National Invitation Tournament

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Maryland coach Gary Williams and freshman guard Greivis Vasquez - perhaps the two most parallel personalities within the program - handled the Terps' loss to Butler in the second round of the NCAA tournament in a similarly frustrated fashion. Neither will be able to let it go anytime soon. "It's something that I'm going to watch all year," Vasquez said. "I'm going to go farther next year. "I'm the type of guy, I want something better than this," he said. "People are going to say we had a great season, the freshmen did pretty good, put the team in the tournament.

COLLEGE PARK-- --Five years after coaching Maryland to the national championship, not much has changed for - or about - Gary Williams. At 62, he still can be combative and thin-skinned, and he usually is at his best when things appear at their worst. A little more than a month ago, his Terrapins were 3-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and seemed destined for their third straight appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Williams was once again being skewered on radio talk shows and Internet message boards.

GOING TO ATLANTA Georgetown. John Thompson III has the kind of team a father - his - could love, winning with a defense ranked fifth in points allowed (56.5) and a dominating frontcourt led by juniors Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert. Green could be one of the most underappreciated players in the country while the 7-2, 278-pound Hibbert leads the nation in field goal percentage (69.3). The X-factor for the Hoyas could be freshman DaJuan Summers (McDonogh), who scored in double figures 16 times.

They are played in small gyms and big arenas, on home courts and on dome courts, in backwater towns where they are the center of attention and major cities where they are barely noticed except by those who are there for the games. They are crammed into a little more than a week, a blur to those who watch and often the most important moment in the lives of those who play.They are as high-profile as the one the Atlantic Coast Conference has held uninterrupted since 1954, as long overdue as the one the Big Ten will stage for the first time this week in Chicago, as no frills as any number of leagues from the SWAC to the MAAC to the TAAC.

Over the weekend, a number of teams in the nine major conferences will suddenly take an interest in the welfare of Boston University and the College of Charleston.The committee that puts together the 64-team field for the NCAA men's basketball tournament has developed a soft spot for teams that dominate middle-of-the-road conferences but are upset in league tournaments. The trend has meant one fewer at-large berth for the major conferences, some David vs. Goliath story lines and back-patting at the NCAA.

EMMITSBURG -- Mount St. Mary's was left out of the Big Dance, so it now will shuffle off to Normal, Ill., for its first National Invitation Tournament.The Northeast Conference regular-season champion received an NIT berth last night and will visit Illinois State (20-11) for a first-round game Wednesday 9:30 p.m.The Mount-Illinois State survivor will meet the winner of the Manhattan-Wisconsin game nest Monday.Mount St. Mary's (21-7) was knocked out of the NCAA tournament via a 74-70 loss to Rider in the Northeast tournament semifinals last Monday.

Florida International University will hire a men's basketball coach during the next two weeks, and Coppin State's Fang Mitchell interviewed for the job on Monday.Mitchell is one of six finalists. The job became available when coach Bob Weltlich announced his retirement two months ago. Weltlich is preparing the 11-18 Golden Panthers for an unexpected trip to the NCAA tournament, a berth they earned by winning the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament last weekend as the eighth seed.

The Maryland women's basketball team will take part in the inaugural preseason women's National Invitation Tournament next season.The Terps, who finished 15-13, will play Virginia Tech (25-4), the Metro Conference winner, Nov. 15 at Cole Field House.The 16-team preseason NIT will replace the eight-team postseason tournament, which became obsolete with this year's expansion of the NCAA tournament from 48 to 64 teams.Each game in the tournament, including the quarterfinals on Nov. 17, the semifinals on Nov. 20 and the championship game on Nov. 22, will take place at home sites, which will be determined in later rounds by attendance.

The bubble is getting bigger by the day, growing with each conference tournament upset. By the time the selections are made Sunday for the 64-team field in this year's NCAA tournament, it won't be a bubble anymore.By then, it will be a biosphere.The tremors of the upsets are being felt throughout the country. Among the conferences that could be affected are:* The Atlantic Coast Conference, where Virginia (15-11) might have to beat Maryland (16-10), and where Georgia Tech (16-10) might need to beat Wake Forest (19-10)

They've spent the past two seasons as the most successful Division I basketball programs in the state, but Coppin State and Towson State never got to test their skills against each other. Next season, that will change.Mark the afternoon of Dec. 12 as the date Coppin will make the brief trip north to play Towson at the Towson Center. The game, which recently was agreed to by Coppin coach Fang Mitchell and Towson coach Terry Truax, will be the first of a home-and-home series. The Tigers will travel to the Coppin Center during the 1993-94 season.

