Remembering Len Bias - article and interviews for Baltimore Pressbox

NOTE - these articles originally appeared in the June 19, 2006 edition of Baltimore PressBox magazine, http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=331.

Remembering Len Bias

To remind myself what Len Bias looked like and played like to write this article, I went to College Park last week and visited the archives. At the suggestion of ESPN's Scott Van Pelt, a Maryland grad and as good an unofficial historian of all things Terps basketball-related as you can find, I watched the 1984 ACC Championship game. During that game, Bias destroyed Duke with 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting. It was incredible to watch.

Bias, then just a sophomore and becoming more versatile and confident by the game, scored on an array of baseline jumpers, monster dunks, and turn-around jumpers that made him all but impossible to defend. He jumped incredibly high and straight up on his jumper with perfect form.

For me, two moments stood out in particular. The first came at the start of the second half. Guard Jeff Adkins threw an alley-oop to Bias but the pass was way too short and looked destined to be intercepted. Bias leaped in the air from the baseline and, reaching back, swiped the ball with his left hand toward the rim and away from Dan Meagher, the Duke defender. Bias then gathered the ball off the rim, took one dribble and slammed it home on the other side.

The second moment happened with just 21 seconds left in the game and Maryland up 71-60. Duke called a timeout but the game was over, Maryland had finally done it. The pep band, as it did in those days, broke out into "Amen," the gospel sing-along and theme song for Maryland wins.

After a series of hugs and high fives, Lenny took a step back from the mob around the bench and clapped his hands high above his head and mouthed the words, "A-MEN… A-MEN … A-MEN…. A-MEN, A-MEN!"

Before it was time to go back on the court to finish things off, Lenny stood behind the huddle and stretched out those long, rippled arms out to his sides.

Then he hugged the whole team.

It Was 20 Years Ago Today

By Greg Abel

Twenty years have passed since that unbelievable, surreal and profoundly sad morning when Len Bias -- Maryland's own chiseled superhero in high tops -- died from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being drafted second overall by the Boston Celtics.

For Maryland students, fans and anyone connected to the university at that time, the moment remains burned in memory never to be erased, joining a list of horrendous but significant, "you remember exactly where you were" moments like the Kennedy assassination for members of an earlier generation, or the Challenger explosion.

"I used to have to pull him out of practice he would dominate so much." - Lefty Driesell

Ask any Maryland fan. They can close their eyes and it is as vivid today as it was then.

"Greg, wake up," Eric said, shaking my shoulders. My older brother, the basketball star in the family, was kneeling next to my bed. I opened my eyes, groggy from sleep. I was 16. It was summer break. 9 a.m. was early.

I can still remember that look on his face; it was a look I had not seen before.

"Len Bias is dead," he said.

Eric may as well have said that Mom and Dad packed up and moved to the moon.

The previous summer at basketball camp, I watched Len and his younger brother Jay put on a dunking exhibition that left the campers speechless and in complete awe. I will never forget it.

Just two days earlier, Len put on that green Celtics cap and flashed that brilliant smile.

"What? What are you talking about? That can't be true," I said.

I just wanted to go back to sleep, but he persisted.

"It's on the radio. Len Bias is dead."

We turned on what was then B104 and I can remember the DJ playing "Missing You" by Diana Ross as a dedication to Lenny. For some reason that made it real to me. To this day I can't think of anything but Len Bias when I hear that song.

We're missing him still.

Much has changed in two decades, of course. Len Bias is no longer the all-time leading scorer in Maryland history; that honor belongs to Juan Dixon. Lefty Driesell is no longer the face of Maryland basketball; that distinction belongs to Gary Williams. Those facts, along with the 2002 National Championship and subsequent move to the Comcast Center have dimmed the extent to which Bias and his legacy define Maryland basketball.

But when we look up during a Maryland home game and see number 34 hanging in the rafters, we remember him like it was yesterday. We remember Len Bias as a person and as a player, and we remember how his game and sudden death affected all of us.

From players to coaches, from fans to members of the media, everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news and how it changed their lives.

Lefty Driesell
Retired college basketball coach

When I think back about Leonard I have mixed emotions. I think about him as a person and what a great kid he was. He was just a super kid. I never had any problems with him.

He probably improved as much or more than any player I ever coached. He could take you inside and dunk on you, shoot a jump shot, a turn-around jumper, a hook shot, he could do anything. And he was an excellent defensive player. Leonard worked so hard. I used to have to pull him out of practice he would dominate so much. I'd say, 'Leonard, get out. Let's see how we can do without you in there.'

