Terps

Three Maryland targets made Signing Day announcements, but none ended up pledging to the Terps. The first decision came this morning from Korren Kirven , a four-star defensive tackle who made an official visit to Maryland last month. The Lynchburg, Va., native signed with Alabama . Next came Friendship Collegiate (D.C.) defensive tackle Eddie Goldman , who had recently eliminated the Terps from consideration. The five-star prospect signed with Florida State . Finally, three-star offensive guard D.J. Reader , who some thought might be trending toward Maryland , announced that he would attend Clemson . Maryland remains in the mix for Good Counsel five-star wide receiver Stefon Diggs , who will take an official visit to College Park and announce his decision Feb. 10 .

The unseeded Notre Dame men's lacrosse team is coming to Baltimore next weekend for the Final Four. The Fighting Irish knocked off No. 3 overall seed Maryland 7-5 today in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals in Princeton, N.J. Notre Dame (9-6) took down No. 6 seed Princeton last weekend in the first round. The Fighting Irish grabbed a 5-1 first-half lead on the Terps (12-4) and never looked back in reaching its first Final Four since 2001. Sean Rogers scored three goals for the Fighting Irish and goaltender Scott Rodgers shut down Maryland's offense today in securing the victory.

One day after the Maryland women earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Terps made a clean sweep of the major Atlantic Coast Conference awards. Katie Schwarzmann and Iliana Sanza repeated as the Offensive Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Taylor Cummings was the Freshman of the Year and Cathy Reese earned Coach of the Year honors for a record sixth time, when the ACC individual awards were announced Monday. All four are Baltimore-area natives and former All-Metro players.

Until the Terps tied it up at 7 on a 31-yard pass from C.J. Brown to Justus Pickett with 12 seconds left in the first half, the Maryland offense had been mostly three-and-outs and a bad afternoon for Nick Ferrara. The late score prevented Maryland from being shut out in the first half for the first time since the 38-7 loss to Temple earlier in the season. Ferrara's first two punts combined traveled nearly as far (47 yards) as his third (42) to go along with a missed 31-yard field goal.

Maryland pulled a uniform switch prior to Monday night's game - apparently to heighten the impact of its final choice of colors. The Terps came out for warm-ups wearing red pants. But just before the game began, the players raced out of the tunnel in white pants and white jerseys. The biggest surprise may have been the new gold, black, red and white helmets. The team had staged a fashion show last month to unveil the uniforms. At that time, there were only two helmets displayed.

Lukas Foreman, a defensive back-turned linebacker, has been suspended by Maryland for one year for violating the student-athlete code of conduct, the school said. Foreman, 6-3, 205 pounds, entered Maryland last season as a defensive back and redshirted. He switched to linebacker prior to spring practice. He was listed on the depth chart as a backup SAM linebacker. Foreman was recruited from Naples (Fla.) High by former Maryland defensive coordinator Don Brown. Maryland has now announced this week that three athletes -- basketball players Terrell Stoglin and Mychal Parker were the others -- have been suspended for a year.

Unless they are dominating, faceoff specialists get no publicity. In the case of Maryland's Curtis Holmes , he has been so spectacular that he is getting everyone's attention. On a team where there is no legitimate superstar and whose play is defined by a physical, grind-it-out style, it seems only fitting that Maryland's Most Valuable Player in the postseason is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound faceoff specialist. The Terps have a good shooter in Grant Catalino, a strong feeder in Ryan Young and a physical defense paced by seniors Max Schmidt, Ryder Bohlander and Brett Schmidt, but most of the conversation after unseeded Maryland's stunning 6-5 win over No. 1 Syracuse Sunday centered around Holmes.

Maryland defensive end Justin Anderson is leaving the program at the end of the semester. No reason was given for the fourth-year player's departure. Anderson, who has played tackle and end, had six tackles (one for loss) last season. He missed all of 2011 because of injury after playing extensively in 2010. The Terps will be short on defensive line experience with the departure of Joe Vellano and A.J. Francis from last season. Anderson was known partly for having the same first and last name as the emerging Virginia basketball player who was once a Maryland recruit.

Gary Williams could sense the urgency among his players in mid-October, when the Maryland Terrapins gathered for their first week of practice and began building toward what would become the greatest men's basketball season in school history. The Terps had been galvanized months earlier, after recovering from a midseason slump that threatened to ruin them. They finally had combined their obvious talent with toughness and a sense of mission, and had ridden that resolve all the way to their first Final Four appearance.

In light of an off-season marred by numerous scandals and NCAA investigations, ESPN.com recently started a series meant to determine whether universities could pay their athletes. Yesterday, ACC blogger Heather Dinich, who covered the Terps for The Baltimore Sun before heading to ESPN.com, took a look at Maryland. It's no secret that Maryland spends (and profits) less on its football program than almost all of its ACC colleagues, and because of a few existing obligations (Ralph Friedgen's contract, a stadium loan, unsold suites)