, ESPN ran what it called the #1 shot in the women's basketball tournament of all time. They selected Charlotte Smith's buzzer-beater for North Carolina to beat Louisiana Tech in the 1993 national championship game. That was a great shot, but I think there's a new #1 in town and it's Toliver's shot from last night. Here's why: For some reason, UNC's Smith was WIDE OPEN. The Lady Techsters (note women's hoop jargon) completely forgot to guard her. She was squared up, had no defender in her face and made a set shot. It was a great shot, and it was at the buzzer to win a national championship, but it wasn't a fadeaway, off the dribble, true jumper with a female Mark Eaton flying at her.

Speaking of Duke's monster truck of a center, I am simply happy for that girl that college basketball exists and she has an outlet for her huge-osity. Anyone else notice that she never smiled? All business, all the time. She's 6-7 and shot 80 percent from the free throw line. She was better than Tahj Holden.

Wonder what Gary thinks about all this success? I didn't see any crowd shots of our favorite sideline lunatic, perhaps he bellied up at Bentley's for the occassion and then set something on fire. Perhaps not.

Women's basketball played at a high level is actually a great game. The players are very skilled, they make shots, share the ball and run a nice, fluid offense, lots of layups and back-door cuts.

Since I don't have a history of hostility toward the Duke women's team, it wasn't as if I really hated them while watching the game; then that big power forward Chastity Bono or whatever her name, is body-slammed our Israeli fireplug Shay Doron and it was on people, it was on.

You think people will actually go to women's games in College Park next year?

Whose attendance will change more dramatically, George Mason's men's team (averaged 4500 in a 10k arena, with less than 1,000 students on average) or Maryland women, who averaged Lamont Jordan and his posse?

Anyone else notice that the assistant sitting next to Coach G. on the Duke bench was kind of hot? At the very least she was quite stylish.

How about that Lamont Jordan by the way. Big Terps women booster, who knew?

OK, that's the best I can do on limited knowledge of a team I've seen play one full game. I hope you enjoyed that as much as me. Seriously, amazing college game last night, that was incredible.

NCAA Tournament Coverage for Yahoo Sports

In March 2006, I covered the Washington, D.C. region of the NCAA tourney for Yahoo sports. If you click on the link above, you'll get to my first notebook for Yahoo and links to the dozen or so others I wrote. It was a great gig, the best part being I got to cover and see the George Mason run to the final four.

My favorite memory of the whole thing was the camaraderie of that team, they really loved playing with each other and it was a team that click at the right moment. I'll paste below my favorite column, the one I wrote after George Mason upset UConn to go the Final Four. What a game.

GA

Washington, D.C., notebook: From commuters to crashers

By Greg Abel, Special to Yahoo! Sports
March 27, 2006

More notebooks: Atlanta | Oakland | Washington, D.C. | Minneapolis

Regular-season highlights: George Mason

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For anyone who ever bet a long shot, pulled for an underdog or bought a lotto ticket truly believing that it might just be the one, meet the men's basketball team from George Mason.

The Patriots, a bunch of undersized players with oversized hearts and unshakable confidence, cashed a winning ticket to the 2006 Final Four on Sunday by beating Connecticut 86-84 in overtime.

After the final buzzer sounded here, after UConn's Denham Brown missed a three-pointer that would have won the game for the Huskies, after UConn finally lost after flirting with defeat in every game of the tournament, the lid nearly blew off the Verizon Center. A palpable and electric sense of elation filled the arena and took the form of George Mason coach Jim Larranaga sprinting across the court, both hands raised high in the air, smiling as widely as his face would allow.

His players mugged each other and screamed, "We are going to the Final Four!" Fans and newly converted fans of this team from a commuter school just 22 miles from the arena shook their heads and cheered in euphoria and disbelief.

"I can't tell you how much fun I'm having," Larranaga said later to a packed press conference.

No one could believe it, and yet there they were in green and gold road jerseys, an 11th seed cutting down the nets after sending home the top-seeded Huskies.

The Connecticut players left the court in frustration and shock. George Mason – George Mason! – a school with absolutely no national reputation in college basketball, no McDonald's All-Americans and, in the minds of many, no business in the NCAA tournament, much less the Final Four, had really, truly done it.

It beat Connecticut.

"That was pure joy, indescribable joy," said Mason shooting guard Lamar Butler, who made three huge three-pointers in the second half and finished with 19 points en route to being named outstanding player in the region.

