COLLEGE PARK - In his first few years coaching basketball at Maryland, Gary Williams often talked about the importance of recruiting players out of Baltimore.
But after convincing Keith Booth, Rodney Elliot and Juan Dixon to become Terrapins, Williams heard more about the players who left the city for other schools, most notably Towson Catholic's Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse.
That will change this season.
Freshman Sean Mosley and sophomores Braxton Dupree and Dino Gregory give Maryland the most Baltimore players it has had at one time in Williams' 20 seasons at his alma mater.
"You look at the careers of Keith, who I brought back as an assistant coach, and Rodney, who's played in Europe for 10 years now, and Juan Dixon, what he's done with his life, I take a lot of pride in that," Williams said yesterday.
"The success story of those players coming out of Baltimore is not something that is talked about much in Baltimore. If you watch players from Baltimore and where they've gone and what they've done, I think we've done as good as any school that's had more than one or two players from Baltimore."
Dupree and Mosley, in particular, could have a tremendous impact on this year's team, which will hold its first public workout tonight as part of the Maryland Madness festivities at Comcast Center.
After struggling with his weight and confidence as a freshman last season, Dupree transformed his body - and potentially his game - over the summer. The former Calvert Hall star dropped more than 20 pounds after ballooning to as heavy as 285 pounds late in the season.
Dupree said he put on weight as his playing time and practice time dwindled toward the middle and end of last season. He said he didn't change his eating habits as much as his workout regimen and acknowledged the weight loss wasn't easy.
"I was expecting it to come off real quick; it was gradual," Dupree said. "I feel a lot different running the floor. Last year, I'd get winded so fast. Now when I'm running up and down the court, it's nothing. It's not even that difficult."
Paul Ricci, the team's new strength and conditioning coach, said Dupree recently recorded times normally reserved for guards, not power forwards or centers, in a test of 18 repetitions that includes sprints and endurance tests.
