Laron

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It was 1: 30 on a Wednesday afternoon and all 13 Maryland basketball players were packed into a tiny locker room at Thompson-Boling Arena on the University of Tennessee campus.On benches and chairs, they awaited the crush of reporters armed with questions. It is about 30 hours before the Terps' 76-62 loss to St. John's in the semifinals of the NCAA South Regional -- otherwise known as the Sweet 16.It was the 13th day out of the past 20 that the Maryland players have been away from their classes in College Park.

COLLEGE PARK -- The transformation in Laron Profit was confounding.A junior forward, he led Maryland and the Atlantic Coast Conference in steals this season, with an approach firmly rooted in the fall. He relates to an elite defensive back, say Deion Sanders, or the "neighborhood bully who took your ball and told you to go home."So what happened to that bravado once Profit got his hands on the ball? When he came open on the perimeter in January, Profit became stricken with paralysis by analysis.

Even if Ray Lewis did use deer antler spray his body would have never absorbed the banned substance its manufacturer says gives the product its potency, a Johns Hopkins professor said. Sports Illustrated ran an article online Tuesday that connected the Ravens linebacker to S.W.A.T.S. - Sports with Alternatives to Steroids - a company that has marketed alternative health supplements and products to athletes (ThePostGame, which is led by Pikesville native David Katz and currently staffed by former Sun sports intern Robbie Levin, had the story two years ago )

COLLEGE PARK -- That was a telling conversation Laron Profit had with his mother Tuesday morning. It seems that Bernetta Truiett's son had a much easier time than she did accepting his third-team status on the all-Atlantic Coast Conference basketball team. "I couldn't believe it," Profit's mother said. "I was in shock when I heard the news. I called my husband, and told him I'd have to call Laron and comfort him. When we talked, Laron just said, `Chill.' He said I shouldn't let it bother me. I was the one upset, and he's the one who handled it. That made me feel wonderful."

COLLEGE PARK -- He is a work in progress. He is difficult to figure, head-scratching one moment, jaw-dropping the next. There are stretches when he disappears from games, then seemingly out of nowhere, dominates them.It is often frustrating to watch Maryland guard Laron Profit, not only for Terrapins fans who see his burgeoning stardom, but for his teammates and coaches as well. Even his mother gets a little anxious waiting for him to get into the flow of a game."I get on him all the time," said sophomore point guard Terrell Stokes, who has roomed with Profit since they arrived together last season.

WASHINGTON -- Washington Wizards center Jahidi White had just wheeled in the lane and backed his 290-pound body against Michael Smith, who was sent sprawling onto the practice court at MCI Center."

FRUITLAND - The death of a Wicomico County public defender whose body was found Tuesday in his parked pickup truck has been ruled a suicide by the state medical examiner's office. An autopsy performed yesterday determined that Anthony T. Carozza, 40, died of multiple cut wounds to his wrists, complicated by hypothermia, according to Dr. Laron Locke of the medical examiner's office. Carozza, who lived in Salisbury's Coulborn Mill Village neighborhood, was found about 4 a.m. in the truck, which was parked beside a recreational complex in Fruitland.

LaRon Cephas, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward who signed a letter of intent with Maryland but failed to qualify academically, // has enrolled at Delaware Tech, a two-year school in New Castle, Del.Cephas, who is from Wilmington, Del., fell short of the required test score and will try to qualify again this fall.Should he get the necessary score -- either 820 on the SAT or 68 on the ACT -- Cephas would be eligible to play for a Division I school during the second semester. A source says Maryland is still Cephas' first choice.

Baltimore police identified Friday the man whose decomposing body was found a day earlier in a parked car near Lake Montebello, and they have ruled the case a homicide. Diandre Laron Cherry, 25, of the 1700 block of Homestead St. in Northeast Baltimore was shot to death. Separately, a 26-year-old man was shot early Friday in South Baltimore, according to police. The shooting was reported at 1:32 a.m. in the 2400 block of Maisel Court, in the Westport neighborhood. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment, police said, but his condition was unknown.

COLLEGE PARK -- Laron Profit used to dribble just to dribble. Behind-the-back dribbles, crossover dribbles, anything to be flashy and noticed.He used to stare a lot, too. "A vicious stare," he called it. Like when he'd block another player's shot, or throw down a thunderous dunk.Then there was the talking trash-talking, actually. "I talked loudly," Profit said. And often, apparently.That was the old Laron Profit, the pre-Maryland Profit. Hardly recognizable from the still-flamboyant freshman who has made his mark in Maryland's run to an NCAA tournament date Friday in Tempe, Ariz.