Of all of the previously unknown Patriots, Butler and his smiling face has become the symbol of George Mason basketball and, perhaps, of this wild, thrill-a-minute tournament. He's a 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior who joked about taking George Mason to the Final Four when he signed with the program but never thought it really would happen.

"It just overwhelmed me," said Butler of the feeling when the game ended. "I looked at my father, he was smiling, crying. My mother, they were all crying. It was like a dream come true."

A dream that didn't captivate just Mason players and their fans but rather everyone in the building, save for the UConn diehards, of course. Everyone – NCAA officials, security guards, reporters, even reporters from Connecticut – stared in disbelief and smiled in genuine appreciation at the scene unfolding before their eyes.

"You know, I called Duke-Kentucky," CBS play-by-play man Verne Lundquist said, referring to the classic 1992 game when Christian Laettner made a game-winner for Duke at the buzzer. "And this one." He paused and thought for a moment. "I don't know if it's better, but it's right there with it. Emotionally, this one was better because of the crowd."

Win of a lifetime
In the press conference after the game, the five Mason starters, all of whom played the entire overtime period and most of the second half, sat with strings from the net poking out from newly acquired regional championship hats.

"The string, I've got two actually," Butler said. "One I'm going to keep in my pocket wherever I go. The other I'm going to frame and put on my wall."

On Saturday, Connecticut guard Rashad Anderson, he of the game-tying shot to force overtime against Washington, guaranteed victory against George Mason. It didn't even seem like a bold statement. Who didn't think UConn would beat George Mason?

As it turns out, George Mason.

"I definitely think they slept on us a little bit," said Mason forward Will Thomas, who scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, his third double-double of the tournament. "I don't think teams are going to do that any more."

There aren't many left with the chance. The Patriots are in for a week of supercharged publicity prior to facing Florida in Indianapolis on Saturday. Another big program, another opportunity for history and another opportunity to have fun.

"We're all calm, poised, and we just make sure we have fun," said Folarin Campbell, a 6-4 guard/forward who matched up with Connecticut's Rudy Gay for much of the afternoon. "I mean, basketball's made to have fun so if you ain't having fun, you're not going to perform."

Connecticut Assassin Association
Larranaga took it upon himself to come up with a catchy acronym to inspire his team prior to the game. He's been preaching "have fun" throughout the tournament but thought he needed to come up with something with a little more pizzazz. Enter C-A-A – the Connecticut Assassin Association.

CAA has a double meaning, of course, seeing as how George Mason plays in the Colonial Athletic Association. But on Sunday, Larranaga repeated the acronym at the end of team huddles throughout the game.

"Every time he would talk, he just said CAA' and we knew what it meant," said Jai Lewis, the Patriots' center, who scored 20 points. "That was our motivation, every timeout."

Lewis and Thomas, the only true post men on George Mason, outplayed their counterparts from Connecticut. Thomas frustrated the taller Huskies all game with his left-handed baby hooks and drop steps, while Lewis barreled his way around the lane, creating space with his 275-pound frame.

George Mason, shorter than Connecticut players at every position, outrebounded the Huskies 37-34.

"In life, as I told the kids, it doesn't always go the way you planned," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun. "They don't measure heart by inches, they don't measure courage, they don't measure basketball instinct and intelligence."

Surprisingly, the Connecticut low-post player who had the best game was reserve forward Jeff Adrien, who scored 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

"He was magnificent," Calhoun said.

Connecticut nearly pulls another great escape
Connecticut appeared destined to lose at the end of regulation. They trailed by two and Mason's Tony Skinn was at the free-throw line shooting a one-and-one with six seconds left. Skinn, a fearless 6-1 guard, missed. Seconds later, Connecticut's Denham Brown went streaking down the lane for a reverse layup that sat on the rim before dropping through the net at the buzzer.

It seemed Connecticut had seized momentum with its latest great escape, but in overtime the Huskies could not take charge and never led, though their players and coach maintained confidence throughout.

"There was no doubt in my mind the whole game; I thought we were going to win," said Connecticut point guard Marcus Williams, who scored 13 points and handed out 11 assists.

Mason, however, had other ideas. Campbell held his own against Gay with 15 points and two rebounds to Gay's 20 and six. Campbell made the move and shot of his life with one minute left in overtime and Mason up by two. With the shot clock winding down and the 6-9 Gay draped all over him, Campbell spun on the baseline and swished a turnaround, fadeaway jumper.

