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| Mighty Maryland, Just Like A Turtle: Hard On The Outside, Soft In The Inside ---A report on Maryland's men's basketball championship season ----By David Munn. 10/8/01- The start of a championship season. Maryland against Arizona. On Arizona's first possesion, Maryland's star Juan Dixon anticipated a pass, stole it, and had an easy deuce. The pretty much said to everyone how this whole year was going to be. Defense the whole year was one of the keys to Maryland's first National Championship. It was truly a dream season. Although Maryland lost that game, they came back and won nine straight conference games. That impressive streak proved that Maryland was for real. The Terps weren't the only ones with a slow start. Kansas also lost their first game to Ball State. It seemed like Duke was headed for a repeat. Maryland blew a 22-point lead at half time in the semifinal game (final four) against Duke the year before. Both Juan Dixon and Steve Blake said it was the worst loss of their life. The game could have been taken over by either team in the second half. It didn't matter what the score of the game was in the first half to each team. In that situation the best thing to do is look for senior leadership. Duke, lead by senior Shane Battier took it upon himself to give Duke a boost back at half-time and win the game. Maryland also had senior leadership last year in Terrance Morris. However, it wasn't enough to stop the championship bound Blue Devils. After the disappointment at the 2001 Final Four, Maryland bounced right back in practice last summer. At a Banquet for college basketball players in the summer, Maryland's Juan Dixon told Dick Vitale that Maryland was not to be fooled with this year. He said that they were even better than Duke was. Dixon's prediction seemed to be accurate. They were serious this year, and it showed it at the most critical times. Juan Dixon did a great job leading the Terps to victory. If a practice was going bad, he would be the one to yell at everyone and say that they needed to step up. If a player needed help he would be there for them. He had such a good relationship with his fellow teammates and coaches. In the opening round game against Siena, Dixon missed an important tre. Coach Williams was going crazy, and when Juan was running back to play defense he yelled, "Coach shut the f--- up!" It takes a good relationship with your coach to be able to do that and still play the next day. Juan Dixon wasn't the only one who was yelled at this year. Sometimes the bench was the worst place to be. In the semi-final game against Kansas, Lonny Baxter got two early fouls. When he had a long rest on the bench, an assistant coach said to him, "Don't go in there and get another foul, because I don't want to hear about it for the next hour." Whatever coach Williams did to his players, yelling, screaming, he did it for their best. He was always trying to make them a better team. One thing about Gary Williams is whenever there was a time-out, and he is yelling at his team to do the right thing, Maryland players reflect that intensity, and play much better. That's what makes him a great coach. Nevertheless, Gary Williams does have fun with his team. Don't think that he's too hard on his them. After every practice, he lets his guys shoot from half court. In addition, when Maryland made it to their 1st National Championship game, the team celebrated with a huge water fight in the locker room. When Dixon arrived at Maryland people thought he would do nothing. Dixon worked harder each year. When he was a freshman, he was a red shirt. By the end of his career at Maryland, he became the school's most prolific scorer. He was named 1st team All-American for the second year in a row this season, and became Maryland's leading scorer in history after breaking Len Bias' record in the NCAA tournament. He was the 1st winner of the ESPN college basketball senior award, he is the only player in NCAA history to have 1,000 pts, 300 steals, and 200 3-pointers, and was named most outstanding player of the NCAA tournament. He lead his team to their second consecutive NCAA final four appearance and the first National Championship game in school history. He also led the Terps to win the school's first National title, and graduated with 3 other seniors as the class with most wins in Men's Basketball at Maryland. Don't think all those accomplishments came with out hard work. Those were just a few of his many accomplishments. It can get to a point where one achievement seems to mean the same as the next. That would discredit some accomplishments. Dixon worked hard each day to make those things happen. When he was a freshman he lined up against All-American Steve Francis or "Stevie Franchise". This improved Dixon's game and improved his quickness. Dixon has been a great defensive player his whole career at Maryland. The thing is he is such a good defensive player he doesn't foul that often. He has never fouled out of a game, which is really impressive seeing how many college games he has played in. It was a dream team this year at Maryland. Equipped with a great team and coaching staff, they were bound for success. Last year it may have been a heart brake, but this year Maryland went home with a National Championship. Nothing was disappointing this season, besides the deaths of family members and the lights turned off at old Cole Field House. Maryland was clearly the team who deserved it. So, thank you Maryland for showing us all your soft body inside a very hard shell. |