COLLEGE PARK -- Late last night, probably after you put the kids to bed - maybe after you put yourself to bed - the Maryland women's basketball team, a parade of shouts and screams, rolled into its Comcast Center locker room one final time this season.
"Sixteen, baby!" shouted senior Crystal Langhorne, putting an exclamation point on the Terps' spot in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament.
If it was too late for you to make the trek to College Park on a weeknight, the game was televised. But if you flipped on ESPN, you probably saw an inconsequential National Invitation Tournament matchup. You had to go to ESPN2 for the women's NCAA tournament, where the Terps took on Nebraska in a game that was trying its best to outlast Jay Leno.
We won't turn this into an ESPN-bash session, but we would be remiss if we didn't at least point out that while the Terps might be picking up victories on the court - last night's 76-64 win over Nebraska was just the latest - off the court, they've run into some less-than-stellar luck this March.
No worries, though, because in a hold-your-breath second half last night, the Terps showed once again they have no intentions of making anything look easy. Before we get to that, here's the nickel tour through Maryland's March madness thus far:
A first-round game on Easter.
A second-round game that didn't tip off until 9:53 p.m. and stretched until nearly midnight.
The fact that the Terps board a charter plane this afternoon for Spokane, Wash., while the other three other Spokane teams had the luxury of playing Monday, giving them each more than a full day's head start in preparing for the Sweet 16.
And the guarantee that after scooting by the Cornhuskers, the Terps now have at least one more late start awaiting them. Saturday's game against Vanderbilt tips off at 9 .m.
"First of all, I'm glad you all stayed up so late to watch this tremendous win," is how coach Brenda Frese opened her post-game news conference last night.
For the record, Kathy Worthington, Maryland's senior associate athletic director, said the Terps were "ecstatic" to be on national television, but "disappointed" in the late start.
Worthington said school officials had discussions and made sure the network and the NCAA knew what might best suit Terps fans. But being the No. 1 seed and the site host doesn't give a school much scheduling muscle.