It was just that kind of day for George Mason. Brown had a chance to win it for UConn at the buzzer after Lewis missed two free throws, but his three-point attempt was off the mark.

"We almost got away with another one," Calhoun said.

Will Thomas improves to 8-0 against Rudy Gay
George Mason's Thomas and Connecticut's Gay are both from the Baltimore area and played for prep teams that faced each other regularly. Thomas said his Mount St. Joseph's team was 7-0 against Gay's team from Archbishop Curley.

Now, he's 8-0 against Gay.

"I didn't think about that at all," Thomas said. "I'm just glad we won."

Best of Larranaga from the postgame press conference
"We're not just an at-large, we're an at-extra large, and [after winning today], we're going to be an at-double extra large."

"To us, we are a small group, a basketball team that represents a group much larger than us. I've gotten emails from people who are sick. I got one email from a gentleman who was in a car accident not long ago who is having a very difficult time just walking right now. And he said in watching us play and how hard we play and how we overcame the odds that he felt he could overcome anything that he was going to face."

"One of the thoughts of the day is from William Jennings Bryant, who wrote: Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.' It's not something that is given to you. It's something that you earn. That's something we strongly emphasize to our players; that for us, we need to earn respect. No one is going to give it to us."

"Thank you very much everybody. See you in Indianapolis."

Greg Abel is a freelance writer based in Baltimore whose work has appeared in The Sporting News, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. He is covering the Washington, D.C., regional exclusively for Yahoo! Sports.

Updated on Monday, Mar 27, 2006 2:38 am, EST

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Terp Nation #4 (depression sets in)

Welcome to Terp Nation 4.0, presented by Paxil

OK, I guess I should say something about the state of the Terrapin Nation (http://www.paxil.com/depression/dp_ln.html).

Here’s comes the condensed version. Brace yourself, this will be insightful.

It’s not good.

The Longer Version

For the love of Gini Chukura, what in the world is going on in College Park? Not since Evers Burns manned the paint has a Maryland team seemed so utterly incapable of winning on a regular basis. This just in, the ACC isn’t even that good this year.

One thing that makes me a little happy about the state of affairs is the knowledge that Gary is exceptionally pissed off. Make no mistake, the man is angry. In his post-game radio interview after the Clemson loss, color man Chris Knoche commented on how Clemson kept hitting big shots when they needed them and Gary basically cut him off and said, rapidly, “That’s what happens when you don’t play any defense.”

Last night, I was listening to the Gary show on the radio and Johnny “every day is a” Holiday said something to the effect of “Maryland’s last five league games are winnable, as long as the Terps don’t ‘look past’ Georgia Tech this Saturday.”

And Gary laughed a “yeah right” kind of a laugh and said, “Look past Georgia Tech? We can’t looks past anyone.”

Any of the following responses would have also been in character:

“Look past Georgia Tech? Have you seen us play?”

“Look past Georgia Tech? Have you noticed that we can’t pass or dribble?”

“Look past Georgia Tech? Will Bowers started a game recently. I let Dave Neal play in the first half. We can’t look past West Virginia Tech.” (http://www.wvutech.edu/athletics/mens_basketball/)

“Look past Georgia Tech? Does anyone have Tamir Goodman’s phone number?”

(http://www.safsal.co.il/player89.aspx)

Accentuating the Positive (kinda)

But let’s not focus on the negative, shall we? I mean, it’s Friday morning, I don’t want to bum anyone out. Look at it this way, every game that Maryland plays is one less game in the Travis Garrison era. One less game less game in the “I am soooo sick of this group” era.

You do have to give some props to Nik Caner-Medley. If anyone has played with purpose and something resembling a set of nuggets in his shorts since Chris McCray failed off the team in the second semester of his senior year, it has been Caner-Medley. I almost even like Caner-Medley. He’s not actually a great player, but he’s the closest things we’ve got and might even make an NBA team next year. I definitely like D.J. Strawberry, he tries very hard, you can tell he hates losing, and it’s not his fault he’s not a point guard. While we’re at it, here are some other quick thoughts on the players in Maryland’s rotation:

Mike Jones – whatever else happens this season, my favorite moment of the year will be when Jones boinked on the twisting, triple pump “I AM GOING FOR A 12 ON A 10 POINT SCALE” breakaway dunk attempt when Maryland was up by one … in a must-win game … at home against UVa … in the final 3 minutes of a game that Gary needed to win to become the all-time leader in wins for any Maryland coach ever.