The way I found out [about his death] was that the hospital called me. His parents called me. As far as I know, someone brought some drugs in there. He didn't know what he was doing. He tried it and it killed him.

I said to my son the other day, "Be honest with me, because people are going to ask me, 'did you know Lenny to ever use drugs?'" And he said, "Dad, I'm telling you, we would sit around and drink beer and he wouldn't even drink a beer with us."

The reason that I was able to handle it then and I am able to handle it today is because he was a born-again Christian and there's no doubt in my mind where he is -- he's in heaven.

Jeff Baxter
Real estate investor, Roomed with Len Bias all four years at Maryland

The night that the whole event happened, I was at my girlfriend's house and I had fallen asleep and I had her wake me up because I had an exam the next morning. She woke me up at about 12:30 and I went back to the room that Len and I shared. In our room he had the Celtics jersey, the new pair of green Reebok sneakers. I'm thinking to myself, "the guy is about to be a Boston Celtic." I was in awe.

I went to the room on the other side of the suite, (teammate) Terry Long's room. I went to the door and knocked and there was a minute or two before it was opened. I went in there, gave [Bias] a hug and he lifted me off the floor, which wasn't unusual. I saw liquor and beer in the room but if there was anything else, they would not have pulled that out in front of me. I never knew Lenny to drink any liquor.

We talked for about 30 minutes and then I returned to my room and went to sleep. I was awakened three or four hours later at like 5 o'clock in the morning. David Gregg (another teammate) came in and said "Jeff, Jeff, wake up, Lenny is passed out." I said "what?" So I walk out into the living room and Lenny is on the floor, passed out.

You see this specimen on the floor. He had a perfect build. Perfectly cut with a small waist and to see him lying on the floor with his eyes closed… I didn't know what to think. He had a thick gold chain on his neck at the time. I'm so caught up in the moment, the paramedics are coming in the door, and I'm thinking the gold chain was choking him. I am trying to find out what happened, talking to Terry and David, and neither one responds to me.

I wasn't aware at the time, but the last thing I would have thought was in his system was drugs. I would have bet my life on the fact that Lenny wouldn't have used drugs, and also that it would have been the first time.

I choose to remember all the positive things. I smile daily thinking about different things we used to do. He was so much fun and so funny. Lenny had a warm heart, he was just a good person and that came from his family.

Mike Krzyzewski (via email)
Head Coach, Duke University

I have said many times that the two most difficult opposing players to prepare for in my time in the ACC were Michael Jordan and Len Bias. Len was a gifted player. He was special, and our league has had a lot of great players. The news of his death was tragic as he would have been an amazing professional player after his college career. It was a sad day for the entire sport of basketball as we lost one of the best players of that era. When I think about Len Bias now, I think of how hard he competed and how tremendously talented he was. Other than Michael Jordan, he is the player that no teams had the answer for. He was that good.

Chick Hernandez
Sportscaster, Comcast SportsNet

"It was only after all the outpouring of emotion from around the country that I remember grasping for the first time that my son was a star. Up to then, he was just my son." - Lonise Bias

I was an intern at WUSA Channel 9 for the late, great Glenn Brenner, and we had a weekend sports anchor named James Brown. I was supposed to go out on my first story, a story on Georgetown guard Michael Jackson being drafted. I got a call from my mom.

She said "Lenny's dead" and for about 30 seconds I'm thinking, "Who in my family is named Lenny?" And finally I said, "Lenny who, mom?"

She said Len Bias.

I turned the TV on and saw the news and couldn't believe it. I just couldn't get my head around it. I was stunned.

I knew the players, I knew Lenny. I called the station and went right into work mode.
They told me to get over to campus right now; JB is on his way there. When I got to Cole Field House all the TV trucks were there, they gave me a microphone and a camera crew and said talk to as many people as you can.

We had our satellite truck parked near Washington Hall and Keith Gatlin came to the truck and asked to speak to JB. He took JB and they walked away. It was at that point that Gatlin told JB that this involved drugs. And I'll never forget JB, all 6-6 or 6-7 of him, he is a mountain of a man, I saw his body shrink. He came back to the truck and said, "We have to break this news."

After we got done with the 6:30 news, it finally dawned on me what took place. I just started to cry like a baby. Glenn Brenner picked me up, put me in his office and I lay on his couch until I could gather myself.

