Keith Booth

COLLEGE PARK The ultimate team player never complained when asked to guard a man 5 inches taller or 40 pounds heavier.The ultimate team player never balked when his job assignment was defense and rebounding, the unheralded jobs of college basketball.Keith Booth, Maryland's ultimate team player, does the dirty work and the odd jobs for the Terps, and he does them happily.But in the past month, a curious thing happened.The ultimate team player became a significant offensive weapon.Now, with the Terps on the threshold of their third straight NCAA tournament appearance, Booth, a junior, has become a big scorer and the dominating player Maryland, Duke and Kentucky all thought him to be when they recruited him at Dunbar High three years ago.Three times since the beginning of February, the 6-foot-6 power forward has scored career highs.

Former Maryland basketball star and assistant coach Keith Booth, who has spent the past two years as an assistant women's coach at Loyola, was added Tuesday to the men's staff by newly named men's head coach G.G. Smith. Booth, 38, left College Park after Gary Williams retired in 2011 and Mark Turgeon retained only one member of the previous staff, Bino Ranson.  Booth, who grew up in Baltimore and starred at Dunbar, wanted to stay in the area with his daughter in high school and took a job on the women's team.

COLLEGE PARK -- The 18-foot jumpers, delivered with near-flawless form, fall gently into the bottom of the net. The three-pointers, from behind an imaginary arc and from a distance used in the NBA, are made with more than respectable accuracy.Then come the free throws."I want you to hit 26 of 30," Andy Enfield tells his latest disciple.After two of the first three are missed, the shooter screams in mock horror.Then he bears down.One, two 33 in a row."I can't say I've ever made that many," says the shooter.

Entering the NCAA tournament, the Maryland Terrapins were desperately playing for time. The Terps were trying to extend a memorable season and keep their three starting seniors' college careers alive at least one more game. Maryland, the No. 4 seed, survived 26 points by Houston guard Aubrey Coleman and beat the 13th-seeded Cougars, 89-77, to advance to a second-round meeting with fifth-seeded Michigan State here Sunday for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen. It was the 10th straight victory for Maryland in a first-round NCAA game dating back to 1998.

COLLEGE PARK -- Their profiles have changed since high school. Where once Keith Booth was considered among the country's blue-chip stars, he is now a blue-collar senior whose coach feels he is unappreciated. Where once Matt Harpring was lightly regarded as a big-time college prospect, he is now an All-American.But certain things about these two forwards are remarkably similar.With the departure of Joe Smith two years ago and four seniors after last season, Maryland is Booth's team. With the backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Drew Barry gone from a team that won last season's Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship, Georgia Tech is Harpring's.

Keith BoothDunbarBasketballThe 6-foot-7 senior forward had 60 points, 23 rebounds and 15 assists in two games last week. Tuesday, he scored a season-high 35 in a 107-62 victory over Patterson. Against then-No. 1 Lake Clifton on Friday, he had 25 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in a 64-47 victory.

FIRST TEAMPlayer .. .. .. .. School .. .. Hgt. .. .. Year ... .. Pos.Keith Booth .. .. .Dunbar .. .. 6-7 .. ... Sr. .. .. ... FDamon Cason .. .. Southern .. . 6-2 .. ... Jr. .. .. .. . GRandolph Edison ..Edmondson ... 5-7 .. ... Sr. .. .. .. . GReggie Frazier .. Lake Clifton. 6-4 .. ... Soph. .. .. .. FNorman Nolan .. . Dunbar .. ... 6-8 .. ... Jr. .. .. .. . CKevin Norris .. . Lake Clifton. 5-9 .. ... Sr. .. .. .. . GTroy Parker .. .. Walbrook .. . 6-3 .. ... Jr. .. .. .. . FShawnta Rogers .. Lake Clifton.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Obinna Ekezie, Maryland's 6-foot-9 freshman center, is expected to start today against UCLA in place of injured Mario Lucas. And, after the NCAA reviewed his spring trip to Chicago for an NBA playoff game, junior forward Keith Booth will start again, as usual.After Lucas missed his second straight practice yesterday because of a sprained ankle, coach Gary Williams said that Ekezie likely would start in the Wooden Classic against UCLA freshman Jelani McCoy."Sometimes necessity is a great thing," Williams said.

Chicago St. (0-2) at Maryland (2-0)Site: Cole Field House, College ParkTime: 8 p.m.Radio: WBAL (1090 AM), WTOP (1500 AM)Outlook: This is the first meeting between these schools. Maryland has won its first two games by an average margin of 27 1/2 points. Four Terps are averaging in double figures, led by senior forward Keith Booth (19.5). Chicago State lost to Missouri by 30 points and Bradley by 22. The Cougars, 2-25 last season, are led by 6-foot-7 senior forward Kory Billups, who averaged 16.1 ppg and 9.0 rpg last season.

