Mr. Williams Glorious Day

Above is some grainy, Zapruder like video of the final play of the game. It is more worthwhile for the wild, court rushing and crowd noise than the basketball portion.

What a wonderful, unlikely, joyous day it turned out to be. For Gary Williams, the Maryland coach, it was a vindication of coaching prowess and a great day. For Roy Williams (not related, Carolina head coach), it was not such a great time.

88 to 85 in overtime. One of the greatest games I have seen. I was there with my son Mason. It was the best game he ever saw. My ticket partner, Matt brought young Adam. It was Adam’s first real game. The kids will have this game as the best, first, greatest game for the rest of their lives.

I can not write enough good things about how fantastic it was. Today, in front of a national tv audience the Comcast Center finally felt like Cole Field House. There were new Terps, as the football team hosted potential recruits today. There were old Terps, as Boomer Esiason, Jeff Baxter (old #12 from the Len Bias teams), Ernie Graham (#25 from the Albert King days) and Ernie’s son, who is a potential Terp basketball recruit. Plus many more.

After the game Mason and I got down to the court. Actually met up with Brent Musberger. We hung out until they started cleaning up. Brent was gracious enough to take the photo to the left.

About the game – What stood out to me was (1) the defense, (2) Greivis, Cliff and Eric, (3) Gary and (4) the 3 headed monster of Dave Neal + Jerome Burney + Dino Gregory.

Defense – Wow did we bring it today. It did not matter how many times Carolina walked, or pushed. It did not matter that they jumped right over us at times. We played defense like a Gary Williams team. Carolina ended up being a jump shooting team down the stretch.

Greivis, Cliff and Eric – Eric missed his first few shots. Then the lights went on. I thought he was too slow to be out there today. My mistake.

Cliff can play. FOR REAL. What a shooting performance. Solid defense. He is the missing link.
Greivis had the best total game on the stat sheet I have ever seen at Maryland. 16 points in a row to start the game. Then he does not score for 20 minutes. The gets 19 more in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Gary – He has found the proper combination of players for the system. The team seems to be getting good at the right time. Once again, he was the superior coach on the floor.

The 3 headed monster – We really do have a center on this team. It is made up of three guys, Dave Neal, Jerome Burney and Dino Gregory. Dave Neal was overjoyed as he left the floor. What a way to end a career. Burney has come back from another foot injury to be a key component. He can block shots and rebound. Maybe he will score once in a while. Dino had a signature play for the year. He chased down Ty Lawson on the fast break and blocked the layup.

Overall it felt like the game when we beat Georgetown at the Capital Center when Joe Smith was a freshman. Like when we beat Notre Dame in 1979 in an overtime game at Cole. Back then Albert King was a freshman. Like it is the start of something.

.