ORLANDO, Fla. -- Dick Vitale. Billy Packer. Digger Phelps. They all picked Maryland to go to the Final Four.
Penn's Fran Dunphy. Villanova's Steve Lappas. George Washington's Tom Penders. They all picked Maryland, too, even if they were playing to the crowd during a telecast from Baltimore's ESPN Zone.
"I guess they weren't on the committee," Maryland coach Gary Williams said yesterday, joking about all his new best friends.
The NCAA tournament selection committee made Auburn the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, but everyone else seems to love No. 2 Maryland.
Therein lies the danger for a team unaccustomed to such raves in March, a team that often seems uncomfortable in the favorite's role.
This is Maryland's sixth straight NCAA appearance under Williams. Anything less than the Final Four will be disappointing; anything less than the Elite Eight, devastating.
Can the Terps handle all that?
Can their coach?
Maryland has never been to a Final Four. Williams has never been to the Elite Eight. But then, inflated expectations have become the norm with this team.
"We were picked fifth in the preseason by most people and we finished fifth [in the Associated Press poll] -- I guess we handled it OK," Williams said.
"Before this year, we had been ranked at times. But we were always the team that would sneak up on somebody and beat a No. 1.
"This year, we usually had the higher ranking when we were playing the good teams. It was tough. But it was a good learning experience for our program."
And yet, the Terps again were best playing from behind.
Their one lull this season occurred when they lost consecutive games at Wake Forest and Duke. Williams responded by benching senior center Obinna Ekezie for freshman Lonny Baxter, and three days later, Ekezie suffered a season-ending Achilles' injury.
Presto! The Terps were underdogs again.
The loss of Ekezie was disheartening, but it gave Williams a cause, not to mention a more agile center. The Terps pulled together and went 6-0 without Ekezie entering the ACC semifinals against North Carolina.
Uh-oh! Back to being favorites.
Placed in historical context, the loss to Carolina should be easier to accept -- Maryland has never beaten the Tar Heels three times in a season, hasn't even beaten them three straight since 1963-64 and '64-65, early in the Dean Smith Era.
But the stakes Saturday were substantial, with Maryland trying to reach the ACC final for the first time since 1984 and secure its first No. 1 seed in the NCAAs.
Maybe the Terps were better off avoiding Duke. But a loss to Valparaiso today -- and it's possible -- would force them to forever regret their Carolina clunker.
A victory over the Tar Heels likely would have made Maryland No. 1 in the West and Connecticut No. 1 in the South -- and left some other team to face Valpo.
No. 2 seeds are 53-3 against No. 15s, but in some ways, the Terps' position is reminiscent of two years ago, when they were upset by N.C. State in the ACC semifinals, then lost to the College of Charleston as a No. 5 seed.
There's no way they should lose to Valpo, a team that starts three freshmen, two at guard. But they'll be facing a big, bruising, all-European front line, and a coach with as many NCAA victories as Williams the past three seasons.
In other words, they had better show up.
They didn't two years ago against the College of Charleston. They didn't three years ago against Santa Clara. A first-round loss would be their third in four seasons. Then again, a Sweet 16 appearance would be their fourth in six years.
Again, the question:
Can they be trusted?
"I depend on our team to be mature enough to be as motivated," Williams said. "Why should you play harder if you're a lower seed? If you're a good team, you play hard. Period. You're playing at a certain level if you're a good basketball team this time of year."
Well, the Terps didn't play at that level Saturday, at least not until their ill-fated comeback. They might indeed be better than every team in this regional. But the better team doesn't always win in the NCAAs.
Steve Francis should help preserve order -- he's that good a player, that fierce a competitor. But Maryland failed to get past the Sweet 16 in two seasons with Joe Smith. The great ones can be shut down, particularly in the later rounds.
Whatever happens, Francis won't experience the magical run that Smith did in his freshman season, when the Terps upset Saint Louis and Massachusetts as a No. 10 seed. That was their first NCAA appearance under Williams. It was all so fresh, so exciting.
The Terps' next two visits to the Sweet 16 went more according to form -- they played to their seeds losing to Connecticut in '95 and Arizona last season. But now they are expected to do more. Ask Billy Packer. Ask Dickie V.
"It's a great feeling to have, a lot of guys picking you to go to the Final Four," Terrell Stokes said. "I don't think it's pressure. I think it's motivation."
Would their season be a disappointment if they failed to reach the Final Four?
"That's a tough question," Laron Profit said. "I'm going to say no. We've done a lot of great things already. It would be unfair for me to take away from what we've done over the year if we don't make it to the Final Four. But making it to the Final Four would definitely be the cherry on top."
The Final Four would be validation -- for Williams, for his players, for a school that has spent decades fighting uphill in a conference dominated by schools from North Carolina.
Williams' defenders point out that criticism of his 2-18 record against Duke while at Maryland is unfair, arguing that the Terps were almost always the underdog in those games.
Well, now they're the favorite against almost every team but Duke.
Can they taste the cherry? Or will they be forever chasing a carrot?
Pub Date: 3/11/99