COLLEGE PARK - Over the past two weeks, during which the Maryland Terrapins have played only one game sandwiched between a slew of practices, Terps coach Gary Williams has taken his team's pulse while tinkering with its parts.
Georgia Tech figures to take No. 23 Maryland's temperature today, when the defending NCAA champions open the defense of their regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference title against the visiting Yellow Jackets in the first ACC game at Comcast Center.
And as Williams continues to assemble a reliable rotation, the Terps (5-3) can expect to taste more of life as a team everybody wants to take down.
"Hopefully, we're better. You'd better get better this time of the year," said Williams, who sees first-year players like guard John Gilchrist and forward Jamar Smith blending more smoothly with Maryland's five seniors, led by center Ryan Randle and guards Steve Blake and Drew Nicholas.
"Our seniors have to play well, and I see our young guys getting looser and more confident. They're not worrying about where they have to be. They just get there."
The young guys are getting there all over the conference, from the freshman-laced starting lineups at North Carolina to Duke to Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets (5-3) have started only two players in every game - freshman point guard Jarrett Jack and freshman power forward Chris Bosh, who merely began his collegiate career with five consecutive double doubles and is the ACC rebounding leader.
Williams appears ready to inject more youth into Maryland's front line, as freshman forward Travis Garrison could get the nod to replace senior Tahj Holden, who has struggled in the post through most of the Terps' first eight games.
Garrison, recruited at nearby DeMatha High School, is averaging 6.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 19.3 minutes and started Monday's 41-point rout over UMBC, while Holden (6.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 24.7 minutes) was attending funeral services following a death in his family. Should Garrison get the call, he would join freshman small forward Nik Caner-Medley, who has started the past four games in place of senior Calvin McCall.
"We're really not sure what we're going to do there yet, but you have to find out where guys play the best, whether it's coming off the bench or starting," said Williams, who has not been happy with the 6-foot-10 Holden's lack of presence in the paint and likes the 6-9 Garrison's athleticism.
"To coaches, it doesn't matter who starts. To players, it does," Williams added. "I've got to make sure we've got the best team on the court for the most minutes. Whatever that takes, you do it. It's not always popular. You have to do what's best for your team."
In the Yellow Jackets, the Terps will confront an opponent that is all about youth and hustle and promise under third-year coach Paul Hewitt. Georgia Tech, which thrives on pressure defense and shooting the three-pointer, has struggled early on offense - partly because junior shooting guard Marvin Lewis has yet to find his stroke, partly because Jack has yet to find the consistency that marked former point guard Tony Akins.
Tech's youth movement began a year ago, when Hewitt and Akins led a gang of greenhorns out of an 0-7 ACC start into a 7-9 regular-season finish. This year's model features five freshmen and five sophomores. Among the second-year players are forward Ed Nelson, the league's reigning Rookie of the Year; and guard B.J. Elder (16.7 ppg), the team's top scorer who leads the ACC in three-point field-goal percentage (53.3).
Then there is Bosh, 6-10, who has burst into the picture by shooting 55.4 percent and averaging 14.8 points and a league-leading 10.4 rebounds. Garrison and Holden will have their hands full containing him.
Although Maryland soon will face Wagner and Hampton in back-to-back nonconference games before focusing completely on the ACC, the heat of the game takes on another dimension today. The Terps, who are 11-2 in their last 13 meetings with Tech, have been good enough to control five inferior teams, sloppy or uninspired enough to lose to three opponents currently ranked.
"Earlier in my career, I didn't understand, but I understand now how every game counts in the ACC. And I know I'd be after a team that went 15-1 the year before [as the Terps did last year]," said Nicholas, who leads the Terps in scoring (17.6 ppg). "This is a different level of competition."
Terps today
Matchup:No. 23 Maryland (5-3) vs. Georgia Tech (5-3)
Site:Comcast Center, College Park
Time:5:30 p.m.
TV/Radio:Comcast SportsNet/WBAL (1090 AM)