That, my friends, was Classic.

Thank goodness Jones came back in the game (I was shocked Gary put him back in) and nailed a three-pointer to help the Terps win. Gary may have otherwise ripped Jones’ arms from his torso. Jones has been pretty good the last few weeks. He can’t pass, dribble or guard anyone, but he most definitely can score and he’s a very good rebounder. If nothing else, Jones is exceptionally entertaining, and that counts.

One more thing … has anyone else noticed that when Jones is really locked in, his three pointers go right into the middle of the basket? I mean, the net doesn’t even move, it’s kind of remarkable. Then again, every third shot he takes is so ill advised, that it hits all backboard. I love Mike Jones. It’s not nearly as fun when he’s not in the game.

Travis Garrison – Have you noticed that Gary only plays Travis for about 15 minutes lately? Travis, if you are waiting for just the right moment to have a break out game this season, go right ahead.

Ekene Ibekwe (I have never, ever spelled his name without having to look it up to see if I got it right, that combo of I’s and E’s, and E and I sounds… I can never remember the order. And what does it say about me and every commentator who calls a Maryland game that at least once we look at him and think, ‘Obinna Ekezie?’ Don’t answer that. Ekezie, by the way, recently got picked up by Lottomatica Roma in the Italian League, he’s averaging about 10 points a game (http://195.56.77.208/player/?id=EKE-OBI-75&year=2005&team=1104)

Back to Ibekwe -- I don’t think Ibekwe stinks, but he’s not as good as we hoped he’d be, right? Sort of a theme around the Comcast Center, no?

Sterling Ledbetter – I like Sterling, he seems like a good guy, has a cool name, overcame that bad car accident. But he just ain’t an ACC point guard.

James Gist – is it too early to start hating Gist? Just kidding. I like Gist, I just wish he’d be a bit more of a game-changing kind of a player who takes charge. The guy seems to have crazy talent but, like Ibekwe, he’s really skinny and doesn’t have that commanding presence you’re looking for in a power forward. Give this guy time, I think he’ll be very good next year. Really.

Will Bowers – better than we thought but not good enough to matter.

Who else am I forgetting… Parrish Brown… um, well, he’s OK. I don’t hate it when he comes in the game but he’s not exactly Drew Nicholas now is he?

The Rest of the Way

Let’s take a look at Maryland’s final five regular season games and give them the Gregg Viola “the glass is half, perhaps even 2/3rds empty” treatment.

Home vs. Georgia Tech – Viola says, “Maryland should win.” (16-9, 6-6) After the game, Caner-Medley post-game quote*, “Everyone took a look in the mirror and decided to do what they needed to do to get this win.”

At Florida State – Viola says, “That’s a loss my friend.” (16-10, 6-7). Caner-Medley post game quote, “It’s time for everyone to look in the mirror and see what they can do to help us win.”

At North Carolina – Viola says, “Please. It won’t be close. They killed us in College Park.” (16-11, 6-8) Canter-Medley post-game quote, “Everyone looked in the mirror and no one liked what they saw.”

Home vs. Miami – Viola says, “Miami is a good team. Maryland loses that game.” (16-11, 6-9). Caner-Medley post-game quote, “If you don’t get that mirror out of my face I am going to thrash you, your notebook, and your glasses.”

(http://sports.mainetoday.com/college/basketball/040728nikcanermedl.shtml)

At UVa (final game ever at University Hall) – Viola says, “It’s their last game ever at University Hall. You think Garrison is going to get fired up or something? That’s an L my friend.” (16-12, 6-10). Caner-Medley post-game quote, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, someone get me a drink.”

*Terp doomsayer Ron Herbst brought to my attention the whole “Caner-Medley says the same thing about looking in the mirror after every game” thing.

What I really think – there is a chance, not a good chance, but a “maybe I’ll make this 10-foot putt” kind of a chance that Maryland will turn it around and get to the tournament with something resembling momentum. They aren’t that bad. They should beat Georgia Tech. They can win at Florida State, that’s a 50/50 game. They’ll probably lose at North Carolina. They ought to be able to beat Miami at home, that’s another 50/50 game. Then they close it out at UVa, another coin flip. That’s one win, one loss and three toss-ups… If they win two of the three toss-ups, that’s 8-8 in the league and probably enough to squeak in the NCAAs. Probably. Then again, if Maryland flops at home tomorrow, it’s all over.