Scott van Pelt
ESPN SportsCenter Anchor and University of Maryland graduate

I was a sophomore and I was up at my girlfriend's house in Pennsylvania and I drove home because I had to get to my summer job, which was being the manager of the pool at Norbeck Country Club in Rockville.

I stopped at the 7-11 on Georgia Ave. in Olney to get a Big Gulp and I ran into my best friend's little brother. He had this look on his face and he said to me, "Did you hear about Bias?" And I say, "Yeah, he was the second pick, he's going to the Celtics," I thought he was talking about the draft.

He said "Bias is dead."

I said, "What are you talking about?"

And I am trying to process this information in my head. I'm 20 years old and not making sense of it. I'm pissed because I'm thinking he's not telling the truth. I remember just wandering out to the parking lot there thinking, "There's no way Len Bias is dead." I called someone to try to get to Keith Gatlin, who was one of my friends. It was just this awful, awful day. I had to work. I started just listening to the radio and hearing the stories and just freaking out.

I just tried to find someone, anyone to talk to about it. No one knew where anyone was. I drove over to campus and cameras and police are everywhere, it's just a freak show. I'm driving around thinking to myself, "This can't possibly be real."

Lenny was a god at Maryland. Absolutely a god. He was that good and he was larger than life in every sense of the word. That body, that booming voice, he was from outer space.

The thing that pissed me off more than anything and still to this day people will make an off-handed remark about it… yes, he lost his life to drugs. But I had fraternity brothers who did more drugs in a week than he did in his life. The fact that it implies he was some sort of drug fiend is a disrespectful way to view his life. As best I know, he was not into drugs.

I went to the memorial service for him at Cole. Jesse Jackson was there. Lefty spoke and Jesse spoke, Len's mom spoke. Lefty said, "One more time, let's give one more last standing O for Lenny." The place is going crazy. And you are there in Cole Field House and cheering for a dead guy. It was so bizarre.

If you are a Maryland person you can never escape it.

Keith Gatlin
High School basketball coach and owner of an athletic training company

The night he passed out it was in my dorm room. I was not involved in the actual party or whatever they where doing. I heard paramedics and woke up to that.

How often does it come up? Every day. I'm in ACC country. I'm from North Carolina. I can be on vacation with my wife. I can be anywhere in the world and people say, "Weren't you the point guard when Len Bias passed away?" It's never about what kind of player I was or what kind of person I am. That's something that's going to follow me to my grave. I don't drink or smoke and never have, but Len's death put a negative perception on all of us.

We all know that there were and are drugs and alcohol on every campus. But because it was an ACC school and because Len lost his life, it was blown way out of proportion.

I'm 41 now and looking back on it, the way it came out made it seem like the whole team was on drugs. And I say this with no disrespect to anyone; Len Bias is not the only player in college basketball that had an encounter with drugs. It is unfortunate that he paid the ultimate price.

I always tell kids, "Please be careful of what you do and who you hang out with because you can be guilty by association." That's the thing that changed my life forever.

Gary Williams
Head coach, University of Maryland

I was in the office at Ohio State that morning and a good friend called and said you won't believe this, but Len Bias died.

Your first inclination is to think it's someone's idea of a sick joke. He seemed invincible.
If you ever saw him, he looked like Superman. I just couldn't believe that it happened; it was a feeling of complete shock.

I think players today, the guys I am coaching were just born when he died. They know the history of it, and it's probably a good thing that they are aware of it. The athletic department is still very cautious in a lot of the things that they do that relate to his name.

As a coach, it's your greatest fear that one of your players dies a tragic death at an early age. Maryland became the whipping boy for what was wrong with college athletics. It wasn't fair. People would point to Maryland and say, "This is what's wrong with college athletics." Who is to say that it couldn't have been someone else?

In the 80s, cocaine was the problem. The drug testing wasn't anywhere near what it is today. If [Bias' death] had any positive effects, that was it. The death of Len Bias was a tough thing for the university. I am proud of the fact that we were able to recover.

Lonise Bias
Len's Mom

When I first heard the news about Len's death, I was at home in bed. I was asleep when we received the call and I remembered thinking it was a dream and that I would awaken soon. It was early in the morning when we got the call. I remember going to the hospital after that and just not believing it. It was only after all the outpouring of emotion from around the country that I remember grasping for the first time that my son was a star. Up to then, he was just my son.

