KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- After Maryland blitzed the field at the Puerto Rico Shootout, Gary Williams told his team that he didn't want the high point of its season to come in November.

Yesterday, the coach and his players had to deal with the low point of their season -- a 14-point loss to St. John's in the South Regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament. Williams' team enjoyed a record-setting regular season, which only made the Terps' postseason shortcomings more painful.

After 10 seasons at Maryland, Williams still hasn't taken the Terps to the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. He still hasn't been able to get a team past the NCAA's Sweet 16, where the Terps lost for the fourth time in six seasons.

"There's about 300 teams in the country who would settle for going four out of six years to the Sweet 16," Williams said. "I don't look at it as a disgrace at all."

The Terps flew fast enough this season to pile up points against the Western Carolinas and North Texases of the world, and even dominate the N.C. States and Georgia Techs. They were good enough to beat 98 percent of the teams in Division I, but not sol id enough to compete with the elite few.

All of his critics who claim that the postseason is about playing in the half court, and that Williams is too reliant on an up-tempo style, got more ammunition from the Terps' performance at Thompson-Boling Arena, where St. John's buried Maryland under a 23-0 run.

It wasn't just that the Terps' season came to an end, but the lack of a fight they put up in going down. Actually, the offensive coma Maryland entered against a St. John's zone wasn't uncharacteristic: The Terps dug themselves deep holes in all six of their losses.

St. John's had a 26-point lead in the 29th minute. In the ACC tournament semifinals, Maryland fell behind North Carolina by 23. In the Terps' ACC regular-season losses, they trailed Duke by 24 and 28, and Wake Forest by 22. The first blemish on a 10-0 start came at Rupp Arena Dec. 12, when Kentucky took a 17-point lead.

Maryland went to Lexington with a No. 2 ranking, its highest in 23 years. It spent two weeks there, after winning the Puerto Rico Shootout and the BB&T; Classic, but in the end, it notched just one win over a team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, and Stanford's season ended there.

The Terps swept the regular-season series with North Carolina, but Maryland's postseason troubles began against the Tar Heels in the ACC semifinals, the first of two times they didn't live up to their No. 2 seed.

That 86-79 loss to North Carolina in Charlotte March 6 kept Maryland from its first-ever No. 1 seed. It set up a more difficult Sweet 16 matchup, and both postseason losses left the Terps with a convenient excuse: the absence of Obinna Ekezie.

A team that had attacked all season turned tentative against St. John's. Maryland went more than 23 minutes without a free throw, which spoke volumes about the Terps' hesitancy to attack the basket, something that was never an issue for the 6-foot-10, 265-pound Ekezie, who averaged a team-high 5.8 free throws a game.

Maryland went on to win nine out of 10 after Ekezie ruptured his Achilles' tendon Feb. 9. The Terps enjoyed some fine accomplishments, but it didn't seem enough for a team that featured Steve Francis and Terence Morris, two of the nation's most talented players, alongside seniors Laron Profit and Terrell Stokes.

"You look at their four years, and they've been tremendous," Williams said of his seniors. "Including Norman Fields and Brian Watkins, they've done great things both on and off the court. They never had a problem off the court. You don't see that often with a group of five seniors nowadays."

If Francis turns pro and enters his name in the NBA draft, Maryland would lose six scholarship players.

The Terps got three signatures in the early letter of intent period, and Steve Blake might have to start at the point as a freshman. He led Oak Hill (Va.) Academy to the nation's No. 1 prep ranking. Maryland also got New Jersey power forward Tahj Holden and New Yorker Drew Nicholas, players who have been likened to Morris and Juan Dixon, respectively.

Williams understands that he needs to reload his roster. He said he also needs to meet with 7-foot center Mike Mardesich to discuss a sophomore season which was a disappointment.

"We lose some seniors who have played a lot of minutes," Williams said. "Danny Miller, Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter have certainly showed that they're ready to step up and play. The last three weeks, some of our best moments have been with those three guys on the floor.

"I like our team next year. I think Terence Morris is just going to keep improving, and when he gets some physical strength like some of the [St. John's] guys out there had, he's going to be all the better."

While Morris talked about next season, there will be no more chances for NCAA glory and Maryland history for some of his teammates.

"No doubt, this was the best shot we had," Stokes said. "It's the best team we've had. You've got to go out and show it, and prove that you can do it.

"We've had a great career, we've done a lot of things that a lot of seniors haven't done. I know people will try to remember our last game. We'll remember our last season."

Maryland records

Fifth-ranked Maryland established several school records this season:

Category Total

Wins 28

ACC wins 13

Assists 674

Blocks 202

Steals 431

Pub Date: 3/20/99