04/25/24
April 01, 2002
Maryland wins.: Terps defeat Hoosiers to win national championship.
posted by kirkaracha to basketball at 11:10 PM - 12 comments
It was a strange game. It was sloppy, and it felt like it could go either way until Juan Dixon hit the three that gave Maryland the lead for good. Indiana could only score threes. They were terrible from the line and on two-point shots. Can you really expect to win that way? And Maryland was careless and sloppy until the last seven minutes or so...what would it have been like if they'd played a better game?
posted by kirkaracha at 11:16 PM on April 01, 2002
what would it have been like if they'd played a better game?
They would have kicked the crap out of IU, probably. They've got a load of talent... oddly, though, it seemed like they never played nearly as well as they did in mid-season- they could have beaten Kansas by 25+; should have beaten IU by a similar number. They were clearly just the best team (by a big margin) when they put it all together. But they just couldn't put it together for 40 minutes towards the end of the season, which is really odd.
It's an incredible tribute to Gary William's eye for talent that this team had no McD's AAs and yet was clearly, by a long shot, the deepest and most talented team on the court whenever they played. The thought of him actually able to pick up McD's when he wants them now that he has a ring should be scary for the rest of the ACC. [Or alternately they could start leaving early, which could bite him like it has bitten UNC and to a lesser extent Duke. sigh. College basketball sucks that way :/]
Amusing anecdote for the evening- a friend on Duke's campus got prank called by a couple Maryland students tonight, who were apparently cold calling random Duke dorm numbers to rub the championship in. It's highly amusing to me that even in their moment of triumph they were thinking of Duke first and foremost.
posted by tieguy at 11:30 PM on April 01, 2002
Indiana and Maryland both played terribly. This was the uglisest championship game I have ever seen. Indiana shot badly and never found rythm. Maryland won from the free throw line and capitalizing on turnovers. Had IU capitalized on turnovers and shot even decently from the line, we might have had a close game. Congrats to Maryland. They had a great season, have a great coach, and now finally have a banner. IU couldn't have lost to a better team. Great coach, motivated players, great all-around ability. As for prank calls from Maryland students, it is certainly great that they thought of Duke first. Final Four coverage certainly didn't. Hype and ability are two different things, tieguy.
posted by ttrendel at 12:05 AM on April 02, 2002
<shrug> if it were just hype we wouldn't have been defending national champions until two weekends ago, with four returning starters from that team, at least three of whom will probably be lottery picks (which is probably more than IU and MD starters combined.) To claim Duke's ranking and season was just hype and not ability is clearly wrong. But (obviously) we didn't capitalize on our talent like we did last year; Maryland and Indiana did. Congrats (for the nth time) to them.
posted by tieguy at 12:15 AM on April 02, 2002
Worst title game ever. MD was averaging 85 points a game up to that game. I'm happy for Maryland, but disappointed that the Hoosiers didn't pull off the upset, because I really thought they missed a lot of opportunities early on (3 early turnovers) and then self-destructed at the end on that 22-5 run. Maryland scored 20 points on free throws as well. Congrats to Juan Dixon and his team for a great season, and Jared Jeffries better stay one more year at IU, because as he proved in the last two games where he only scored 8 points each game, he's not ready for the NBA just yet.
posted by insomnyuk at 12:31 AM on April 02, 2002
And congrats to Duke as well. Great team, great coach. Not so great luck (for this season, at least). Being one of the top 16 teams in college basketball is nothing to thumb your nose at for anyone. Sorry if I've been bitter, tieguy. The lean years at Indiana have made me a jaded bastard. On a similar note, just participating in the tourney is a dream for millions. Believing in a team that has the fortitude to even make it to the 2nd round is a wonderful experience. Going deep is great, but i would trade anything to be in Kent, Ohio 2 weeks ago. Favorites and underdogs come together to illustrate what make college sports so special.
posted by ttrendel at 12:34 AM on April 02, 2002
Terps!
posted by owillis at 01:28 AM on April 02, 2002
ttrendel: no worries... I was hoping I wasn't the one coming off bitter :) We've been very blessed; I hope when we fade a little bit we handle it without bitterness but I'm not so optimistic. We'll see. Having been there really recently (for both my men's and women's teams) it's not easy to talk reasonably after a loss like that, for anyone.
You guys had an awesome run and could have pulled it off. In a way, you should be glad... if we'd lost to Maryland in the NC game, it would have been a crushing, horrible end to the season; in a week you'll probably look back and say 'we had a lead in the national title game when we weren't even ranked at some points during the season.' I mean, you weren't Kent State-type underdogs, but still... making even the elite eight as a five seed in overachievement, and going to the Final Four and beating the #1 seed and defending champs is something I'm sure Dane Fife and the other kids on that squad will talk about for a long, long time.
FWIW, if you're into the underdog thing, I'm sure the Indiana women's team could use a few fans. Beating Tennessee when they were the three-time defending champs (Chamique Holdsclaw's last game) was as surreal a sporting experience as I will ever have. We're now regular #1 seeds (like the men) so it's not quite the same but the mere mention of that game swells me up with pride and joy.
posted by tieguy at 02:02 AM on April 02, 2002
Terrapins basketball was the first team i ever rooted for. Greg Manning was my first sports hero. there have been other passions of course. some, at times, even surpassing my love of terps hoops ... but ya know yr first is always special. these days i feel pretty old most of the time. it's so rare nowadays that something happens for the first time in my life (hell first time in history). what a fucking awesome day.
posted by danostuporstar at 09:02 AM on April 02, 2002
hey ... and even though ESPN has dropped maryland to 14th in the pre-pre-pre-season rankings for 2002-2003 season, ... check out the logo they put next to the dreaded ("crap, i just stepped in") dookies at number 4. i guess they have acknowledged the new ACC powerhouse.
posted by danostuporstar at 09:43 AM on April 02, 2002
Talk to me about being 'the' ACC powerhouse when you've won an ACC Tourney championship ;) Or better yet, when you've won 4 in a row. Definitely 'a' powerhouse but you've still got a long way to go for 'the.' Funny error on ESPN's part, though.
posted by tieguy at 10:30 AM on April 02, 2002
Congrats to Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, and Byron Mouton; condolences to College Park.