The biggest question around Carroll County these days is: "What's going on up there with the Francis Scott Key boys basketball team?"
The Eagles have pulled one of the most perplexing fades in recent county basketball history, going 4-12 after getting off to a 4-0 start.
The collapse has stripped away virtually every goal the Eagles had for the 1994-95 season.
Unless Key (8-12) can win its final two games, it won't even finish alone with the best record in the county. That achievement was a virtual given entering the season.
South Carroll, which finished at 9-13, will have the honor of having compiled the top record in the county if Key doesn't beat either South Hagerstown or Williamsport.
The Eagles also are not going to make the state Class 1A regional playoffs, said coach Jeff Cook yesterday.
A chance at a .500 record and new respect in the Monocacy Valley Athletic League also have vanished. Key is 6-10 in the MVAL.
All of the Key players talked all season about how they wanted to prove to MVAL foes that a game with the Eagles wasn't an automatic "W."
The talent apparently was there with three excellent starters -- Topher Casserly, Steve Wright and Mike Crawmer -- returning from last season's 8-12 team.
This supposedly was an "up" year in the Key program, with Casserly and Wright being experienced seniors and Crawmer being a standout junior. Top players such as Chris Richardson and Cortney Woodyard also were back.
So what went wrong?
"The kids got down on themselves when they started to lose," said Cook. "They lost confidence. Our coaches are trying to figure out why our kids lost their confidence so quickly and we'll try to prevent it from happening next year."
Four of Key's losses were by three points. There were several blown leads in the fourth quarter, an apparent lack of desire to play tough defense consistently, false hope resulting from the 4-0 start in the easy part of the season and costly mental errors.
"I feel bad," said Cook. "We had a lot of hope."
Carnes wanted a little more
South Carroll boys basketball coach Jim Carnes had hoped for a little more out of the 1994-95 basketball season, even though his team won the county championship.
"I was a little disappointed," said Carnes, whose squad finished 6-0 in the county and 9-13 overall. "I thought we could have won three more games. I always want to finish at least .500, but it was a fun year working with these players."
Carnes felt senior point guard John Eaton and senior center Matt McGrane both exceeded expectations, and senior shooting guard Greg Mihalko came on strong down the stretch when he completed his recovery from a neck injury suffered in the final football game.
Mihalko said: "It took me a while to get into the basketball season. I guess I was drained a little from football."
Mihalko scored 23 points in a 57-52 victory over Westminster Feb. 10, a win that virtually ended the Owls' two-year reign as county champions.
Linganore girls linger
The fifth-ranked South Carroll girls basketball team (21-1) defeated Linganore twice in the regular season and replaced the four-time defending Central Maryland Conference champions as the top team in the league.
But the Lancers still are hanging around in the state Class 3A regional playoff picture and could get another shot at the Cavaliers.
South Carroll, Paint Branch and Walt Whitman will finish anywhere from first to third in the regional point standings, with the top two teams getting byes in the opening round Tuesday night.
Linganore is among those schools competing for the fourth, fifth and sixth positions.
"We're very positive and looking forward to the challenge of winning the regionals," said South Carroll coach Al Skierski, whose team has won 21 straight games since a season-opening, 53-46 setback to second-ranked Hammond.
Many of the South Carroll players had hoped the Cavaliers could scrimmage Hammond this week while they are waiting for the regionals to start.
But Skierski said the scrimmage won't be possible because Hammond hasn't completed its regular-season schedule.
South Carroll wrapped up its regular season last Thursday with a win over North Carroll, giving the Cavaliers at least 12 days off.