Len was my pride and joy and losing him was one of the most difficult, challenging times of my life. I believe that Len died so that others might live. Twenty years later, my mission is still the same: to educate parents on the important role they play in their child's decision about drug use. It's important for parents to monitor their kids and keep them away from drugs. We need to work to save more than just one life and turn the youth in a positive direction--then Len's death will have not been in vain.

Dean Smith
Retired Head Coach, University of North Carolina

His senior year he was sensational. He improved each year and he almost single-handedly beat us here in Chapel Hill. I could see why Red Auerbach wanted him; he was very quick, a very good athlete and he got better and better every time we played.

The morning he died, our camp was in session and I was driving from one camp to the other, and I heard the news on the radio. I was in shock. The whole camp was in shock. It was amazing. It got so quiet everywhere. It was quiet at lunch, the whole camp, the kids; everyone in athletics that knew of him was in complete shock.

After I heard the news, I called Lee Fentress, his agent, who also represented Brad Daugherty and they were already working real hard to get things straight. It is a sad time and maybe the only good thing that could come from it is that others don't celebrate that way.

For more, including some very powerful and vivid accounts from fans about how they remember the one and only Len Bias, please click here. We also invite you to please share your own memories.

Author Greg Abel also shares his own memories.

Photos © Kevin Allen

Greg Abel is a freelance writer in Baltimore and can be reached at gregoryabel@yahoo.com.

Compiled by Greg Abel for Baltimore Pressbox Magazine

June 2006

John Kochan, former assistant coach, University of Maryland

Retired from basketball after many years as head coach of Millersville University

Recruited Len Bias from Northwestern High School

Len was good high school player, but he was not a mega, mega star like some other guys. Adrian Dantley, for example, when he was sophomore at DeMatha, he was already a superstar.

I thought he would be a good player, he was a little bit thin in high school But he got thicker with weights and became The Man. I thought he was just a bubbly person. I got a chance to get close with his mother and father. They came to every game; they were close and wanted to see him play.

The morning it happened, I was on my way to [Millersville University basketball camp, where Kochan was head coach], and Lenny was supposed to speak two days after that. I was totally shocked. I called his mother and asked how she was doing and what was going on. I was beside myself and obviously watched everything unfold in terms of what fell down as a result. It was a sad, sad time in the history of Maryland and the life of that family.

I had no clue that something like that was going to happen. Do I ever think he did it before? Absolutely no. What actually happened, I’ll never know, I never suspected anything, there was never a sign, never an indication that he was into drugs.

I saw a tragic accident and it made me realize that life is even more fragile than you think and mistakes can cost you dearly. What a waste.

Kenny Smith

NBA Analyst, Turner Sports

(from comments made on air, provided by Turner Sports public relations)

“I played against Len Bias in the ACC and he was a unique power forward/small forward because he was a guy who could play with his back to the basket and he had a body by Adonis, so to speak, he looked like he was sculpted. He also had this great athleticism with a soft touch. To put him with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, you would think that his career would have been a 15-20 year career, NBA All-Stars, NBA All-Star games and probably one of the greatest players that ever played this game if he had an opportunity to do it. I thought it made a profound effect on everyone’s idea and their thought process about drugs. In all of this tragedy, this was still a message saying you can be torn down no matter how strong (you are), how powerful you look, how great a body you have, how great a basketball player you are, if you do the wrong things, this is what happens to you.”

Meredith Geisler
Former Public Relations Director, Advantage International
Agency that represented Len Bias

For me it was more of a professional situation than personal. He was probably our firm’s most significant basketball signing from a recruiting standpoint. We had good basketball clients, we had Moses Malone, Sam Perkins, Bobby Jones and many others, but Bias was local and he had a tremendous amount of marketing and PR potential.

He was going to be the flagship player for Reebok and a star, everyone knew it. That Thursday morning, the day after his Boston Celtics press conference, was going to be a busy day. I came in to our office in Georgetown earlier than I normally do, at around 8 a.m. Before I even got off the elevator I could hear the phone ringing and ringing. I unlocked the door, no one was there yet, and picked up the phone at the front desk. And in a low, southern drawl I hear this voice in a state of panic. It was Lefty Driesell and he said, ‘I need to speak to Lee Fentress. (Fentress was Len Bias’ agent). It's an emergency.'

