Maryland Terrapins men's basketball

Maryland Terrapins
2011–12 Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team
University	University of Maryland
Conference	ACC
Location	College Park, MD
Head coach	Mark Turgeon (1st year)
Arena	Comcast Center (Capacity: 17,950)
Nickname	Terrapins
Student section	The Wall
Colors	Red and White and Gold
Uniforms
Home Away Alternate
NCAA Tournament champions
2002
NCAA Tournament Final Four
2001, 2002
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1958, 1973, 1975, 2001, 2002
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1958, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1958, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010
NCAA Tournament appearances
1958, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010
Conference tournament champions
1931, 1958, 1984, 2004
Conference regular season champions
1932, 1975, 1980, 1995, 2002, 2010

The Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team represents the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition. Maryland is a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Gary Williams, who coached the Terrapins from 1989 to 2011, led the program to its greatest success, including two consecutive Final Fours, which culminated in the 2002 NCAA National Championship. Under Williams, Maryland appeared in eleven straight NCAA Tournaments from 1994 to 2004. He retired in May 2011 and was replaced by former Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon.

The Terrapins played in what many consider to be the greatest Atlantic Coast Conference game in history — and one of the greatest college basketball games ever — the championship of the 1974 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, won 103-100 in overtime by eventual national champion North Carolina State. The game was instrumental in forcing the expansion of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, thus allowing for at-large bids and the inclusion of more than one team per conference. That Maryland team, with six future NBA draft picks, is considered by many to be the greatest team not to participate in the NCAA tournament.

History

Men's basketball has been played at University of Maryland, College Park every year since the 1923-1924 season. Before the 1923 season, games were played sporadically during the 1904-1905, 1910–1911, 1913–1914, and the 1918-1919 seasons. In the 1970s, Lefty Driesell was credited with starting Midnight Madness. In 2002, Maryland won the 2002 NCAA basketball tournament.

Early Years - The H. Burton Shipley Era

Before basketball became a permanent fixture in College Park in 1923, the school met with little success in its intermittent attempts to establish a basketball team. Then known as the Aggies of Maryland Agricultural College, the team went just 4-32 before joining the Southern Conference for the 1923-24 season. The team met with moderate success that year at 5-7 and also played its first game against future ACC rivals North Carolina and Virginia. The Aggies had their first sustained success over the next four seasons, finishing at or above .500 in each of them and putting together an outstanding 24-9 record against Southern Conference foes under head coach H. Burton Shipley. The Aggies also played their first games against what would become their two other biggest rivals in the future during that time, North Carolina State and Duke.

The University's biggest success during their formative years took place in the early 1930s. After fishing second in the conference in 1930-31, Maryland won the Southern Conference tournaments, beating Louisiana State, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky over five days, a feat they followed by winning the conference regular season crown the next year. The team also had its first individual star in Louis "Bosey" Berger who was named to All-America teams both seasons. It was during this stretch that the school erected a new home for its basketball teams, Ritchie Coliseum, which housed the team until Cole Field House replaced it a quarter of a century later.

Although the team would remain competitive throughout the rest of the decade, finishing as high as second in the conference regular season, it never again matched its achievements of the early part of the decade, and as the 1940s began, the school's basketball team fell on exceedingly hard times, posting just one winning season in the seven years before Shipley was replaced by Flucie Stewart. Following a pattern that has held to the present after a long-time coach has been replaced at the head of Maryland basketball, Stewart would not last very long, putting together three losing seasons in three tries during his brief time at Maryland.

The Bud Millikan Era and the ACC

The 1950s began with a new head coach leading the way, Bud Millikan, a disciple of legendary coach Henry Iba whose emphasis on defense and fundamentals would become hallmarks of the program over the next two decades. Maryland, by this time known by their present nickname of Terrapins, immediately reeled off seven straight winning seasons under Millikan. For the 1953-54 season, the team had left its long time home in the Southern Conference to join North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Clemson, and South Carolina in the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference. That season was perhaps the finest the Terrapins had experienced to date, finishing with a 23-7 record and a conference mark good enough for second in the league. Maryland experienced its first games as a ranked team, spending the final nine weeks of the season ranked in the AP Top 20, peaking at #11 before settling for a final ranking of #20. It also featured the school's first win over a ranked team when it beat local rival George Washington, then-number 7 in the country. The team was led by its second All-American, Gene Shue, who was honored in both that season and the prior year.

