Greivis Vasquez

Having spent my first 24 years in Pennsylvania and given that I went to college at Penn State, where a NCAA tournament game takes a backseat to the spring football scrimmage, I didn't really begin to appreciate what outgoing Maryland coach Gary Williams had accomplished on the college basketball scene until I arrived in Baltimore five years ago. Chances are when I'll look back on Williams 20 years -- and likely a few Maryland coaches -- from...

Longtime Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams explained his sudden decision to retire Thursday in terms that anybody could understand, and — with all due respect for his Hall of Fame-worthy career — I still don't understand it. "It's the right time," he said in a news release. Frankly, I can't think of a worse time, either for the coaching legend that is Gary Williams at Maryland or the Terrapins men's basketball program that he pulled out of the ashes 22 years ago and maintained at a level of national prominence for nearly a generation.

On Sunday night, Jordan Williams retreated to his room to watch the National Invitation Tournament selection show. The Maryland center wasn't tuning in to find out whether the Terps (19-14) would be invited — he figured that was a lock — but to learn whom the team would be playing and when. "I fully expected us to be a top seed in that tournament," the sophomore said. "For us not to be in was crazy. " It was a jarring end to the season for Maryland — the sort of ending that makes players and coaches yearn for the next season to swiftly arrive so they can write a new ending.

Maryland plays a Florida State team Wednesday night that is top-ranked in the nation in defense and features a 26-year-old shot blocker who never played in high school or the Amateur Athletic Union but honed his game on military bases in the Middle East, where the temperature climbed above 115 degrees. The Seminoles (19-7, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) build themselves around size and length — attributes that are an integral part of the coaching staff's plan of complicating life for opposing scorers.

Each morning, Monday through Friday, I'll hook you up with some reading material to skim through as you slug down coffee and slack off at the start of your workday -- that way I'll have an excuse to do the same at the start of mine. Running it back: Maryland honored Greivis Vasquez on Sunday then picked up a big win over N.C. State . ... Buck Showalter is ready to get down to business . ... The Capitals beat the Sabres , 2-1. ... Only 20 years old, Trevor Bayne held off a charge from Carl Edwards to win the Daytona 500 . Hitting the links: 1. After bouncing back late in 2010, Michael Gonzalez aims to pick up where he left off [ Baltimore Sun ]

Maryland saluted Greivis Vasquez before the game, then needed to play with the former Terps guard's heart and resilience in an 87-80 victory over North Carolina State on Sunday after dropping three of its previous four Atlantic Coast Conference games. The Terps — led by Jordan Williams' 26 points and Terrell Stoglin's 25 — overcame the weight of recent history. Maryland (17-10, 6-6 ACC) had been 2-8 in games decided by single digits, including tight losses in their past two contests.

If you wanted to see genuine emotion, not the phony stuff that so often comes from sports these days, you needed to see Greivis Vasquez's face light up when they honored him here Sunday. The Maryland Terrapins did this one up right, folks. Right before their sloppy 87-80 win over North Carolina State, they hung a banner with his No. 21 from the rafters at Comcast Center, making him only the 16th player in Maryland history accorded that tribute. They put together a wonderful highlight reel of the former Terps great's career that played on the scoreboard, narrated in the stentorian voice of veteran announcer Johnny Holliday.

Maryland entered Sunday's game 2-8 in games decided by single digits. So forgive Terps fans if Maryland's 87-80 victory over N.C. State was a bit unsettling in the final minutes. Jordan Williams scored 26 points on 10-for-12 from the floor and Dino Gregory had a career-high 18 points to lead Maryland. Freshman guard Terrell Stoglin, who started along with fellow freshman Pe'Shon Howard, matched the career high of 25 points he set in Maryland's previous game against Virginia Tech.

There is a revealing statistic about last season's Maryland team, which tied eventual national champion Duke atop the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings. Like this year's team, the 2009-10 Terps played in plenty of close conference games. The difference is, they usually won them. From Feb. 4, 2010, until the end of the regular-season schedule, Maryland played seven games decided by single digits. The Terps — led by the animated, ultra-competitive Greivis Vasquez, who returns to Comcast Center to be honored at Sunday's N.C. State game — won all seven.

Adrian Bowie makes playing in the NIT sound as appealing as food poisoning. "We don't want to be there again," said Maryland's senior guard, who played in the also-ran fest as a freshman. "It was horrible. " I know, I know ... don't you hate how he sugar-coats it? But the way this season's going, Bowie and his teammates may be headed back to the unique postseason hell that is the NIT, the tournament that makes pulse rates slow whenever it's mentioned. Maryland's 91-83 loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Tuesday didn't help its chances of going to the NCAA's Big Dance, that's for sure.