Opponent

The resume of the Maryland women's basketball team during 11 seasons under coach Brenda Frese includes one national championship, four appearances in the NCAA tournament's regional finals and five trips to the Sweet 16, including this weekend in the home state of its next opponent. Yet the fourth-seeded Terrapins (26-7) arrived here as a prohibitive underdog, attempting to advance to another regional final with a win in Saturday afternoon's game at Webster Bank Arena against No. 1 seed Connecticut (31-4)

Opponents of the effort to raise Maryland's gas tax have thrown around a lot of ridiculous claims in recent weeks, from the argument that the money isn't really needed (if anything, the projected $600 million-a-year return is not enough to meet Maryland's future transportation needs) to hand-wringing over local transportation aid that was diverted toward balancing the state budget during the depths of the recession - as if using the money to spare cuts to schools or avoid tax increases wasn't preferable to pot hole repairs.

If coach Mark Turgeon considers the postseason an educational opportunity for his young Maryland team, then Tuesday night's National Invitation Tournament game at top-seeded Alabama must represent an advanced class. The second-seeded Terps (24-12) are trying to move into the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2005. Maryland will be seeking its first road victory against a team with a winning record. The Crimson Tide (23-12) have won 12 straight home games.

Owning a perfect record can be a double-edged sword. There's the excitement and attention that results from staying unblemished, but there's also the knowledge that opponents are eager to end the run. Both Stevenson and Cornell fell from the ranks of the unbeaten Tuesday. The No. 2 Mustangs dropped a 7-6 decision to No. 9 Tufts and the No. 2 Big Red were nipped, 9-8, by No. 20 Bucknell. Those setbacks are reminders of what awaits 6-0 Washington College as it prepares to dive into the Centennial Conference portion of its regular-season schedule.

The league's top decision makers will spend the next three days at the posh Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix for the NFL Annual Meetings. On the agenda is voting on several potential rule changes, along with an address by commissioner Roger Goodell . It also could be a particularly significant week for the Ravens, who will make a final pitch to try and re-sign free agent safety Ed Reed , learn how many compensatory picks they'll have in...

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more," I say, quoting Shakespeare's Henry V, the breach being not the hole in the wall at Harfleur, but the gap between who Marylanders are as recyclers and who we could be. How's that for reducing a fine literary allusion into a mundane practicality? But I mean well. I'm talking about the gap between being pretty good recyclers of bottles and cans and being nearly excellent recyclers of same. Into that breach comes the bottle-deposit bill, now before the General Assembly.

Anyone hearing the ACLU's position on single-sex education would think something troubling is afoot in almost every town in America. The ACLU claims that single-sex education is an unlawful form of discrimination and that its supposed benefits are based on pseudoscience. In a supposed conspiracy to oppress children, the Catholic Church operates hundreds of single-sex schools across America. A handful of states have opened boys' and girls' schools themselves. The ACLU's lawyers allege that this practice amounts to gender apartheid, a misogynist attempt to hold women back.

Maryland's burst to the top of the rankings has been aided by a 12-10 redemption against reigning national champion Loyola and a 16-7 thumping of Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke en route to a 4-0 record. The Terps have also benefitted from quick starts. This season, the team has outscored opponents, 22-4, in the first quarter and after halftime, the squad has sprinted to a 16-9 advantage in the third quarter. Maryland's ability to put their opponents in an early hole in each half mirrors the wishes of coach John Tillman.

Maryland's gun control debate drew more than 2,000 people to Annapolis on Friday as the House of Delegates took up the governor's bill to ban the sale of assault weapons and impose some of the nation's strictest licensing requirements. People arrived as early as 7 a.m., and some stayed into the night as testimony went past 3 a.m. More than 1,300 people signed up to testify at the House hearing on Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal, overwhelmingly against it. A mid morning rally to support the plan drew a crowd that State House officals estimated at 1,000 people.

For the second game in a row, Navy committed more turnovers than its opponent. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Midshipmen lost both games. The team turned the ball over 18 times compared to No. 18 Fairfield's 13 in an eventual 10-9 loss last Tuesday. On Sunday, Navy coughed up the ball 17 times versus Georgetown's 16 turnovers in a 9-8 overtime loss. The Midshipmen's inability to protect the ball has been a theme harped on by coach Rick Sowell, who was understandably dismayed by the team's performance against the Hoyas.