After that season, the team remained the only school outside of the North Carolina "Big Four" - Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest - to consistently field competitive teams. In the ACC's second year, the Terps cracked the top ten for the first time, peaking at #6 in January before eventually finishing the season with a disappointing one point loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinal round.

The Terps had another breakout season during the 1957-58 season. After a good regular season (17-6, 4th in the ACC), Maryland stunned the league by winning the ACC Tournament, including wins over #6 Duke and #13 North Carolina on back to back days to capture the title as well as the league's berth in the NCAA Tournament. The team routed Boston College 86-63 at Madison Square Garden with just two days of rest after the ACC Tournament, advancing to the East Regionals in Charlotte. The Terps lost a tight game to Temple in the round of 16 before beating Manhattan in the consolation game to secure third place in the East.

That would be the high water mark for the Terps under Millikan. They experienced their first losing season under the coach the next season, although they did manage to finish third in the ACC, including its first ever win over a #1 ranked team when it beat North Carolina 69-51 in Cole Field House on February 21st. By 1962-63, the bottom had dropped out and the Terps finished just 3-11 in the ACC, next to last in the standings. While Millikan managed to turn the program around in the mid-'60s, finishing in a second place tie in 1964-65 and above .500 overall again the next season, the feeling in College Park was that the game had passed the coach by, and he was replaced after the following season by assistant Frank Fellows. Fellows tenure lasted just two seasons, both of which featured only eight wins, before his tenure concluded.

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach:	Mark Turgeon
Assistant Coach:	Dalonte Hill
Assistant Coach:	Bino Ranson
Assistant Coach:	Scott Spinelli
Director of Men's Basketball Student-Athlete Services:	Joe Harrington
Director of Basketball Operations:	Dustin Clark

Facilities

The Terps' basketball teams have played at the 17,950 seat Comcast Center or "The House Gary Built," in College Park since it opened in 2002. On January 25, 2012, the floor at Comcast Center was dedicated as Gary Williams Court. Prior to 2002 the Terps spent 47 seasons from 1955 to 2002 at Cole Field House.

When college basketball was achieving its most explosive growth - from the late 1950s to the late 1970s – there was one college gymnasium on the East Coast that seated as many as 12,000 fans. Cole Field House epitomized the new big-time, main event status of college hoops, the sport of network TV and emerging legends. It was a building where history was routinely made, and fans could feel the echo of tradition and experience the electricity of top-flight college basketball. Additional seats were installed throughout the years to bring the final capacity to 14,596 (in 1993).

Cole Field House held its first East Regional finals in 1962, when NYU defeated St. John's in the final, 94–85. The Final Four was first held here in 1966 between Duke, Kentucky, Texas Western (now UTEP), and Utah. Texas Western (which started all black players) upset Kentucky's all-white team 72–65 in front of a crowd of 14,253. Future Maryland men's basketball coach Gary Williams, then a student, attended the game. Cole also hosted the Final Four in 1970.

Before 1955, Maryland basketball games took place in Ritchie Coliseum, a small arena on campus (1932–55), and before that in a small gymnasium on campus simply called "The Gymnasium."

Comcast Center exterior

Comcast Center interior

Historical statistics

Overall
Years of basketball	87
1st season	1904-05
Head coaches (all-time)	8
All games
All-time record	1368-962
20+ win seasons	23
30+ win seasons	1
ACC games
ACC W-L record	418-397
ACC titles	3
NCAA Tournament
NCAA Appearances	24*
NCAA W-L record	38-23
Sweet Sixteen	13
Elite Eight	5
Final Four	2
National Championships	1

