How did all this happen at Maryland?
How did the Terps run up a 17-4 record and become one of the top 10 basketball teams in the country? They're No. 8 this week.
How did Maryland, which was only 8-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference last year (7-2 now), get to where it is -- facing No. 1 North Carolina at College Park tonight in a game that could tie the Terps for first place in the ACC?
The students at Maryland obviously think Joe Smith is the answer.
At the Virginia game last week, a banner was unfurled at Cole Field House that said: "On the eighth day God created Joe Smith."
It's only natural that Terps followers would consider Joe Smith the heart and soul of the team. He is Maryland's biggest star.
The 6-10 All-American needs only four points tonight to become the first Maryland sophomore ever to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He also would be the quickest ever to have the combination of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
The down side of the Joe Smith story is that he's so outstanding -- he's a leading candidate to be college basketball's Player of the Year -- that he could be in the NBA next year. The choice is his.
When you consider the money some NBA rookies are getting, such as Milwaukee's Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson, who asked for $100 million and had to settle for $68.15 million, who could blame Smith for passing up his junior and senior seasons?
Some of us were discussing the Terps' rise to the heights yesterday. When it was suggested that Smith is this team's heart and soul there were two dissenters.
One, a former college coach, Bill Gaertner, thinks that label should be awarded to Baltimore's Keith Booth.
This despite the fact that Smith is the team's leading scorer with a 19.7 average to Booth's fourth-place 12.3, and that Smith leads in rebounds with 206 and Booth is next with 144.
"If you watch this team enough," said Gaertner, "you can see that Booth is the heart and soul of the club.
"Keith is the most physical player they have. He plays so hard that he makes everyone else play harder."
No one is surprised to see Booth doing well in his sophomore season.
Some people have forgotten that a year and a half ago Keith Booth was all the rage. Joe Smith was second banana.
Booth's enrolling marked an important breakthrough at College Park. He was the first Dunbar High graduate to come to Maryland in years. Now the Terps have a second Dunbar man, Rodney Elliott.
But it was Joe Smith who became the consensus national Freshman of the Year. Not that far behind was Booth, who quietly enjoyed one of the best seasons of any freshman in the country.
Now all you hear at Maryland is Joe Smith this, Joe Smith that, and will Joe stay or go?
Paul Baker, who will scout tonight's game for the Washington Bullets, was the other dissenter. He doesn't consider Joe Smith the heart and soul of this team either.
"[Coach] Gary Williams is the heart and soul of the team," Baker said. "This team has been pulled together by Gary's will. He demands that these guys play hard all over the court. He wills it."
I go with Baker on that.
It was Gary Williams who put the team together, and he didn't accomplish that overnight. This is his sixth season coaching Maryland.
When Williams came here from Ohio State, Maryland was awaiting NCAA sanctions. Gary thought they would amount to a slap on the wrist.
They turned out to be much more severe -- no postseason play, no TV. A lot of people thought Williams would jump ship. Some told me it would ruin his career if he stayed.
If Gary weren't a Maryland graduate (Class of '68), he might have taken another job. He was hot and in demand.
But in his heart Williams has a love for his alma mater. He stuck with the Terps through troubled times. It wasn't until the sanctions were lifted that he was able to recruit the likes of Smith and Booth.
Baker agrees with those who value Booth for his physical play. But he thinks Booth has one shortcoming that needs to be corrected before he, too, is ready for NBA riches.
"Booth is an undersized power forward who can't shoot," Baker says. "The pros like him, but he needs to spend a whole lot of hours in the off-season improving his shooting."