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Wednesday, March 28
Williams raises the bar with Elite Terps
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Once most of the media exited a hallway deep in The Pond, Gary Williams, -- wearing Drew Nicholas' shooting jersey after a postgame water shower -- could finally let a bit of his raw emotions show.
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Cardinal Meet Cincy's Challenge
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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Stanford had had enough of the loose balls going to Cincinnati, the shots not falling and the inability to get the ball where it's supposed to go: inside.
That's when Stanford got back to its basics, the kind of stuff that makes the Cardinal the top seed in the West Region.
"There was no sense of panic, though," Stanford's Ryan Mendez said after Stanford snuffed out Cincinnati's charge 78-65 Saturday after being down by four in the second half.
Stanford is improving with each game, finding itself as it gets pushed like it was against St. Joseph's in the first round and now against Cincinnati. The second half was about getting the ball to Jason Collins inside (15 points), to Mendez for a 3-pointer and to Casey Jacobsen on the wing (27).
They even handled Cincinnati?s pressure, something the Bearcats thought could cause them problems. In fact, the much-maligned Stanford point guard Mike McDonald keyed a run for the Cardinal when he picked off a steal, raced down court and fed Mendez for a 3-pointer to give the Cardinal a 69-57 lead.
"When we move the ball like that, we're really good," Mendez said.
And now Stanford is one game away from being in the Final Four for the first time since 1998 when McDonald and Mendez were freshmen.
"We're battle-tested now and we've just got to get one more," McDonald said. "We knew it wasn't easy to get there the first time, but we?re almost there."
To get there, the Cardinal has to play its "A" game like it did during the second half. Maryland will press the Cardinal, but the Bearcats weren't successful. The Collins twins shouldn't have a problem keeping up with Lonny Baxter and Tahj Holden. Jacobsen can match Juan Dixon. Everything is in place for an equal battle.
"We're close, so close," Jacobsen said. "I can't wait for Saturday."
No one can.
-- Andy Katz
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"Yeah, you bet this feels good," Williams said as he strutted into the locker room after a 76-66 victory over Georgetown on Thursday earned him his first Elite Eight appearance in 23 seasons as a head coach -- the past 12 at Maryland after stops at Ohio State, Boston College and American.
Got that? His first Elite Eight appearance.
Williams had won 447 games. He had been to five Sweet 16s, which ties him for second among active coaches since 1994. But this is his first time in the Elite Eight.
Amazing.
Maryland itself had only been twice before in 1973 and '75. It's hard to imagine, but Maryland -- a program with tons of prestige and power -- hadn't made it to the Elite Eight since Gerald Ford was president.
Think it's easy to get to this point? Think again.
"This is the way college basketball has developed," Williams said. "If you don't win this game, then you're just a Sweet 16 coach. Now I'm an Elite Eight coach. But it's one game out of 600-something games. That's the system and you accept it."
Williams had chances, plenty of them, to get here. Two years ago, the Terps limped into the tournament without Obinna Ekezie and were out in the Sweet 16. Last year, a hobbled Danny Miller didn't help the Terps' situation in a blowout second-round loss to UCLA.
Excuses? Possibly.
But bad luck also went hand-in-hand with Williams in his missed attempts to get to the Elite Eight.
A buzzer-beater by Memphis' Andre Turner beat Boston College and Williams in the 1985 Sweet 16. One costly turnover in 1983 befell the Eagles in a Sweet 16 loss to Ralph Sampson and Virginia by three points.
"This is pretty good," Williams said. "The good part and the bad part of the NCAA Tournament is that one game means so much. It's not the best out of seven. You don't have time to screw around.
"Now, if I don't make the Final Four that that will be said. There are people who care how well you do, especially your family. But it's more of a team thing and (making the Elite Eight) won't have an impact until the season was over."
But the season appeared over after the Terps lost to Florida State at Cole Field House. The Terps were 15-9 and looking closer to the NIT than the NCAA.
"I was walking out of Cole Field House and a guy yells at me, 'Hey, good luck in the NIT,' and I got a good look at him," Williams said. "I haven't seen him since. I'm looking for him."
Following that game, something happened within Williams, the staff and the Terps. He chilled a bit and they responded. Maryland senior Terence Morris said Williams loosened up and so did the team.
"He backed off and didn't say as much," Morris said. "He actually calmed down. Sure, he got on us still, but not as much. We were a lot more stress free."
Morris said even the reserves were more at ease when they went into the game, not feeling like the next mistake would be their last appearance on the court.
The Terps have lost only one game since Florida State, and that was on a last possession to Duke in the ACC tournament semifinal. But the pressure was still on the Terps to get to the Elite Eight after the way the bracket fell.
|  | | Gary Williams had won 447 games and lost five Sweet 16 games before finally advancing to the Elite Eight on Thursday night. |
Maryland had its gut-test against George Mason; a sideshow game against Lefty Driesell and Georgia State in the second round; and Thursday, a matchup with Georgetown -- a team in the Terps' backyard, but rarely ever on the schedule.
"I never thought I had to get to the Elite Eight to validate myself as a coach," Williams said. "I knew what I could do. ... For Maryland, this is great for the school and the fans after one of the toughest three-year periods for any school (in the mid-80s)."
But Williams never pushed his desire to get to the Elite Eight, let alone the Sweet 16, on the players. At least they said they didn't feel any pressure from him.
"He kept telling us, 'Don't worry about my past in the Sweet 16,'" Maryland's Danny Miller said. "He said worry about this team, not the past. A lot of people wanted to just get past this spot. We never have gotten past the spot, been here two or three times and it's a great feeling to get past the spot for him."
In fact, the postgame locker room was somewhat subdued, almost a relieved atmosphere that they got to the point they were supposed to reach.
"I had never heard of the past here," said Maryland's Byron Mouton, a transfer from Tulane. "When we got in, someone said, 'Help us get past the Sweet 16,' and I said, 'What?' I didn't know they hadn't been past the Sweet 16 with all the great players they had. I wanted to be part of the first team to get past the Sweet 16."
Again, it bears repeating: This is the first team for Williams to do it and only the third ever for Maryland. It doesn't sound right, but it's true. Somehow that doesn't seem correct, but that's the reality of the NCAA Tournament. It can be the ultimate judgment on a coach and a program, even if it's not a fair assessment.
The bar on Williams and Maryland has finally been raised.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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