Lee wasn’t in yet so I just waited at the door for him. He arrived 10 or 15 minutes later. I told him Lefty is calling in a panic, but I didn’t know what was going on yet. A few minutes later Lee called me into his office and said ‘something’s happened to Bias. He might be dead. It was his heart. You need to go with [Bias’s client manager Bill Shelton] over to the Bias house and help the family deal with the media.’

I’m 26 years old at the time … it was just surreal. Bill and I are driving over there and we are about to be with a family whose child was going to be their star … and we are going to be sitting with them and their entire life has been turned beyond upside down.

When we drive up, there were literally hundreds of media camped out on their front lawn, picnic blankets, food, and all.

Gabe Harris

Reston, Virginia:

I got a call from my friend Mike Howe with the news. I figured the call was to discuss the day's lawn mowing activities, or to rehash the weekend escapades. When he told me the news, my reaction was 100 percent certainty that he was joking – and it was not funny. Then he said it again, and I knew it was real. I sunk to the bed. I remember I was in my brother’s room and I can still feel that raw gnawing in the pit of my stomach to this day. It was over. The rest of the day was a daze, just trying to go about my business, make some sense of it all.

I had to do something, so another friend and I went to his dad's tool shed and made a huge banner out of a king-sized sheet, black paint and two wooden pikes, it simply read "34".

We took it up to Westmoreland Circle at Massachusetts and Western, and held it up for hours in the June sun as rush hour motorists rolled from Maryland into the District. Some honked, some shouted out, a few stopped to say thank you, and amazingly to us, many drove past totally indifferent or uncomprehending. I am not really sure why we did it or what we hoped to accomplish, but it felt good to do something, to let the world know that we were carrying the banner of our fallen hero.

Keith Rosenbuam

Owings Mills, Md.

At the time, I was living in Leonardtown and the basketball team was in the building next to us. Bryan Palmer had just gotten kicked off the team and was now one of our roommates. I was somewhat friendly with Keith Gaitlin (who wasn’t). There were nights where basketball games or shoot-arounds would just happen on the Leonardtown Courts and Bias would drain shot, after shot, after shot. The further back he’d go, the more automatic he’d become. Watching him in a game was one thing, on a playground was ridiculous. He’d take on all comers for 1-on-1 or just a game of Horse and flash that big grin of his and then destroy anyone who’d challenge him, from a teammate or some frat guy who thought he could take LB.

The day he died, I was taking a summer class and this guy I knew, Mitch from New Jersey, came in and told me the news. I told him that wasn’t remotely funny. After class, I was walking back to the frat house and the sounds were different, it was quieter on campus. As I got near the Chapel, I could see news trucks down to Route 1, police cars starting to direct traffic and everything was immediately different. I saw a girl standing near the Chapel in absolute tears and I walked up to her and just gave her a hug. One of the news stations, DC Channel 7 I think, faded to black that night with that picture of that hug.

Twenty years later – I am no different than any other Maryland fan from that era. I always wonder what would have been; would the Bulls have won all those titles? Would Jordan or Bias have been the MVP of the league and leading scorer? I see a great college player and tell my sons, “so and so may be good, but he is no Lenny Bias. Have I ever told you about Len Bias?”

Joanna Sullivan

Editor, Baltimore Business Journal

University of Maryland graduate

I was living in Baltimore working as an intern on the Sun's copy desk the summer Len Bias died. My friend Elena and I subletted a dumpy house in Waverly from a couple Hopkins students. I remember running to answer the phone early one morning. It was my father calling from Philadelphia. He told me Len Bias died from a cocaine overdose. I couldn't believe it. Minutes later someone from the now-defunct Evening Sun called me. They were looking for Maryland students to interview before their deadline. I gave the reporter a few quotes about how sad it was. My quotes were suddenly sent across the U.S. in the first AP stories about his death. A friend from out-of-state called me to tell me they saw my quotes in a Maine newspaper.

Anyway, Lenny was a big part of my college life. Watching him play was incredible. But he was a big deal off the court too. He was definitely a celebrity on campus. He was always surrounded by women. He lived in the New Leonardtown campus apartments where I lived. I saw him often walking around or in the student union lounge.

His death completely devastated the campus. My senior year was consumed by the aftermath of his death. News crews were always on campus. Nightline even did a show from campus. Lefty Driesell resigned. The athletic department was in turmoil. I covered some of the developments as a stringer for the Evening Sun. I mostly remember the vigil Lonise Bias, Len's mother held on the campus mall. The mental picture of her holding a candle and trying to be so stoic has always stayed with me. It was a few years later that she lost her second son, Jay. I always wondered how she held it together.

