College Park -- If every fan of the Maryland women's basketball program was thinking it, well, university president C.D. Mote Jr. just came out and used the "D" word.
Standing a few feet from coach Brenda Frese as she and her team celebrated the program's first national title in April, Mote said, "This is, fans, the beginning of a dynasty in women's athletics."
Such are the expectations when you win with two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior in the starting five, have a commitment from the nation's most-touted transfer and are primed to sign another top-five recruiting class.
Frese and her players are learning what it's like to play queens of the mountain in women's college basketball, and they're not shy about saying they like the fit.
"I love it," Frese said of the new bull's-eye on her program. "I'll take this challenge anytime. We've got kids that are easy to challenge and motivate. They're hungry, they work hard, so yeah, if you're a competitor, you like it."
Her players sound, if anything, more confident.
"We have all five of our starters returning so why shouldn't we be able to win again?" mused All-America candidate Crystal Langhorne. "And the year after, we'll be losing one starter. We're very young, so I think we're very capable of winning for two more years."
The Terps women did plenty to solicit affection last season. They vanquished longtime Atlantic Coast Conference nemeses North Carolina and Duke and won a tense game on the biggest stage in their sport. And they proved an interesting and appealing crew in the process.
There was Frese, the dynamic young coach who left a disappointed pack of kids at Minnesota because she thought she could build something special in College Park. There was Shay Doron, the daring Israeli shooting guard who had been Frese's first big recruit to sign. There was Kristi Toliver, the expressive freshman point guard whose overtime three-pointer in the title game gave the team its signature moment.
But as often seems to be the case, all that success raised as many questions as it answered. The first and most obvious is: Can they keep it up?
With all of its significant contributors returning and a flashy transfer from Tennessee in Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood, Maryland is almost every expert's pick as preseason No. 1. Doron is the only senior starter, so it's not hard to imagine the Terps being the preseason pick next year, as well. Frese is assembling a recruiting class that will rank among the best in the country, according to scouts.
