Comcast Center

Conner Lipinski was born in Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. He grew up in nearby Gambrills and attends Annapolis Area Christian School. And for as long as the 5-foot-10, 160-pound point guard can remember, he's been a diehard fan of his hometown college hoops team. Lipinski “never really thought” he'd have a shot at playing for Maryland, but the AACS star found himself at Comcast Center on Monday with that seemingly unlikely possibility on the table. “I went down for a practice … [and]

Brenda Frese's 4-year-old son, Tyler, squirmed in his mother's lap Monday as they waited for word on where Maryland's women's basketball team would be seeded and whom the Terps would play in the first round of the NCAA tournament. If Tyler was impatient, so was Frese. The coach and her players have been eager all season to get back to the tournament and eclipse the memory of last season's second-round loss to Georgetown on Maryland's home court. After waiting for most of the televised selection show, the Terps (28-4)

Maryland has told former basketball players Ernest Graham and Johnny Rhodes that they will soon join 16 other Terps whose names and numbers appear on banners hanging from the Comcast Center rafters. The players — from different eras — confirmed in interviews Thursday with The Baltimore Sun that they have been notified by the athletic department that they will be honored this season. Maryland does not retire basketball numbers. Instead, the school hangs mock jerseys from the roof and holds ceremonies for players.

That was some show Mark Turgeon put on in Sunday's Maryland-Virginia game, wasn't it? Oh, he broke out all the psycho-coach moves. He stomped his feet. He whipped off his suit jacket. He shook his fists at the crowd. He got in the faces of his players. Oh, yeah, he even got T'd up. Picked up his fourth technical foul of the season for going thermo-nuclear on the refs. Remind you of anyone? Grey-haired guy who used to go nuts on the sidelines during Terps games? Guy who sweated so much he looked like someone pushed him in a pool when the game was over?

Johnny Rhodes has often been overlooked in the discussion of Maryland's greatest all-time players. That is not surprising, since Rhodes rarely got a ton of credit even as he helped the Terps begin their turnaround under Gary Williams during the mid-1990s. As much as Joe Smith and Keith Booth were the most celebrated players by fans and the media, and for good reason, Rhodes was just as respected by his teammates and coaches. Rhodes finished his career in College Park as one of the best all-around players in program history.

The boys state basketball semifinals and finals, which have been played at Cole Field House since 1956, are expected to move into the $108 million Comcast Center next year. "We have every intention of going and they [Maryland officials] have told us they would love to have us," said Ned Sparks, executive director of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association. Sparks said the only roadblock would be the cost. "We realize there might be a slight increase because of the new facility," Sparks said, "and we know they're trying to accommodate us."

The Maryland men's basketball team's schedule, released yesterday, includes early-season tournament games against West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga and regular-season Big Ten champion Wisconsin. The Terps open Nov. 22 against American University, the first of four straight games at Comcast Center. After contests against George Mason (Nov. 25) and Hofstra (Nov. 29), the Terps meet Wisconsin at home Dec. 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Maryland faces Gonzaga Dec. 6 in the BB&T Classic at MCI Center.

COLLEGE PARK -- Amidst the smoke and darkness from a corner in Comcast Center last night emerged a shiny, black, 1960 Cadillac convertible, overflowing with dapperly dressed members of the 2007-08 men's basketball team. Their exuberant entrance was as fitting and proper as their white suits, considering senior forward Bambale Osby's love for Cadillacs, of which he has four. Maryland Madness last night - at least from Osby's view in the front seat - in one word was "ex-cit-ing." The women's team came out in their little black dresses and shook their tambourines and more.

The rematch of Maryland vs. Duke was always going to be big. Now it's a Hollywood blockbuster. Playing Wednesday at Comcast Center: "Maryland-Duke II: Revenge of the Red-Hot Turtles." I see Harrison Ford as the explosive Gary Williams. Diego Luna as the mercurial Greivis Vasquez. Fred Armisen from "Saturday Night Live" could play the evil Coach K and pick any five young guys to play the Blue Devil starters -- at least that's how Terps Nation would cast it. Then grab your $12 tub of popcorn and trash-can sized Pepsi, sit back and enjoy.