Mark Luterman

1987 University of Maryland graduate

I was in Cole Field House when Lefty Driesell first spoke about the incident and I was about two feet away when he said ‘Lenny, I love you and I’ll miss you and I will see you again someday.’

The next day I also went to the wake and it was an eerie, eerie thing walking past Ben Coleman and Herman Veal and then seeing Len Bias dead in his casket. It was a feeling of complete amazement and disbelief that this incredible athlete was no longer with us. It was a surreal feeling and it’s hard to put into words and something that I will remember the rest of my life. You can’t forget about it.

To me, he was the greatest athlete I ever saw. I can remember Keith Gatlin flipping the ball up toward the rim and you’d see five or six hand go up but one would rise above and catch it and it was his, it was Len Bias.

Keith Askenas

Reisterstown

1986 Maryland graduate

I graduated from Maryland that year and worked as an intern with the sports marketing department. I was involved in helping coordinate private workouts for Lenny with NBA teams and making sure that the Celtics were set up when they came in. When Reebok came in, I was able to sit in the room with faculty when they were negotiating the deal.

I was out of town when it happened. Some friends and I traveled from June 1^st to 19^th to Las Vegas and Tahoe for a trip after graduation. I actually won $500 on a bet in Vegas that Bias would be taken second overall by the Celtics. I guess I had some inside information there, but you never know what’s going to happen.

That morning (the morning of June 19^th), we were sitting in the airport in Lake Tahoe, getting ready to fly home and go to a party in College Park. We called home and all of a sudden it’s, “did you hear the news?”

Our jaws dropped.

We walked around … me and three other guys … we walked around like zombies for three and a half hours at the airport and missed our flight because we were numb. We didn’t know what to do.

When we came back into town, everyone was in absolute disbelief. It was almost like we were mourning someone in our family. We went back to the fraternity house and you gave each other hugs because we lost someone who was close to us.

Andy Rosenfeld,

Columbia, Md.

I was at my summer job orientation at Winands Elementary school in Randallstown. A guy named Ron Kiewe walked in and said Len Bias died. I didn't believe him. I lived about a half mile from Winands. I sprinted home at lunch time to see my brother crying on the chair in front of the TV. I cried most of that day and the next day. I felt like a family member died. He's still the greatest basketball player I've ever seen.

Dick Davies

Baltimore, Md.

In 1986, I lived in Akron, Ohio and followed Big 10 basketball. I remember knowing who Len Bias was when he died, but I was not that familiar with him. In 1986, Johnny Dawkins and the Duke Blue Devils got all the national coverage. At the time, I could tell you any stat on JD that you wanted to know. Sadly, I knew very little about Lenny because I lived in the Midwest and Maryland was not the No. 1 team. I was actually more affected by what happened nine days after Lenny passed away. The Cleveland Browns soon to be All-Galaxy safety, Don Rogers, died of a similar cocaine overdose during his bachelor party. This guy could hit like Ronny Lott and would have been an absolute beast for a long time to come. He was the 1984 AFC defensive rookie of the year and on his way to greatness. He might have been inducted into Canton by now, an easy trip to make from Cleveland. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years. It’s harder to believe that 9 days was not long enough for someone to reflect on the fatal mistake of another.

Jeremy Gold

Chicago

There are four moments in my life that I remember exactly where I was when I heard "the news":

1. The Challenger Explosion - 6th grade math class
2. The OJ Bronco Chase - sitting around a keg in the backyard of our college apartment
3. 9/11 - At my client's office in Atlanta
4. Len Bias' death – my friend Marc Butt's house.

I was only 11 and I had spent the night at Marc's house with a couple other friends from Middle School. We probably played video games on the Commodore 64 all night. The next morning, Marc's Dad called us to the TV and I just stared at images of Bias' exploits. My heart sank. I couldn't believe it. As a kid, I idolized Eddie Murray and Lenny Bias. That was it. None of it made sense. He was wearing a Celtics hat yesterday!

The ensuing days were really hard. I was only 11, so I didn't understand what was happening, but the University just seemed to get dragged through the mud. Things kept getting worse. As for Bias, in my eyes, he is the single biggest could-have-been, never-was in the history of sports.

John Beaver

I saw Lenny the night he died. We were in Town Hall drinking beer and shooting pool and Lenny came in. He was wearing his Celtics hat and we chatted for a little while. He was with a couple of guys and after they had a beer, they went into the liquor side of store and bought some stuff and left. He came back through the bar side and waived to everybody and the rest is history.