Let’s Take a Spin Around Former Terrapin Nation

Speaking of Drew Nicholas (a few paragraphs ago anyway), let’s transition to some feel-good Terp stories, shall we? Picking back up on a topic I wrote about in a previous edition, Drew Nicholas currently leads the EuroLeague in scoring at just shy of 19 points per game. http://www.euroleague.net/stats/standings.jsp

Now, the EuroLeague is the league in Europe that brings together the best teams from the best country leagues. So Nicholas’ team, Benetton Treviso, plays Italian League games on weekends, and also plays EuroLeague games during the week. It’s wacky over there. Anyway, the EuroLeague has lots of good players in it who you’ve heard of if you follow hoops… some of the best are Louis Bullock from Michigan, Scoonie Penn from Ohio State, Trajan Langdon from Duke, Willie Solomon from Clemson, and a host of Euros being watched closely (or already drafted) by NBA clubs. And it is Nicholas, the lanky, overlooked gunner from Maryland, who leads this league in scoring by a margin of nearly two points per game. That is good stuff my friends. If you like checking out boxscores, take a peek on Thursdays or Fridays at the EuroLeague website for updates, www.euroleague.net, and for the basketball brave, you can dig through www.legabasket.it on Sundays to check out (in Italian) what’s up in the Italian League. Or, you can just wait for me to write about it. Whatever makes you happy.

Dixon and Blake Update

After a very encouraging start to the “Dixon and Blake are the starting backcourt for the Blazers era,” the team has sputtered pretty badly lately. This isn’t necessarily the fault of our Terrapin duo, but the team itself is a mess, one of the worst in the West. In a recent three-game stretch on the road, the Blazers lost all three by more than 30 points. Also, in recent weeks it seems coach Nate McMillan has decided to go with a four-man rotation in the backcourt with Dixon and Blake starting, but Jarrett Jack and Sebastian Telfair getting almost equal court time. Darius Miles just returned from injury so perhaps the Blazers will turn things around. I really need to buy a Blazers hat by the way.

Oh, one other thing. Just for kicks, there’s a relatively entertaining video you can watch on the Blazers website that spends some time with Blake and Dixon as they stroll around an outdoor market in Portland. You can find it at www.nba.com/blazers. On the home page, you’ll see a video screen of sorts, scroll down and there’s an archive you can flip through. In there, you’ll see a picture of Juan wearing some Farrah Fawcett shades. Click on that one. Later, you get to see Juan order a hot dog and Blake says something like, ‘we didn’t have outdoor markets like this in Washington.’ It’s riveting.

Stevie Franchise … why is his jersey in the rafters again?

This has nothing to do with anything, but I want to vent about something to some people who might care. Steve Francis had one great season at Maryland but I will never understand why the program felt compelled to hang his jersey from the rafters where it hangs along with that of true Terps greats and program defining players like Buck Williams, Albert, King, and Juan Dixon. Actually, I think I know the reason. I think they hang all the jerseys of players who were All Americans. It’s not a retired number thing, as evidenced by the fact that Dave Neal is currently blemishing the memory of Lonny Baxter’s #35. The next guy who throws on a #3, by the way, better be very, very good.

Francis acted like a jerk when he got drafted #2 overall and pouted, forcing Vancouver to trade him to Houston. Nice start in the NBA, don’t be grateful for the guaranteed multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. Instead, become the first man to ever openly sulk on stage next to David Stern. It hasn’t gotten a whole lot better since. He’s a fantastic athlete and has plenty of highlight reel moves, but Francis wore out his welcome and didn’t win in Houston, same thing is going on in Orlando and the Magic are openly shopping him around. I want that jersey down.

Speaking of Orlando, I am personally looking forward to the Darko Milicic era. It annoys me when commentators call him a “bust” in Detroit. He never got to play. He’s 20 years old. He’s 7 feet tall and can shoot. Keep your eye on Darko, he’s going to be good.