*1988 tournament records vacated by NCAA due to use of ineligible player

National honors

Naismith College Player of the Year
1995	Joe Smith
Helms Foundation All-American
1931	Louis Berger
1932	Louis Berger
First Team All-American
1975	John Lucas
1976	John Lucas
1980	Albert King
1986	Len Bias
1995	Joe Smith
2002	Juan Dixon
Second Team All-American
1973	Tom McMillen
1974	John Lucas, Len Elmore, Tom McMillen
1981	Albert King
1985	Len Bias
1992	Walt Williams
1999	Steve Francis
2010	Greivis Vasquez
Third Team All-American
1972	Tom McMillen
1994	Joe Smith
1997	Keith Booth
2001	Juan Dixon
First Team All-ACC
1954	Gene Shue
1960	Al Bunge
1972	Tom McMillen
1973	Tom McMillen
1974	John Lucas
1974	Len Elmore
1975	John Lucas
1976	John Lucas
1980	Albert King *
1985	Len Bias *
1986	Len Bias *
1987	Derrick Lewis
1992	Walt Williams
1994	Joe Smith
1995	Joe Smith *
1997	Keith Booth
1999	Steve Francis, Terrence Morris
2000	Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter
2001	Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter
2002	Juan Dixon *
2003	Steve Blake
2010	[Greivis Vasquez] *
2011	Jordan Williams
* ACC Player of the Year

Season-by-season results

See also: List of Maryland Terrapins men's basketball seasons

Honored jerseys

Number	Name	Years	Hometown
3	Juan Dixon	1999–2002	Baltimore, MD
6	Bosey Berger	1929–1932	Baltimore, MD
15	John Lucas	1973–1976	Durham, NC
15	Johnny Rhodes	1992-1996	Washington, DC
21	Greivis Vasquez	2006–2010	Caracas, Venezuela
22	Keith Booth	1994–1997	Baltimore, MD
23	Steve Francis	1999	Takoma Park, MD
25	Steve Blake	2000–2003	Miami Lakes, FL
25	Ernie Graham	1978–1981	Baltimore, MD
25	Gene Shue	1952–1954	Baltimore, MD
32	Joe Smith	1994–1995	Norfolk, VA
34	Len Bias	1983–1986	Landover, MD
35	Lonny Baxter	1999–2002	Silver Spring, MD
41	Len Elmore	1972–1974	Springfield Gardens, NY
42	Walt Williams	1989–1992	Temple Hills, MD
52	Buck Williams	1979–1981	Rocky Mount, NC
54	Tom McMillen	1972–1974	Mansfield, PA
55	Albert King	1978–1981	Brooklyn, NY

NBA Draft picks

Year	Round	Pick	Name	Team	Games in NBA
2011	2	36	Jordan Williams	New Jersey Nets	0
2010	1	28	Greivis Vasquez	Memphis Grizzlies	46
2008	2	57	James Gist	San Antonio Spurs	0
2007	2	59	D.J. Strawberry	Phoenix Suns	33
2003	2	38	Steve Blake	Washington Wizards	549
2002	1	8	Chris Wilcox	Los Angeles Clippers	484
2002	1	17	Juan Dixon	Washington Wizards	436
2002	2	44	Lonny Baxter	Chicago Bulls	162
2001	2	34	Terence Morris	Atlanta Hawks	139
1999	1	2	Steve Francis	Vancouver Grizzlies	576
1999	2	37	Obinna Ekezie	Vancouver Grizzlies	143
1999	2	38	Laron Profit	Orlando Magic	135
1997	1	28	Keith Booth	Chicago Bulls	45
1995	1	1	Joe Smith	Golden State Warriors	1018
1993	2	31	Evers Burns	Sacramento Kings	23
1992	1	7	Walt Williams	Sacramento Kings	708
1990	1	17	Jerrod Mustaf	New York Knicks	179
1990	2	43	Tony Massenburg	San Antonio Spurs	683
1988	3	62	Derrick Lewis	Chicago Bulls	0
1986	1	2	Len Bias	Boston Celtics	0
1985	2	46	Adrian Branch	Chicago Bulls	130
1984	2	37	Ben Coleman	Chicago Bulls	227
1981	1	3	Buck Williams	New Jersey Nets	1307
1981	1	10	Albert King	New Jersey Nets	534
1978	4	81	Lawrence Boston	Washington Bullets	13
1977	1	15	Brad Davis	Los Angeles Lakers	961
1977	2	30	Steve Sheppard	Chicago Bulls	106
1976	1	1	John Lucas	Houston Rockets	928
1976	2	32	Mo Howard	Cleveland Cavaliers	32
1974	1	9	Tom McMillen	Buffalo Braves	729
1974	1	13	Len Elmore	Washington Bullets	658
1971	8	131	Barry Yates	Philadelphia 76ers	24
1963	3	24	Jerry Greenspan	Syracuse Nationals	25

External links

• Official site