I lived in a dorm near Cole Field House and went over and watched practice quite a bit. Lenny was truly an amazing player.

Jung Lee

New York
Do I remember where I was? Sure. Was it devastating at the time? Sure. Was it a tragedy? Absolutely.

But as is often the case, the fact that he died young (see Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, etc.), has built his legend to a degree that it probably doesn't warrant.

He was a great talent of course, but one of the top five to play in the ACC as Dick Vitale says and everyone wants to believe? He's not even the best college player to play at Maryland. Albert King was a better college player than Bias, but fortunately (or unfortunately) he lived on to a mediocre NBA career. John Lucas was the first pick in the draft - as a 6-1 point guard!

One thing it did do though is scare the #!#$0 out of me that one use of drugs could kill you. That is some scary shit.

Brian Pinsky
Reisterstown, Md.

I can vividly remember exactly where I was when I got the news about Len Bias. I had just finished my sophomore year of high school year so I was asleep and my uncle called me and broke the news like Lenny was a member of my family. I was only 15 and could not really comprehend what had happened.

We lost a player who most people in this state thought was already a legend. Just a year before, I had been at Millersville University Basketball Camp in Pennsylvania and Len came up to talk to the campers and put on a dunk show. I sat 10 feet from him.

The man was a beast, he seem invincible. One of my friends asked him what his vertical leap was and I remember Lenny said, “I’m not sure, I am working on touching the top of the backboard.”

I will never forget the foul line jumper that he hit in the NCAA tournament for the Terps to win … or the steal that he made followed by a reverse dunk against North Carolina.

I think everybody in the state who follows sports knows that the drug dealer involved was Brian Tribble. It is very rare for a drug dealer’s name from 20 years ago to roll off my tongue without hesitation.

With Lenny we will never know … could he have been Jordan’s rival?

Neil Maria

I was in attendance at the last Maryland game that Bias played-in for the Terps.

March 1986

Location: Long Beach Arena (Convention Center or the like.)

Venue: NCAA Tourney

Opponent: UNLV

Winner goes to Sweet 16

UNLV advances.

However, after Maryland beat Pepperdine, the place was packed with SoCal basketball fans taking the day-off or playing hookie from work to catch a glimpse of Bias. After what I remember being a lackluster half and Maryland down by 9, 10 or 11...Bias came out in the 2nd half and literally took-on the entire UNLV starting 5 and tied the game in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half. Patented base line jumper, steals, slams, steals, slams and patented base line jumper. (At least that is the way I remember it.)

The thing that stuck out was the manner the fans were in awe of Bias. They spoke to us like we were unbelievably fortunate to root for a team that had a talent like Bias. And, we were!!!! The best part was that we never took his talent for granted. Unfortunately Lenny did......

Greg Smouse

Baltimore, Md.

I spent my junior year of college studying at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, spending the school year very far from Davidson College (where incidentally Lefty Driesell coached with great success before coming to Maryland).

When the spring semester was over, I took advantage of the chance to do some traveling. On a very cold and wet night I found myself in a small town somewhere in the southern coast of England. As the rain beat down, I huddled inside a distinctly English red telephone booth to call a friend back home in Baltimore.

Halfway through the phone call he told that Len Bias had died of an overdose. The police were investigating. I was stunned. I was about the same age as Bias and could not believe that someone so young, so strong and so healthy, could perish.

I walked out into the rain completely alone. There was no one I could talk to. There was no one who could understand my confusion and yes, my pain. No one in England knew who Len Bias was, or why he mattered.

There was on one who would understand that I became a Maryland fan in earnest on the night my parents took me to Cole Field House in 1983 and we sat behind the Maryland band playing "Amen!" as the Terps trounced the number one UNC Tar Heels with some skinny kid named Jordan. Imagine that! Seeing Michael Jordan and Len Bias on the same court together. It remains a favorite sports memory. One I much prefer to the night I walked around in the cold, English rain trying to come to terms with the news that we are all, indeed, mortal.

One thing I wrestled with as I walked around that night was how someone could have killed such a gentle soul such as as Len Bias. Immediately upon hearing the news I was willing to buy into the conspiracy theory and exonerate Lenny from having a hand in his own demise.

