Maryland Basketball

Let's look at what we know so far about Maryland's men's basketball nonconference schedule. We know about the Kentucky game in Brooklyn (the Barclays Center Classic) on Nov. 9. We know about the game at Northwestern in the ACC / Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 27. Maryland is committed to play again in the BB&T tournament at Washington's Verizon Center in December. While final details are being worked out, the Terps are expected to play George Mason this year. And then there are three more games - LIU-Brooklyn, Morehead State and Lafayette - that the Terps will host as part of the Barclays tournament.

Welcome back to Morning Shootaround, a regular feature the day after Maryland basketball games. We will recap what was said in the news conference afterward by Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and his players. We will give some of our own insight into what transpired on the court during the previous game, and what the Terps will be working on at practice as they look ahead to their next game. Maryland 58, Alabama 57 at Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Ala., Tuesday (NIT quarterfinals)

The Maryland men's basketball team recently participated in two-day training session with members from The Program, a team building and leadership development company. Led by a former Navy SEAL, the Terps were put through physical and mental exercises intended to facilitate teamwork and communication. Check out the video below, courtesy of the Maryland athletic department.

Welcome back to Morning Shootaround, a regular feature this season the day after Maryland basketball games. We will recap what was said in the news conference afterward by Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and his players. We will give some of our own insight into what transpired on the court during the previous day's game and what the Terps will be working on at practice looking ahead to their next game. Maryland 62, Denver 52 @ Comcast Center Tuesday night (NIT second round) As Maryland was about to fall behind by nine points midway through the second half, a fan sitting behind press row yelled sarcastically at Turgeon, “Let's see what you got, Coach.” Another chimed in, “What would Gary do?

Based on what I've seen and heard (i.e., "reporting"), here are some preseason thoughts about Maryland basketball: I think Sean Mosley will be much improved over last season, when he shot 41.3 percent from the field  and averaged 8.1 points after averaging 10.1 the season before. I've noted before that he acknowledged passing up good looks at the basket -- a telltale sign that a player is overthinking on the court. New Terps coach Mark Turgeon has clearly sought to raise Mosley's confidence by giving him more responsibilities as a scorer and team leader.

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams announced the signing of small forward Shane Clark from Philadelphia to a National Letter of Intent to play for the Terrapins, beginning in the fall of 2005. Clark, a 6-7, 195-pound forward, is set to begin his senior season of high school at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., this fall. "Shane is a complete player on the court. He can do many things - he's a great scorer, he plays defense well and he can mix it up on the glass," said Williams.

Earl Badu, a former Maryland basketball player and St. Frances graduate, died after he had jumped to his death Thursday morning. Badu, 33, had jumped from the I-95 overpass onto I-695, where he fell about 50 feet, Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said in an email. She said Badu was still alive at the scene when medic crews arrived around 9 a.m. He was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview, where doctors pronounced him dead. According to online court records, just six days before his death Badu received a five-year suspended sentence for passing a bad check in Montgomery County.

Alex Len's command of English has improved enough that Maryland made the 7-foot-1 Ukrainian center available to the media today for the first time. I will have a full-length story on Len later today with lots more details. In the meantime, here are some highlights: * Len said his game suffered last season because he had so much difficulty with the language that he couldn't always understand what plays were called. “The first three months was the hardest because I didn't know any language.

COLLEGE PARK - Mark Turgeon used to drive the identical route to the arena before every home game. The Maryland men's basketball coach would put on his tie at precisely the same time before his team took the floor. When he recruited players, he had a strategy for just where he needed to sit during home visits. Were these merely regimens? Rituals? Somewhere along Turgeon's long and largely successful basketball road, the line between habit and superstition became blurred. That's the way it goes for many college coaches - and especially Turgeon - who are full of attempts to manipulate fortune.