COLLEGE PARK - The NCAA men's basketball defending national champions opened a new year and a new era in style last night as a roaring, near-capacity crowd at the brand new Comcast Center officially welcomed the Maryland Terrapins. Most of the arena's 17,950 seats were full by the time a most unique Midnight Madness event, complete with a laser show and spotlights, heralded the arrival of a new season. Freshman forward Nik Caner-Medley was the first player on the floor, and he greeted the throngs of cheering spectators with a two-handed dunk.

COLLEGE PARK - It's the time of the college basketball season when many coaches become amateur statisticians and bracket pundits, sizing up their schools' records against scores of other would-be participants in the NCAA and NIT tournaments. But not Mark Turgeon. As the Terps (16-11, 6-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) prepared for Saturday's game at Georgia Tech (9-18, 2-11), the Maryland coach was in a Ratings Percentage Index-free zone. "I'll be honest with you guys, I haven't looked at the RPI, the Dick Vitale Bald Dome [Index]

Conner Lipinski was born in Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. He grew up in nearby Gambrills and attends Annapolis Area Christian School. And for as long as the 5-foot-10, 160-pound point guard can remember, he's been a diehard fan of his hometown college hoops team. Lipinski “never really thought” he'd have a shot at playing for Maryland, but the AACS star found himself at Comcast Center on Monday with that seemingly unlikely possibility on the table. “I went down for a practice … [and]

Maryland came into Tuesday's game at Comcast Center against Miami trying to chase away some ghosts from its recent past. The demons came from a double-overtime loss to the Hurricanes three weeks before in Coral Gables, Fla., and a second-half collapse at Virginia three days ago. Recovering from their most lopsided defeat of the season, the Terps did a major exorcism, scoring 10 straight points in a game-closing 14-4 run in the final 97 seconds to...

Johnny Rhodes has often been overlooked in the discussion of Maryland's greatest all-time players. That is not surprising, since Rhodes rarely got a ton of credit even as he helped the Terps begin their turnaround under Gary Williams during the mid-1990s. As much as Joe Smith and Keith Booth were the most celebrated players by fans and the media, and for good reason, Rhodes was just as respected by his teammates and coaches. Rhodes finished his career in College Park as one of the best all-around players in program history.

When Miami beat Duke on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium, it gave Jim Larranaga his first signature win as the Hurricanes' coach -- something Mark Turgeon is still seeking with Maryland. It could have come last Saturday at Comcast Center, when the Terps built a 9-point lead over North Carolina before a late flurry of bad shots, sloppy ballhandling and defensive lapses led to the Tar Heels leaving with an 83-74 victory. I asked Turgeon on today's ACC media teleconference whether he senses that his young team is panicking and trying to do too much to get that first big win. "I don't think that's the case yet," Turgeon said. "I think we had a lot of close games early in the year, we won those games, but we were better than who we were playing. The game we were playing the other day ... just the mistakes that we made, things that you have to correct really good teams.

This is what a young Maryland team had thirsted for all season: a chance to prove it had arrived against a highly ranked conference rival in front of a jacked-up Comcast Center crowd as eager as the players for a signature win. Feeding off adrenaline from their passionate, red-clad fans, the Terps hung in Saturday against No. 5 North Carolina before buckling under the weight of size and second-chance points in an 83-74 Tar Heels victory. The finish was particularly unsatisfying for the Terps and the announced crowd of 17,950.

The Maryland women's basketball team, which was bypassed Monday night when the NCAA tournament field was selected, will instead play in the National Invitation Tournament, hosting Iona on Friday night at Comcast Center. "We have high standards at Maryland and are disappointed to not make the NCAA tournament this year," said coach Brenda Frese, whose Terps are 19-12 overall and finished 5-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "However, I'm proud of this young team for the fight they showed all season.

Maryland's two-games-a-season men's basketball series with Duke - once a rite of winter - will no longer occur every year. The Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday released its future scheduling formats and divisions to account for the arrival - at an undetermined time - of Pittsburgh and Syracuse. In basketball, the Terps will host and play at Pittsburgh annually while facing the remaining 12 conference teams at least once. Maryland will play each of the other schools (besides Pitt)

Longtime coach Gary Williams spoke with the media after Wednesday's court-naming ceremony at Comcast Center.  Here's what he had to say. Williams' opening remarks: "It's been a great ride. A lot of great people, as I said out there. Assistant coaches, players. It's always about the players. That determines your success. Not just their ability, but the character that they show. I've been proud to coach some really great people here at the University of Maryland, and people I'll be friends with the rest of my life.