KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Five months earlier, an awkward and undersized group of basketball players took the court at Comcast Center and began its season with Maryland Madness, the first official practice of the season.
Expectations were low. One publication even picked the Maryland men to finish dead last in their conference. Their own fan base was already fracturing, as even longtime supporters were starting to question the future and the effectiveness of head coach Gary Williams.
"We're going to prove some people wrong," predicted Greivis Vasquez, the Terps' bold and colorful junior.
Five months later from Maryland Madness to March Madness - the group walked off the court at the Sprint Center, spirits hanging low and heads held high, their surprising season punctuated suddenly by inevitable disappointment. The Terps' unexpected appearance and brief run in the NCAA tournament ended yesterday in the second round, where Memphis doused water on a hot Maryland team, winning in impressive fashion, 89-70.
In recent days, they'd been buoyed by confidence - overconfidence in the cases of some - but it wasn't that long ago that the Terps were a team in danger, a basketball program in crisis. Time and time again, they showed how heart and effort and resilience can win basketball games. North Carolina at home. N.C. State on the road. Wake Forest in the ACC tournament. And then California in the NCAA tournament.
But in one afternoon, in just 40 minutes of basketball, they were shown that sometimes talent helps, too.
Memphis put on a clinic. The Terps were reduced to summer campers on the court. They couldn't run their offense, couldn't defend the perimeter and couldn't keep pace with a Tiger team that had struggled in its first-round game Thursday and used the hapless Terps to make a statement. At least summer campers get free T-shirts, though. All the Terps got was a series of lessons in moving the ball on offense, in defending it on defense, and in dominating an opponent in every aspect of the game.
The final numbers weren't pretty. Memphis was red-hot from the field. "There was nothing we could do," said Maryland senior Dave Neal. The Tigers were much bigger, too, and had more success executing their offense. One player, senior Antonio Anderson, had more assists (11) than the entire Maryland team (nine).
But oddly, all of the lopsided statistics felt like mere footnotes. The season won't be remembered for a second-round loss in the NCAA tournament; it'll be remembered for a second-round appearance.
