CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Orioles were coming off a world championship, Ronald Reagan was a first-term president and Maryland freshman forward Danny Miller was a preschooler.
It has been 15 years since the Terps won the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament. That 1984 title also marked the last time the Terps even got to the championship game, a drought that isn't lost on coach Gary Williams and the members of the nation's No. 5 team.
"That's something that motivates us," senior forward Laron Profit said. "It's kind of mind-boggling, when you think about it, that Maryland hasn't been to the final for so long. That shows how hard it can be. It's something we definitely have in the back of our minds."
The first order of business for Maryland (25-4, 13-3) at the Charlotte Coliseum is today's 2: 30 p.m. quarterfinal against Florida State, which beat Clemson in overtime, 87-85, in a preliminary last night. Tomorrow's semifinals would bring another opponent the Terps have swept, North Carolina or Georgia Tech.
Looming in the other half of the draw is top-ranked Duke. After two regular-season embarrassments, the Terps want a third shot at the Blue Devils, but before they think about Sunday and a final push for the program's first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, they've got to remember what got them here.
Maryland has employed a steady approach and had one horrible effort this season, in a Super Bowl Sunday loss at Wake Forest. It has been the sec- ond-best team in the ACC all season, and it's not like that's accustomed territory.
The Terps won 13 games for the first time in the conference and had the program's second-best winning percentage ever in ACC games. It's only the third time in 19 seasons Maryland finished as high as second in the regular season, the last coming in 1994-95, when Joe Smith and company were one of the four 12-4 teams atop a logjam.
Before it even played a game this season, Williams defended Maryland's record in a tournament it has won only twice, in 1958 and the aforementioned 1984, when the Terps were also seeded second.
"There are a lot of reasons for that," Williams said in November. "You basically play it in North Carolina every year. You're going to have to play two North Carolina teams, in North Carolina, to become the ACC champion. If you had four teams from the state of Maryland in the ACC, and you played the tournament in Maryland every year, tell me how many times Carolina teams would win the thing."
Williams has a 5-8 record in the tournament, but his first five teams had a total of one win. His last four reached the semifinals, and the Terps wasted a late regulation lead in last season's overtime loss to North Carolina, which would go on to gain a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs.
North Carolina lost Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter. Maryland added Steve Francis, the junior college transfer from Takoma Park who warned that this could be his only season with the Terps, then made the most of it.
Francis and sophomore forward Terence Morris were all-ACC first-team selections. They elevated their play after senior center Obinna Ekezie saw his career stopped by an Achilles' tendon injury Feb. 9, but they weren't alone, as replacement Lonny Baxter has thrived under the direction of point guard Terrell Stokes and Profit.
The postseason brings an added emphasis on half-court play, and critics wonder how the Terps will fare without a senior whose low-post presence had been a part of 11 ACC and NCAA tournament games.
"We just have to keep doing what we do best," Stokes said. "You have to play your game. Ours is pressure, but we can play in the half court too. I think we're a pretty good half-court team defensively."
Maryland enters the postseason with a six-game win streak. Since Ekezie has gone down, the Terps' defensive work has been even more devastating than it was in November and December, as the last five victims shot a combined 35.2 percent from the field.
Since the entire field is given little chance of derailing Duke, the first team to go 16-0 during the regular season, would the Terps be happy just to get to Sunday? Do they consider the Blue Devils untouchable?
"I've been hearing that all year," Francis said. "Duke beat us two times in the regular season, so you're going to hear that. If we make it to the championship and they do, we'll see what happens."
Terps' title game drought
The Terps will try to end a 15-year title game drought in the ACC tournament. Maryland's last appearance in the ACC championship game was a 74-62 victory over Duke in 1984:
Year Result --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Round
1985 Lost to Duke, 86-73 --- --- --- --- Quarterfinals
1986 Lost to Georgia Tech, 64-62 -- --- Semifinals
1987 Lost to North Carolina, 82-63 -- --- Quarterfinals
1988 Lost to North Carolina, 74-64 -- --- Semifinals
1989 Lost to North Carolina, 88-58 -- --- Semifinals
1990 Lost to Duke, 104-84 --- --- --- --- Quarterfinals
1991 Banned from tournament
1992 Lost to Duke, 94-87 --- --- --- --- Semifinals
1993 Lost to North Carolina, 102-66 ---- Semifinals
1994 Lost to Virginia, 69-63 --- ---- ---- Quarterfinals
1995 Lost to North Carolina, 97-92 (2 OTs)
------- ------ --- ------ ------ ----- ---- ---- ---- --- Semifinals
1996 Lost to Georgia Tech, 84-79 --- --- Semifinals
1997 Lost to N.C. State, 65-58 --- --- --- Semifinals
1998 Lost to North Carolina, 83-73 (OT) Semifinals
ACC tournament
At Charlotte, N.C.
Yesterday's first round
Fla. St. 87, Clemson 85, OT
Duke 104, Virginia 67
Today's quarterfinals (Line in parentheses)
Wake Forest (pick) vs. N.C. State, noon
Maryland (-15) vs.
Florida State, 2: 30 p.m.
North Carolina (-11 1/2) vs.
Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. TV: Today's games on Channel 54
Pub Date: 3/05/99