Boston -- The confetti was still fluttering to the arena floor when it became clear that the world of women's college basketball had just set foot into the future.
We had a slight glimpse of it last season when unheralded Baylor injected some parity into the list of women's NCAA champions. But the Bears were one and done. The Maryland Terrapins, bolstered by a young lineup, a young coach and high schoolers lining up to play in College Park are poised for a reign that has no obvious end in sight.
We don't toss around the word dynasty after a single championship, but it's safe to say the Terps will be the preseason favorite next season. They'll be expected to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and return to the Final Four. Then they'll be expected to do it again in 2008 and beyond.
FOR THE RECORD - A photo caption yesterday on the first page of the Sports section misidentified University of Maryland women's basketball player Laura Harper as Crystal Langhorne. The Sun regrets the error.
The reason is the blueprint.
It's been floating around College Park for a few years now and coach Brenda Frese and her staff are very aware. I'm not talking about the blueprint to success. It's the blueprint to failure, scripted by the school's men's program after it won the national championship in 2002. It's a virtual what-not-to-do list for any team that cuts down championship nets.
Even the casual fan can see that Frese's Terps are in position to sustain their success much better than the men did. The differences in this group and Williams' Terps are numerous, some circumstantial and others tangible.
Just scan down the roster. In Tuesday night's win over Duke, Frese started a pair of freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. Underclassmen played 222 of the team's 225 minutes.
They're fortunate enough to return top-shelf talent, a luxury Williams never had. On the men's team's 2000-01 Final Four squad, four of the five starters returned to play on the championship team the next season. But from that title team, only two starters returned.
Basketball observers have been keeping a close eye on Maryland's young players all year. Many had the Terps pegged as a Final Four team, just not this season. Watching Maryland's underclassmen perform in the second half Tuesday night, it's no wonder the TV talking heads immediately declared the Terps the team to beat next season.
But there's more to it. Despite the dominance of teams like Connecticut and Tennessee, the excitement around the women's game has been largely self-contained. That may be changing and because of the Terps' position at the top of the mountain, they could lead the charge.
