What Would Maryland Like To Be?

The Maryland Terrapins college basketball program had an identity. It was wonderful. Under the perspiring and ever perturbed eye of Gary Williams, the program with a chip on its shoulder kept crashing the party. The ACC was filled with the blue-blooded royalty of college basketball and that did not include Maryland and that was just fine with them. The always underdog label suited the team, its coach, and its fanbase just fine. But that label did not really match the consistent achievement. Over a 10 year period UMD made the tournament every year, competed with national powers, won a championship, reached another Final 4 and reached the Sweet 16 seven times. Only a small handful of programs over that same time would not have INSTANTLY traded for that resume. There were certainly some disappointing years and moments in that 10 year run where the team maybe lost a game it should not have or got run out of the gym by a superior opponent. That is the nature of college sports and most specifically, this college sport where a single elimination tournament captures the attention of the country. Even the most critical eye would be forced to look on that period, after Coach Williams brought the program back from the abyss, as an absolute success.

Now? 1 Sweet 16 appearance in 18 years and a drubbing this year at the hands of an excellent Alabama team in the Round of 32. The Terps have only made the tournament in 9 of the last 17 years (no tournament was held in 2020 due to Covid and the team would have undoubtedly been included). 70% of the time, over a 10 year period, UMD made it out of the opening frantic weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Over the last 18 years, just over 5%. In a given year, upsets happen and no program is immune. Just look at this year’s field:

-2nd seeded Ohio State, a national power eliminated in Round 1

-Uber talented Texas, a 3 seed, beaten in Round 1

-Illinois, enjoying a program renaissance, dismantled in Round 2 after a well earned number 1 seed

-Top 3 seeds Iowa, Kansas, and West Virginia all beaten handily before the second weekend

-Duke, Kentucky, and Louisville did not even make the tournament field

Again, upsets happen. But over a larger sample of years, these successful programs, and this seems novel to some Maryland fans, experience success. Reflexive apologists will point to the Big 10 standings in several years and offer myriad excuses about how hard it is in the current era of 1 and done to annually compete at a high level. The response to these points is simple. Yes it is hard. That is why the millionaire state employee is highly compensated: to do the hard thing. If you are a Maryland fan and believe this is how it should be, by all means, enjoy whatever this is. Your team makes the tournament just over half the time. If you are good with that, this is not the column for you.

Let’s pick another solid program for context. Xavier now plays in the worn out husk of the Big East and was formerly in the Atlantic 10. Neither conference has the glamour or pedigree of the ACC or Big 10. Xavier has missed the tournament each of the last 3 seasons. That ended a run where Xavier made 13/15 tournaments, 4 Sweet 16s, and 3 Elite 8 appearances. No one would confuse Xavier with Kentucky or North Carolina and yet, the program has had far more post season success than Maryland playing in a worse conference. Xavier, a Catholic School in Cincinnati, OH does not have the staggering amount of basketball talent in its back yard that Maryland is afforded. Thus, any reasonable person would conclude that Xavier has accomplished far more with far less at their disposal.

So this begs the obvious question. What SHOULD The University of Maryland be? Many fans should not be faulted for not having a clear picture of that as the school itself has long suffered from an identity crisis. Looking in the mirror, it has long seen itself as a football school that is just a few steps away from bowl games and consistent financial windfalls. For fans like me that grew up liking what Maryland was (hint: NOT that), a choice was placed before us. Get on board with this Big 10 football thing or remain steadfast that Maryland should be a basketball school in an excellent basketball conference with a chip on its shoulder. I chose the latter and my fandom has waned. I don’t begrudge those that chose door number 1 and swallowed the red pill. I just cannot pretend to have the same level of investment when Maryland takes on traditional rival, Minnesota as I once did. To the question at hand, the answer is obvious. UMD should be a lot better than this. How much better is a reasonable debate. Only a tiny few might say a consistent top 10 team that is always a threat to cut down the nets. That, to me, is not realistic. What is feasible is the program tapping into the incredible talent within 30 minutes of its campus. What should be expected is an end to the excuses of how difficult this is or how ‘it’s a down year’. What has to occur is a raising of the bar that has gotten astoundingly low for a once proud program and fanbase.

Maryland has not beaten a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 seed in the NCAA tournament since 2003, when they beat Xavier (that’s why I picked Xavier in my example. I am a simple man). The other night against Alabama, they were completely outclassed by a really good team that played incredibly well. Just about every team in the country would have lost to Alabama that night. The frustration that many Maryland fans have is ‘when will that be OUR team?’. In 2002, Kentucky, UConn, and Kansas fans all came away shaking their heads as it was fair to say that no one in the country would have beaten that Maryland team that night. Not only have the Terps not approached those heights since, they have not been close. No reasonable person is arguing that Maryland should have a group that can go 32–4 & win a title every year. There is a tremendous gap between where the program is now and where it could and should be though. The school was wrong about what the expectations should be for its football program in the positive direction. My fear is that UMD and its fans are making a similar error in the opposite direction for its one proud hoops team. The program of Elmore, Bias, Dixon, Walt Williams, Smith, Booth, Lucas, Branch, McMillen, and others has given way to a mediocre program plagued by defeatist and accepting attitudes.

The bottom line is that the University of Maryland basketball program no longer has its identity. Goal number 1 should be to get it back. Starting right now.