Sorry, but if I want to watch San Diego State or Saint Mary's or especially Creighton play basketball, I'd subscribe to ESPN MiniU or whoever carries those games. On Moaning Monday, the day after national semi-holiday Selection Sunday, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth concerning overlooked mid-majors who failed to get at-large bids to the Big Dance. Just four of the 34 at-large berths went to the mids, with the rest going to the big guys from the six largest conferences. But let's take note: Maryland was one of those iffy major conference teams.

COLLEGE PARK -On a brisk evening, as rain soaked the ground and a mist masked the horizon, a breeze passed through campus. It seemed to touch everyone. "It was one of the best moments of my life," said junior guard Greivis Vasquez, who's prone to extremes but didn't seem to be overstating his emotions this time. "Once I saw Maryland get up there, I threw my clipboard down, jumped up and screamed as loud as I could," said Dave Neal, the team's emotional backbone and lone senior. "It was a great feeling for me," coach Gary Williams said.

Haven't we seen this movie before? Early March. Maryland sitting on 18 wins with two regular-season games left. That's the picture right now, and it happened to be the situation a year ago, when the Terps whiffed on their final two and then were bounced in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, resulting in a snub by the Big Dance and an invitation to the bridesmaid's ball, the National Invitation Tournament. So what will it take to convince the NCAA tournament selectors this time?

To answer your question, no, it is not too much to ask a team that has won a national championship to reach the NCAA tournament in more than half of the next six seasons. That is Gary Williams' fault. He raised that bar. Without 2002, or the Final Four in 2001, he would have much more reasonable expectations to live with. That's what separates the disappointments of Ralph Friedgen's Terps football program from those of Williams' men's basketball program. Friedgen actually buys himself some slack for not taking them into Florida State territory.

MINNEAPOLIS -- While the National Invitation Tournament is a losing proposition financially for teams such as Maryland that are sent on the road, the Terrapins got something in return during Tuesday's victory over Minnesota in the opening round at Williams Arena. Maryland gained the satisfaction that comes with winning, something the Terps hadn't experienced since a visit to Wake Forest three weeks ago. The team's freshmen also gained more experience in the 68-58 win, and they'll likely get more when Maryland (19-14)

It may be of little consolation for Maryland basketball fans who watched the men's team stumble and bumble its way to the finish line and play its way out of the NCAA tournament, but two-time defending national champion Florida was just as sorry down the stretch. The Gators lost eight of their final 11 and received the same consolation prize as the Terps, a berth in the National Invitation Tournament. But Florida coach Billy Donovan had a further message to send to his team, so he banned his players from their locker room and the rest of a swanky practice facility that includes the practice court and the weight room.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As the Maryland players sat around their quiet dressing room at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Thursday night's disheartening 71-68 loss to Boston College in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament turned into Friday morning's disturbing reality for most members of a team bound for the National Invitation Tournament. With the exception of senior center Bambale Osby, who doesn't want his career as a Terp to end just yet, the NCAA's consolation tournament might stand for Nominal Interest There.

College basketball's postseason landscape shifted yesterday with the introduction of a 16-team men's tournament that will compete with the National Invitation Tournament for teams left out of the NCAA tournament's 65-team field. The new tournament, called the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), raises the possibility that schools could have to decide in March between competing bids from the NIT and CBI. Except for the championship round, it will be a single-elimination tournament played at campus sites.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Maryland coach Gary Williams and freshman guard Greivis Vasquez - perhaps the two most parallel personalities within the program - handled the Terps' loss to Butler in the second round of the NCAA tournament in a similarly frustrated fashion. Neither will be able to let it go anytime soon. "It's something that I'm going to watch all year," Vasquez said. "I'm going to go farther next year. "I'm the type of guy, I want something better than this," he said. "People are going to say we had a great season, the freshmen did pretty good, put the team in the tournament.

COLLEGE PARK-- --Five years after coaching Maryland to the national championship, not much has changed for - or about - Gary Williams. At 62, he still can be combative and thin-skinned, and he usually is at his best when things appear at their worst. A little more than a month ago, his Terrapins were 3-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and seemed destined for their third straight appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Williams was once again being skewered on radio talk shows and Internet message boards.