Doug McKinney | Staff Writer

4/05/02

There was something about this season where you could just tell it was Maryland's year.  College basketball analysts tagged Maryland with a top 5 ranking the whole season, claiming this was Maryland's most talented team ever and that the Terps would make a second straight appearance in the Final Four.  It was just something that was waiting to happen.   Maryland faced some of the most difficult challenges and overcame them, something not many other teams can say they've had to face and one step further, say they've overcome.  They overcame the challenges and reached the Final Four for the second straight year.  It was just something that was waiting to happen.

But more significantly, you could tell it was Maryland's year by just taking a look at the school itself.  It was just some gut feeling fans walking around the campus of College Park had.  It wasn't faith.  It was just something that was waiting to happen.     And it did happen, in a fashionable way.

"This is a perfect ending for a rocky year," UMD freshmen student Brian Wood comments on the season. "The tornado that hit campus, the September 11th incident, and the death of some of the team's family members; there's been a lot of adversity and we were able to overcome it all."

The story began in the semifinals game of last year's NCAA tournament, where Maryland lost to Duke. Maryland and Duke competed in four games together, with Maryland winning only one, and letting what could've been the biggest one out of all, the Final Four game, slip between their fingers.  The Terps gave up a 22-point lead and eventually fell to their rival Blue Devils, 95-84, who went on to win the championship.   The loss marked the second time that year where the Terps held a big lead but couldn't hold on.   "I don¹t think I'm still over that game," senior center Lonny Baxter said, referring to the Duke loss of last year.  "That's why we were determined to get back to this point this year."

Playing with that attitude the Terps finished with their best season in school history and won their first ever, national championship.

"After the Duke game last year everyone was upset that we lost and blew that lead.  We knew we had starters coming back this year, so we knew we were going to be good.  We just wanted to take it a step further," Wood comments, who attended this year¹s Final Four festivities.     "Experience was probably the main reason in winning the national championship.  They knew what to do and when they were put in clutch situations, they knew how to come out on top because they have been there before."

The leadership of three senior starters was probably one of the most essential parts to the team's success.  The emotional character in Byron Mouton makes for a touching story to start off with. Mouton, who has been criticized for having a clumsy hold on the ball, has been the emotional man the Terps had to turn to when they were down this year. The Tulane transfer, who took Danny Miller's job in just four games last season, could've stayed on a team and lead them with 20+ point games and win all conference honors as he did in his freshmen year there.  But he decided to make the move up north and sacrifice being an individual star to become a team player.

Unfortunately, Mouton was hit with a reality check in the mid season that stirred emotion within.  His brother was murdered earlier this year, in which he says, forced him to make one of his toughest decisions on the rest of his playing days.  With the support of the team, coaches, and fans, Mouton went on to have a great season and was tagged with the responsibility in covering stars like Wisconsin's Kirk Penney, Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince, and Uconn's Caron Butler just to name a few.

Baxter, who has his initials [L.B.] tattooed on his arm, has always been known as the fat kid who was too undersized to play in the pros.  After his performances in the NCAA tournament, winning the West Region MVP in 2001 and the East Region MVP in 2002, I¹d be surprised if pro scouts haven't changed their minds.  Despite just four points in the semifinal game against Kansas, Baxter has been the tag team partner alongside with Juan Dixon throughout their college career, compiling up more wins then any other class in MD history has.

The more heralded member of the tag team has not always been the main character as he is now.  I'm sure by now everyone has heard his story: parents died of AIDS, friends claimed him to be too skinny to play in the ACC, coaches didn't want him, and the list of hardships go on.  That was the introduction of his book and his career at Maryland.  How does the story end?  Put it this way, when Maryland overcame challenges, Dixon was the man who led the way.

Dixon listed at 6'3, 160 pounds, is often criticized as too scrawny to play hoops as a guard, but ironically for what he has done for this team, his body in more ways makes him look like the world's strongest man.  He has put this team on his shoulders, uses his arm to rubs across his chest at the free throw line honoring his parents (the force he says he dedicates his play too), and he uses his soft touch shooting hand to become the all time leading scorer in Maryland history.

The list of highlights includes being on the first team all-ACC three times, being the 2002 ACC player of the year, and becoming the only player in NCAA history to score 2,000 career points, grab 300 career steals, and net 200 career three pointers. In the press conference after the game, a very tired and emotional Dixon, who had a piece of the net around his neck, comments: "I feel like I'm dreaming because I'm part of a national championship team."

Well what a way to end their chapters of college.  Coming in as nobody's, leaving as hero's. There has to be someone who taught all these kids and got them to this position, right?  Like, a teacher of some sort.  That someone is Gary Williams.  Williams was once in those kids's position and years later he became just the ninth coach to win a national championship with his alma mater school.

He can be found in front of the bench sported by the black-red-white warm-ups, yelling at the kids at the end of the bench unhappy with his starters play, taking all his anger out on them.  You can see his tired eyes and his sweat dripping down his face as if he's been sleeping in a hot oven for two hours.  But the fans love it.  In honor of his contributions to the program, they call their school: Garyland.

"Coach Williams has built us into a top program," Wood states.  "I think with the death of Len Bias, he wanted this school to be known more than the school with the death of a superstar.  He has done that by leading this program to the top of the nation and us fans are thankful for that."

Now you've been introduced to some of the characters.  But every story has a setting.  What better way to say goodbye to your home of over 47 years then winning the national championship?  Cole Field House, which was retired this past year, as the official home for the UMD men and women's basketball teams, was the birthplace for the 2002 champion team.

The returning Terps will move across campus to the Comcast Center: a luxurious state-of-the-art, 17,100 seat filled arena that has air conditioning which Cole didn't, has the electronic scoreboard which can show replays which Cole didn't, and has 37 restrooms compared to Cole's 4.  One thing the Comcast Center doesn't have is the Maryland history that Cole did.  Cole is the only on-campus arena to host two NCAA Final Fours.  In the championship game in 1966, which some say is probably the most significant title game ever, Texas Western (now Texas El Paso) featuring an all black starting five, defeats an all white Kentucky team!

In 1970, UCLA defeats Jacksonville, which marked the fourth of seven straight national titles.  In 1975 Cole was the site of the first women's basketball game ever to be televised.  Cole hosted the nation's largest non-conference win streak with 83 wins, dating back to 1989 and includes wins over powerhouses Illinois and Kentucky.

Bud Millikan did the honors in opening things as Cole's first head coach by defeating Virginia 67-55 on Dec 5; Gary Williams closed things up in a similar way beating UVA on Mar 3, 112-92.  Will the next chapter, the Comcast Center, have any remarkable stories to tell?  If given any indication of the history of Cole, I think Comcast will be just fine.

If the stories shared in this article do not help to reveal to you that the events, the emotions, the obstacles, and the experiences that the 2002 Terp team had to go through to gain the national championship wasn't something in the waiting, then maybe the tears from Dixon's face or the smile on the calm face of coach Williams will give you the same gut feeling in the bottom of your stomach that I and thousands of other Terps fans have experienced this past week.  Just waiting for something to happen, knowing it will soon.  Well Terp fans: The wait is over!