Gary Williams (105-77), seventh season.Affiliation: Atlantic Coast Conference.1994-95 record: 26-8, 12-4 in ACC, tied for first.Radio: WBAL (1090 AM)Tickets: Most games sold out. Tickets to selected games may be available. Call (301) 314-7070 or (800) 462-8377. Tickets for Monday game against Towson State at the Baltimore Arena available at $19, $12, $8. Call (410) 481-SEAT or Arena box office.Starters lost: Joe SmithOutlook: The focus, at least initially, will be on replacing Joe Smith's 20 points and nearly 11 rebounds per game.

Keith Booth (Dunbar), who helped Maryland to four NCAA tournament appearances as a shooting guard from 1994 to 1997 and has been a Terps assistant coach for the past five seasons, was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference's 2010 Men's Basketball Tournament Legends Class on Tuesday. Booth was a third-team All-America selection in 1997 by the Associated Press and the NABC and is ranked ninth on the Maryland career scoring list with 1,776 points, sixth in rebounds and sixth in steals.

A positive sign for the Maryland basketball team came in the number of shots Greivis Vasquez missed Friday night, as well as the number of passes the senior guard made that turned into easy baskets for the Terrapins. Those numbers added up to an 89-51 victory over Charleton Southern in the season opener at Comcast Center. Despite shooting 3-for-14 from the field and finishing with just nine points, Vasquez had 13 assists to set the tone for the Terps, who shared the ball (27 assists)

There were no chants of "Boooooooooooth," as there used to be at Cole Field House when he was playing basketball for Maryland. But Keith Booth, the former Terps star turned assistant coach, got his share of attention at Ravens camp in Westminster yesterday. And most of it had to do with the commitment the Terps just received from St. Frances star Sean Mosley, the latest Baltimore player to announce he was headed to College Park. "As a young player growing up in Baltimore, having the opportunity to play at the University of Maryland and come back as a coach, it's really good to walk around and be recognized for things that you've accomplished.

University of Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams put the finishing touches on his new-look coaching staff yesterday by adding one of the best players in Terrapins history. Keith Booth, a former star at Dunbar who went on to become one of Williams' signature recruits in College Park, was announced yesterday as the Terps' new assistant coach, replacing former teammate Matt Kovarik. After three years on Williams' bench, Kovarik is likely to return to law school. Mike Lonergan, who guided Division III Catholic University to a 251-88 record over 12 seasons and a national championship in 2001, also joined the staff in April, replacing Jimmy Patsos, whose 13-year tenure as an assistant ended when he became head coach at Loyola.

WASHINGTON -- The moment came with 4:09 left in the first half, and Juan Dixon was too busy sizing up Wisconsin to notice. All season, Dixon had been chasing the late Len Bias on the University of Maryland's all-time scoring list. When Dixon made his first three-pointer yesterday to give the Terps a 32-25 lead in an 87-57 rout of the Badgers, he had reached 2,150 career points and stood alone. "Coming into this school, a lot of people knocked Coach [Gary] Williams for recruiting me. I had a lot of critics," Dixon said.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Scorers should be nice to point guards, the guys who get them the ball. That wasn't the case in the St. John's locker room at Madison Square Garden last Friday night. The site of some epic boxing matches had another intriguing fight, as Erick Barkley questioned the defensive commitment of Bootsy Thornton, and the two reportedly came to blows. Before this college basketball season, Maryland's Juan Dixon was breaking bad. He's buddies with Steve Blake now, but the two tested each other last September.

Ever since the days he would sit wide-eyed, watching the late Len Bias play, Keith Booth has been enamored of the Maryland Terrapins. So those close to the Dunbar star weren't surprised when he announced his college choice."

University of Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams put the finishing touches on his new-look coaching staff yesterday by adding one of the best players in Terrapins history. Keith Booth, a former star at Dunbar who went on to become one of Williams' signature recruits in College Park, was announced yesterday as the Terps' new assistant coach, replacing former teammate Matt Kovarik. After three years on Williams' bench, Kovarik is likely to return to law school. Mike Lonergan, who guided Division III Catholic University to a 251-88 record over 12 seasons and a national championship in 2001, also joined the staff in April, replacing Jimmy Patsos, whose 13-year tenure as an assistant ended when he became head coach at Loyola.

BayRunners coach Herb Brown told guard Keith Booth to take one night to think about his future with the team.Booth did, and he has decided to honor his contract and return to the BayRunners.Booth was suspended for Wednesday's 101-81 win over the San Diego Stingrays for missing practice. He thought about leaving the team, but he met with Brown yesterday, and told his coach he wanted to remain on the squad."He told me Wednesday that he did not know if he felt committed to playing," Brown said.

A sure sign of a victory came about 10 feet outside of the BayRunners' locker room after last night's game -- the music was blasting. That alone created a different mood after the BayRunners' first victory in franchise history, a 101-81 win over the San Diego Stingrays before 6,423 at Baltimore Arena, compared with the mostly silent locker room in Friday's season-opening loss to Trenton. The BayRunners (1-2) jumped to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and maintained it most of the game.