Tall(er) Terps Traded

Speaking of new opportunities, both Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox got traded recently, Baxter from Houston to Charlotte and Wilcox from the Clippers to Seattle. Baxter will hopefully get 10-15 minutes a game in Charlotte, I don’t think he’s ever going to be more than a well-traveled role player, but it’s nice that big LB collects an NBA paycheck (he went to Greece for a while last year but got a guaranteed 2-year deal from Houston, so he’s set for next year anyway). As for Wilcox, hopefully this is the fresh start he needed so he can emerge. He was stuck playing behind Elton Brand, who is just great, in L.A. and never got consistent minutes.

Leave ‘Em Laughing

Finally, as a public service, and with a nod to WVU fan club president Brian Pinsky, I leave you with a link to photos from West Virginia 7-foot gunner Kevin Pittsnogle’s wedding. Enjoy.

http://community.webshots.com/album/343869500QvnXvO/0

(isn’t the Internet a little scary?)

GA

Terp Nation #3 (McCray flunks out)

Terp Nation #3

Bad Grades and a Basketball Jones

Welcome to the third edition of the Terrapin Nation, where we dissect the McCray mess and officially welcome the era of Mike Jones as starting shooting guard, among other extremely important matters.

In my mind, the irony in Chris McCray flunking off the Maryland basketball team is that – on the court – he was Maryland’s smartest player. With the ball in his hands, McCray seemed to make the most good decisions, played within himself, and generally carried himself like a guy who knew exactly what to do, and did it.

That good judgment and aptitude did not, apparently, carry over to the classroom.

And that is a shame. It’s a shame for a lot of reasons, the most obvious being Maryland’s short-term future as a basketball team and McCray’s future in general. For him, as a fringe NBA prospect, it can’t help that he won’t play the second half of what was his senior and best season of basketball. For the team, losing McCray means losing Maryland’s steadiest player, top defender, leading scorer, best free throw shooter, and a calming presence on an often spastic team.

This one hurts.

I have no idea if McCray is a smart, capable kid who slacked off, or perhaps someone who was not cut out for college in the first place. He hung in there for seven semesters, so he can’t have been completely overmatched.

Who knows? I am honestly surprised that things like this don’t happen more often. Whether good students or poor, scholarship athletes at big-time Division I programs have to juggle the demands of playing and practicing, traveling and missing class, and living their collegiate lives in a manner that is so inconsistent with that of a typical college student, it’s a joke. Yes, they have tutors, scholarships, and perhaps, easy schedules. But for most guys who come to Maryland or a school like Maryland with a basketball scholarship and a starting role, what they really are studying to become, let’s not kid ourselves, is a professional basketball player.

“Chris, you have a game on national TV at Duke this week. And, oh yeah, a sociology test on Friday.”

What would you focus on?

Regardless, one thing is for sure, from a public relations perspective, this season is starting to smell rather foul for our fearless leader in the Comcast Center. In the last few weeks, one of Maryland’s players has been arrested for allegedly triple ass-grabbing a young woman and then following that romantic moment of courtship with a right cross to the choppers. Just before that bit of good news, the Terps served as sacrificial lambs at Duke for a nationally televised pounding so thorough in nature that Dick Vitale turned to filler material with 5 minutes left in the first half and basically stopped calling the game and started praising Duke, Magic Johnson, USA Basketball, and Jay Williams, before reminding all the viewers at home to live with passion and purpose. And, just when we thought it was safe to wear red again, came this week’s kick in the nuts, the announcement of Chris McCray’s inability to not fail most of his classes.

Is it safe to read the sports section?

Before we all turn into Carl from Columbia and rant on sports talk radio, let’s take these episodes one at a time and decide how bad these transgressions really are.

Let’s rank them 1 to 10, with 1 being tardiness to practice or a meeting; 3 is a “we forgot to show-up performance during the regular season;” 5 is any form of non-felony assault; 7 is accumulating $8,000 in unpaid parking tickets; and 500 million is when you are everyone’s favorite player of all time and celebrate your new NBA contract by snorting so much cocaine that your heart explodes. Sorry.

On this scale of bad and/or embarrassing behavior, I would say that if, in one season, a team accumulates more than 20 points, their coach might be Jerry Tarkanian, or performing a reasonable impersonation of Jerry Tarkanian.

The Garrison triple-ass-grab-slap combo (5)

If the allegations are true, I can forgive the ass grabbing. Who among us, as a college student, didn’t do something stupid after having a few extra drinks and trying a little too hard to pick up a girl? But if you punch that girl in the face after she tells you to get lost, there is a very high likelihood that you are an a**hole. To be continued.

