COLLEGE PARK - He thinks back to when he started coaching his son in elementary school, when the 5-foot-4 kid displayed a nasty competitive streak, court vision and a feel for the game of basketball, and Richard Blake concludes he is merely watching an advanced version of essentially the same player.
At 22, with a slender, 6-3 frame that boasts upper-body muscle born of attentive work in the weight room, Maryland Terrapins senior point guard Steve Blake is all grown up. And it only seems like the Florida native has been running Maryland's offense forever.
Since he spurned Syracuse for the chance to start immediately upon arriving at Maryland as a freshman in 1999, Blake has been in charge of the Terps' attack. During his lengthy watch spanning 108 starts, Blake has supplied fuel for a parade of talent, from Terence Morris and Chris Wilcox to Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon, each of whom is now making a living in the NBA.
Through it all, through 85 victories, back-to-back Final Four appearances and the first national championship in school history, Blake has made the big shots, made the tough defensive stops, bounced back from the bad nights and always been the conductor in search of the perfect pass.
"I coached Steve from the under-10 to the under-15 team, and he has always run the team, always gotten everybody involved in the offense, always scored when his team needed him to," said Richard, Blake's father, who still drives from South Florida to see most of his son's games.
"He never really has had to change his game, because he has been doing it this way his whole life. He didn't panic back then and he doesn't panic now. He still wants to get the ball to the right people. He has always been a winner."
Blake brought the winning pedigree to College Park, after logging a 100-4 record while playing for three different high schools. He played his final year at the prestigious Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, which defeated seven of the nation's top 25 teams while rolling to a 31-0 record and a mythical national high school championship.
He immediately took the ball at Maryland, led a team full of underclassmen to a 25-10 record and the school's seventh straight NCAA tournament appearance, and has deepened his mark during the program's golden era under coach Gary Williams. With each assist he collects, Blake adds to a school record he set during a superb regular season as a junior.
Following his dazzling, 13-assist effort in Saturday night's 89-39 rout of visiting Duquesne, Blake has 777 career assists, and stands a good chance of becoming only the fourth player in NCAA history to reach 1,000. He has led the Atlantic Coast Conference in that area for the past two seasons.
"I feel like I've been here forever. I don't feel like a young kid anymore. I feel like an old man," said Blake, who will ply his trade tonight in a much-anticipated rematch against Indiana, which lost to the Terps in last spring's NCAA title game. "I'm definitely more confident of my capabilities. I know what I can do."
What Blake often does is make the Maryland offense hum efficiently while offering a dose of the spectacular. He will make the high-percentage pass and the no-look toss with equal ease. As a defender, he carries a street-fighter mentality. Remember all the times he hounded former Duke guard and national Player of the Year Jay Williams?
Blake also has seemed like an invisible force, caught behind a line of scorers who draw more notice. How else to explain how the quarterback of a team with a 60-15 record since the start of the 2000-01 season has never been voted as high as second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference?
"That's a joke," North Carolina coach Matt Doherty said. "Try finding me a coach in this game who wouldn't love to have Steve Blake on his team."
"Steve is not a perfect player, just a very determined player who always seems to make a great play after he makes a mistake," said Williams, a former point guard at Maryland. "He tries to make the tough play. He doesn't worry about what if this pass doesn't work. That's part of the reason he's good. He's got guts. He needs that freedom."
"He's probably the most unselfish player I've ever played with," said senior shooting guard Drew Nicholas, who leads Maryland in scoring. "When he gets into his mode, his eyes start moving around from side and side and every which way. He's looking for guys, trying to find who's hot. He does what point guards are supposed to do."
On a team that lost four starters from a year ago, Blake might be Maryland's most indispensable player. With the departure of Dixon, Baxter and Wilcox, Blake will be asked to score more than ever this season, a role he relishes.
Even though Blake entered the season averaging only 6.1 shots and 7.3 points a game, he has been known to make the shot everyone remembers.
It was Blake who saved the Terps from a first-round loss to George Mason two years ago with a three-pointer and a steal in the last 30 seconds. It was Blake who, following a rough first half in the East Regional final last season, made the three-pointer that put away Connecticut, sealing Maryland's Final Four return.
And it was Blake who followed his best regular season - he had 286 assists and averaged 7.9 assists against the ACC vs. only 3.1 turnovers - by struggling mightily down the stretch of the NCAA championship run with his first slump of the season. Going into the NCAAs, Blake toyed with the idea of entering the NBA draft early.
"If I'd had a better tournament, I would have put a lot of interest into it. I was very unhappy with the way I played," said Blake, who shot 6-for-25 and had 13 turnovers over the last four games, although he did manage 25 assists.
"I did well enough to help us win a championship, but I didn't do well by my standards. I think I can improve my game to where I can make a big impact in next year's draft. And I still have the chance to do a lot of great things here."
Said Williams: "I don't think he played as badly [in the NCAAs] as people said he did. A point guard is going to throw the ball away more than anyone else because he has the ball more than anyone else. The last time I checked, Steve was the point guard for the team that won the national championship."
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Yesterday's result
Florida State 80, Iowa 67
Today's games
Maryland vs. Indiana at Conseco Fieldhouse, 9 p.m. Ohio State vs. Duke at Greensboro Coliseum, 7 p.m. Penn State vs. Clemson at Anderson (S.C.) Civic Center, 7:30 p.m. North Carolina at Illinois, 9:30 p.m.
Tomorrow's games
Georgia Tech at Minnesota, 7 p.m. Northwestern at N.C. State, 7:30 p.m. Virginia at Michigan St., 9 p.m. Wake Forest at Wisconsin, 9:30 p.m.
Terps tonight
Matchup:No. 9 Maryland (3-0) vs. No. 10 Indiana (4-0)
Site:Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Time:9
TV/Radio:ESPN/WBAL (1090 AM)