When I got home several months later I realized that Lenny had killed Lenny. Someone gave him the drug, but he is the one who ingested it. He had made a bad mistake and paid a great price. I still think how magnificent he would have looked on the parquet at the Boston Garden playing with Larry Bird. It is a shame that Lenny denied himself that experience.

Kurt Helwig

Clifton, Va.

Len Bias was a GREAT player. And this was just as college hoops was exploding beyond its real die hard fans to become the nationwide phenomenon that it is now. Len Bias was as exciting and dynamic a college player as I have ever seen.. You could tell he had fun on the floor. He possessed an almost a larger-than-life persona. His senior year he was doing things on the floor that #23 hadn't even done yet.

I will never forget where I was – I was working in the mail room of an association and had my radio on. This was before the days of all-sports radio and they cut into the WMAL morning show to make the announcement. I listened in disbelief, hoping and praying that I heard something wrong. At first we did not know that it was drugs, though perhaps we suspected – we were kind of hoping against hope that it was something else.

Anyway, my friend Jimmy and I went to the memorial service at Cole. Bias was our favorite player of all time and it was incredibly sad. As far as long-term effects go, let me just say this: drugs, especially coke was, believe it or not considered fairly benign back then. It wasn't unusual to see people, our peer group of young professionals, doing it in bars and out in public.

After Len Bias died, it was like a switch was turned off, it was no longer socially acceptable to do anymore, it was just stupid and pathetic. I think the mind set was “if Bias could die doing that in the great shape he is in, why would anyone take that kind of chance?” I personally know many people who never did any drugs after that event. I like to think that if anything positive could be gained out of such a tragic experience, it was that. Maybe that is his legacy.

Alan Kline

Washington, D.C.

I remember where I was when I heard: working a summer job landscaping. Of course, I had no attachment to Maryland at the time (I lived in Boston). I was a Celtics fan back then. (today I couldn't name the starting 5.) My initial reaction was "tough break" but the Celtics have always been good and would get through it. Of course, 1986 was their last championship.

Jimmy Lynn

I graduated high school in '80 from WT Woodson (Pete Holbert and Tommy Amaker's school), then graduated from AU in '85. My favorite teams were Maryland and Georgetown. I loved the Buck Williams / Albert King / Ernie Graham Terps as well as the Patrick Ewing / Sleepy Floyd Hoyas.

But my favorite all-time college basketball player was #34, Lenny Bias.

I first remember him as a freshman ... he was raw, athletic and powerful. I so vividly remember that jump shot from the foul line during the latter part of his freshman year. I don't recall the opponent, but I remember he hit a game-winner. It showed that this kid had potential. Then, he turned in those monster years during his junior and senior years. I recall that beautiful stroke from the baseline as well as those powerful dunks, with his legs splayed open. He was cocky, but he was so good. And, he had fun playing the game.

During his last home game, a couple of good friends and I went to watch the Terps' game at RJ Bentley's in College Park. I remember one of my friends said that we had to drink a shot every time Lenny made a shot. Well, no one can drink that much -- after all, Lenny was draining jumper after jumper.

I still recall how the Duke fans were in awe of Lenny during his last game at Cameroon Indoor Stadium - they even applauded his greatness. And, who can forget that magical game he had against UNC his junior year?

I was happy for Len that he was chosen by the Celtics. After all, he would get to play w/ one of the all-time greats, Larry Bird. Wow, what a combination they would have been.

On June 19, 1986, I was visiting one of my closest friends near Princeton, New Jersey. I was scheduled to drive home that day. That was the day I got the phone call that Lenny had overdosed and died. I was in shock. "Not Len Bias!" were my first thoughts. No friggin' way. NOT LENNY BIAS. I was crushed. Devastated.

To pay homage to the Bias family, another one of my best friends and I went to Cole Field House for the memorial service. We were moved to tears as Coach Driesell asked the crowd to give Lenny one more standing ovation. I recall how hot it was in Cole that day. Brutally hot. But, we had a hole in our hearts as we sat there in disbelief ... not wanting to believe that Len Bias was no longer alive.

I still can't believe the strength Mrs Bias showed on that day. What a remarkable woman. And, to have to do it a second time with the passing of Jay Bias is almost too cruel.

I was in my first year of grad school in '86. I know that a number of friends had experimented socially with recreational drugs at that time. But, after Lenny's death, most of them stopped. Because, if it could kill our hero, Lenny Bias, it could kill anyone.

Brian Edmonds

Charlottesville, Va.

I remember it well. It made me forever terrified that if I did coke just once, my heart would explode too.

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