The beat-down at Duke (4, it would be a 3, but it was Duke, and they pummeled our Turtles like so much Sun Belt roadkill)

When the team that is probably the best team in the country gets called out for not protecting its home court by the coach who is probably the best coach in the country, and you are that team’s next opponent at a time when you are playing just OK and they are clicking, you are going to lose that game. It was embarrassing, but it’s forgivable. Like Gary said, you just aren’t going to win every year at Duke. Fair enough, but it doesn’t mean you have to go down there and forget how to execute a bounce pass without completely freaking out. But, OK, it’s forgivable.

McCray (3)

Let’s just put it this way. It ain’t good.

So that gets Gary up to a 12 on this completely subjective and ridiculous scale. We can subtract a few points if the Terps beat Duke at home or turn in a winning record in the conference.

Let’s just move on and take a look at what the loss of McCray means to the 2005-2006 Maryland men’s basketball team.

You wanted Mike Jones? You got him.

Here we go. Since Mike “The Enigma” Jones showed up on the College Park campus three years ago with All-American credentials, a buttery jump shot, and altogether explosive talent, Terp fans have wanted Gary to just let him play. Stop pulling him every time he makes a mistake. Stop starting guys – like McCray and Strawberry – with perhaps less athletic ability but better fundamentals. You wanted it? You got it. As of this week, Mike Jones is Maryland’s starting two guard for the foreseeable future.

He is going to thrill and delight us with electric plays on both ends of the court, and he will also disappear for extended periods of time and make plenty of boneheaded mistakes.

Look no further than Jones’ last two games as an example. He carried Maryland offensively (at least in the first half) against Wake Forest, piling up points very quickly and dramatically, ending with 22 (only 59 less than Kobe the other night). Then against Virginia Tech, Jones scored 2 points in 20 largely invisible minutes. This will happen when you are a role player, but those days are over.

[MJ hairstyle update. Against Virginia Tech, Jones wore an Afro in a bun with some kind of a band to prop it up and keep it out of his face, in a manner reminiscent of Shirley from “What’s Happening.” Against Wake, he wore cornrows in a manner similar to Allen Iverson. You decide what works.]

Without a doubt, the loss of McCray also means we will see more of the duo of JuCo transfers with names that sound like, respectively, a Pearl Jam song and a the Star Search country music competition winner – Sterling Ledbetter and Parrish Brown. Both players have shown flashes that they can handle life in the ACC, now they’ll need to really step up in a meaningful and consistent way.

All in all, I don’t think it’s a complete disaster. We’ve all kinda wanted to see more of Jones anyway right? So now we’ll get to see him. Other players, like Ibekwe, Gist, Caner-Medley, Garrison and Strawberry now just have to step up and pick up the slack. Maryland has plenty of talent and now there is no one in Mike Jones’ way except Mike Jones. Let’s see if he can handle it.

A couple of one-sentence thoughts

It’s time to start appreciating D.J. Strawberry for being a very good player.

Zabian Dowdell has the coolest name in college basketball.

Very nice to see Caner-Medley step up and decide that Maryland was not going to lose to Virginia Tech and he would be the reason why.

Did you really expect any better than Maryland’s current record (13-4, 3-2) at this point in the season?

Will Bowers isn’t terrible.

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia

Ever since a few of my good friends from high school attended West Virginia, and having visited said mountain school for a few hazy weekends of lord knows what happened, I have always taken a passing interest in Mountaineers athletics. B. Pinsky, the unofficial Mountaineer spirit club chairman for the Baltimore Metropolitan area, has been lobbying me for an extended paragraph of analysis devoted to his beloved ‘Eers, but I am not really prepared, plus I think I just fired off 1,500 words on Maryland, and I’m tired. I will say this, and I’ve been thinking it for a while. West Virginia can definitely win the national championship. If you haven’t seen them play, it’s worth a look.

They are deep, experienced, and all of the team’s best players can shoot three pointers really well. A very fun team to watch. Their spiritual leader is Kevin Pittnogle – a 6-11 hick with tattoos all over the place, including his forearms, which just sort of takes it to another level – who can shoot lights out from anywhere. Their shooting guard, Kevin Gansey, is another gunner who has been going nuts lately. More on West Virginia in a future edition when I can really break it down.

Comments/thoughts/feedback/emails of people you want me to add to the list, always appreciated at greg@abelcommunications.net

GA