Seth Allen wasn't quite satisfied. Sure, the Fredericksburg (Va.) Christian combo guard is part of an incoming Maryland basketball class brimming with possibility. It's a confident, five-member group that knows it has the opportunity to make a swift impact on a Terps team that was depth-challenged and faded late in the regular season, finishing 17-15. "I've got a history of playing young kids," coach Mark Turgeon said this week. "And I'm going to play the best players.

Welcome back to Morning Shootaround, a regular feature this season the day after Maryland basketball games. We will recap what Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and his players said in the postgame news conference. We will give some of our own insight into what transpired on the court during the previous day's game and what the Terps will be working on at practice looking ahead to their next game. Maryland 86, Niagara 70 at Comcast Center on Tuesday (NIT first round) Given how unpredictable the Terps have been for most of the past two months, nobody was quite sure which of Mark Turgeon's teams would show up for the first postseason game.

It stands to reason that every die-hard Maryland basketball fan of a certain age remembers where they were 10 years ago Friday. In the first game of their NCAA tournament title defense, the Terps trailed UNC-Wilmington 73-72 in a first-round game in Nashville. Senior guard Drew Nicholas took the inbounds pass, raced up the court and launched a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Maryland a 75-73 win. Does it really feel like that unforgettable NCAA tournament moment happened 10 years ago?

Welcome back to Morning Shootaround, a regular feature this season the day after Maryland basketball games. While we can't bring you into the Terps' locker room after games -- reporters haven't been allowed in there since the last couple of years under Gary Williams -- we will recap what Maryland coach Mark Turgeon and his players said in the postgame news conference. We will give some of our own insight into what transpired on the court during the previous day's game and what the Terps will be working on at practice looking ahead to their next game.

- If it has been a roller coaster season in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the Maryland basketball team the past two months, junior point guard Pe'Shon Howard might be the poster child for the erratic Terps . Howard has gone from being a team captain who started all but one of Maryland's first 15 games to a player who was stripped of his captaincy, suspended for the team's win over then No. 2 Duke and reduced to playing only more than the...

COLLEGE PARK - Lefty Driesell is more than 26 years and 220 miles removed from Maryland's men's basketball program. At 81, the former coach doesn't get to many games anymore. But from his condo in Virginia Beach, Va., Driesell thinks about his Maryland days often - partly because of his lingering affection for the school and partly because he never seemed to find proper closure after being forced out in 1986 following the cocaine-induced death of star player Len Bias. Some of Driesell's former players have kept their distance from the school because they believe he never received his due for the 348 wins and other accomplishments during his 17 seasons as head coach.

Mark Turgeon can barely bring himself to utter the words NCAA tournament these days. The superstitious Maryland basketball coach will begin shaking his head before a reporter can complete a question about Maryland's chances of advancing to what Turgeon has euphemistically referred to as the “four-letter word” tournament. While Turgeon considers it premature to speculate on Maryland's prospects, he knows that the team suffered a setback when it lost Tuesday night, 69-58, to a Boston College team that shut down Maryland center Alex Len. “I just don't get it,” Turgeon said afterward.

LENNY, LEFTY AND THE CHANCELLOR.C. Fraser Smith.Bancroft Press.342 pages. $12.95 (paperback). Drugs killed Len Bias, but the system may have been an accomplice. After the all-American forward for the University of Maryland's basketball team snorted 5 grams of cocaine, enough to fill a coffee cup, his heart and brain ceased to function. Doctors at Leland Memorial Hospital in Prince George's County declared Bias dead at 8:55 a.m. on June 19, 1986. The odds of a high school player reaching the professional ranks were 1 in 10,000 when Bias was selected by the Celtics in the NBA draft, less than 48 hours before his death.

From the illuminated silhouette showing a familiar figure pumping his fist that adorned the outside of the arena, to the season's first sellout crowd inside, Comcast Center had a different feel to it Wednesday night. It had a different feel to Gary Williams, too - different from any of the game nights he had spent there during the last nine years of a 22-year career at Maryland. Even with an old and familiar rival, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and his eighth-ranked Blue Devils, it was not the same for the 66-year-old coach.