COLLEGE PARK — COLLEGE PARK -On a brisk evening, as rain soaked the ground and a mist masked the horizon, a breeze passed through campus. It seemed to touch everyone.
"It was one of the best moments of my life," said junior guard Greivis Vasquez, who's prone to extremes but didn't seem to be overstating his emotions this time.
"Once I saw Maryland get up there, I threw my clipboard down, jumped up and screamed as loud as I could," said Dave Neal, the team's emotional backbone and lone senior.
"It was a great feeling for me," coach Gary Williams said. "But my feelings were for the players because of their work this year. I didn't want them to not get rewarded for what they did."
Oh, this breeze touched everyone. Even Debbie Yow, whom so many Williams supporters foolishly depict as an enemy of the basketball program that funds much of her athletic department.
"I am especially proud of this team for reaching this goal, after a few heartbreaking losses during the regular season," Yow said last night. "They have showed a lot of courage."
For now, the program isn't back at the top of the ladder. But it has at least found the ladder again. The Terps have put themselves in position to climb.
Anyone who watched them in last week's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament has got to realize that breeze didn't blow its way out of College Park last night. It will still be at the Terps' backs this week, the momentum carrying them into the tournament and a first-round date with California on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo.
"We have a great chance to make a run here," Neal said. "We're playing extremely well right now."
Though Williams won't acknowledge this, there was a sense of redemption surrounding yesterday's unveiling of the NCAA tournament field. He would like us to think there was never a rainy day around his program. But this tournament trek has been one of his toughest. And one of the most satisfying, considering the heat that has surrounded Williams and his program.
Making three National Invitation Tournament trips in four seasons has a way of bringing out the vultures. Well, they were swatted away with vigor last night, perhaps scared by the noise as much as anything.
Players and coaches gathered at Comcast Center, and, though media were not invited to view the celebration, when Maryland was announced as a No. 10 seed in the West Regional, as guard Eric Hayes put it, "all havoc broke loose."
