KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It's been a wild ride through the skies for the Maryland basketball team on the last three road trips and some players are wondering what can go wrong next.
There was an emergency landing at BWI Airport on Feb. 27, complete with flashing red-light rescue trucks on the runway; severe turbulence on a trip home March 6 from the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C., and a six-hour flight delay due to mechanical problems in Orlando, Fla., last Saturday night.
The emergency landing on the way home from Florida State was prompted by a rudder malfunction, causing the airplane to touch down roughly before finally bouncing to a halt.
Then came the always-scary turbulence following the ACC tournament 86-79 semifinal loss to North Carolina that already had the team in a downcast mood.
The trouble cycle concluded with the long delay at the Orlando airport after the Terps had advanced to the Sweet 16 with a victory over Creighton. Making this delay tough to take was the fact the airlines did not notify Maryland of the mechanical problems when team officials asked if there would be any delays in the flight.
"We could have stayed back at the hotel those six hours instead of hanging out at the airport," said Terps administrative assistant Troy Wainwright yesterday.
Sophomore center Mike Mardesich said yesterday, "People think we don't have any problems because we fly charters all the time. A lot of people were scared on that emergency landing. I hope we have all that behind us now."
Close calls
If St. John's has been in too many close games, Maryland hasn't been in enough.
The Red Storm's first seven losses were by a combined total of 25 points, and it blew leads of 10 to Stanford, 16 to Purdue and 12 to Connecticut.
"We have experience in handling leads," said Bootsy Thornton, the junior guard out of Dunbar High who is St. John's leading scorer. "Earlier in the year, we had the experience of losing them, too. The experience benefits us when it comes down to the last few minutes. We understand how key each possession is."
The Terps, conversely, have had only five games decided by less than 10 points, and two of those were wins at Virginia and Florida State in which they were in control throughout.
For the season, Maryland is third in the nation in scoring margin, behind only Duke and Auburn. When the Terps weren't blowing somebody out, they were falling behind by 20 and playing catch-up. Does the lack of close games concern them?
"Nope," senior point guard Terrell Stokes said. "We're explosive, and we've got an ability to get out on people early. I'd rather lose by 20 than by one in a heartbreaker. We go over game-ending situations in practice all the time, and we're familiar with those situations."
Artest's agony
It never fails.
Every year at NCAA tournament time, there are several interesting little stories surrounding the 64 teams that fight it out for the national championship.
St. John's scoring leader, sophomore forward Ron Artest, joined the March Madness story line list Tuesday night here in Knoxville.
"I had some nasty food and woke up in the middle of the night having to [vomit]," said Artest, who averages 14.8 points for the Red Storm. "I tried to make it to the bathroom, but I tripped over the corner of the bed and hurt my right foot. Obviously I didn't make it to the bathroom."
And the ankle?
"I'm 99.9 percent perfect," Artest said despite limping some at practice yesterday. "I had it taped and I'm going to be OK. I'll be ready to play against Maryland. We're not worried about Steve Francis. We're more worried about our team."
Ellis' touchdown
Now that Auburn coach Cliff Ellis has completely turned around another basketball program at a school steeped in football tradition, he is constantly asked if he has some kind of magic formula.
"I try not to let ego get involved in anything I do," Ellis said yesterday. "I don't try to compete with football. That is the one mistake most coaches make when they go to a football school. It is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to win at any school. We've done it at four schools."
Ellis, 52, started his collegiate basketball coaching career by making winners out of little Cumberland (Tenn.) College and South Alabama before going to two football-mad schools in Clemson and Auburn.
Ellis will send his top-seeded Tigers (29-3) against fourth-seeded Ohio State (25-8) in tonight's second South Regional semifinal.
"When we came from 19 down to win at LSU [73-70] and went to Ole Miss four days later and won [74-59], I knew we were on our way to a great season," said Ellis.
Williams the shooter
Coach Gary Williams enjoyed a rare ovation for his shooting exploits yesterday when he swished a three-pointer from the corner at the close of Maryland's light practice at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Williams, who often jokes about his lifelong lack of shooting ability, had missed three straight shots from three-point range before he hit the one that drew cheers from the few hundred fans assembled in the stands.
"Thank you thank you," said Williams as he walked off the court and raised his arms triumphantly.
But Williams was not finished.
He was enticed by Francis and Laron Profit into attempting an encore performance, which turned out to be a mistake.
Williams couldn't hit two in a row and had to endure some good-natured ribbing from Francis and Profit as they headed for the locker room.
Francis and Profit had spent the final minutes of practice trying in vain to hoist half-court shots into the basket.
Marginal differences
Maryland's average margin of victory in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament ranks seventh, and the three other teams left in the South Region (in bold) all stand ahead of the Terps in that category:
Team Ave. margin
Duke 41
St. John's 26
Connecticut 23.5
Auburn 23
Ohio State 22.5
SW Missouri St. 20.5
Maryland 17
Michigan State 15.5
Kentucky 13
Iowa 11.5
Florida 11
Gonzaga 10
Temple 8.5
Oklahoma 7
Purdue 7
Miami (Ohio) 4.5
Pub Date: 3/18/99