rebelgemstonehoops

From The Snapping Rhombus, Monday November 6th, 2001

Gemstone program to administer basketball team

By Sally Reporter
The Snapping Rhombus Staff Writer

Recent concerns about the academic success of men’s varsity basketball players resulted in major changes this week, as oversight of the team was passed from the Department of Athletics to the Gemstone program.

Athletic Director Debbie Yow announced the change in a press conference yesterday evening. “The Gemstone program has a long tradition of academic excellence,” Yow said. “I am very confident that Gemstone’s administrators will be able to mold our basketball players into well-rounded student-athletes who represent Maryland’s drive for excellence in all things.”

The Gemstone program, which was created five years ago, is a four-year interdisciplinary research program for honors students. Gemstone students, also known as Gemstoners, are divided into small groups to research topics of their choice.

Former Gemstone Assistant Director Vickie Claflin said the program has high goals for the basketball team. “We will hold them to our own high standards,” she said. “We believe that for these basketball players we can be a part of the solution.” Claflin said Gemstone’s plans for the basketball team include making basketball “an interdisciplinary sport.” To this end, team members will practice not only basketball but also volleyball, water polo, and rhythmic gymnastics.

Claflin also said the structure of the basketball team will be changing. “The first, second and third teams, while they have different goals, are equally important, and I think you will see that reflected more often during games,” she said. She also said all three squads will be reorganized to provide each team “a perfect balance of majors, backgrounds, and skill levels. We will aim to make each squad somewhere around 5 players, but numbers aren’t really that important.”

Basketball players will also be required to take special Gemstone classes, Claflin said. These will include Gemstone 104: “History of Basketball” and Gemstone 201: “Team Dynamics in Sports.” In Gemstone 104, Claflin said, team members will have the opportunity to work in groups on projects like recreating an original peach basket hoop. The curriculum for Gemstone 201, which will be offered in the Spring semester, has not yet been developed. Both classes, Claflin said, will be taught by faculty from the psychology department because “Psychologists have such wonderful insight into the thought processes of athletes, basketball players in particular.”

Claflin said Gemstone will also provide Terp coach Gary Williams with an entirely new playbook based on intensive research into military strategy. This playbook, Claflin said, will become available sometime in April. Until then, she said, “Coach Williams can e-mail me any time he wants to call a play. I will certainly try to respond promptly.” Coach Williams, appearing slightly shocked by the news, said he is “confident that the Gemstone program will do what’s best for the students, just as it always has.”