DENVER, March 21 -- Gary Williams's white shirt was wrinkled and damp, his red tie loosened, as he sat on a chair in the center of the Maryland locker room Saturday at Pepsi Center. His players were strewn around the perimeter of the room, collapsed in locker stalls, watery eyes closed, headphones already on, silent.
The Terrapins' season had ended only 30 minutes earlier with a 72-70 loss to Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Yet there was Williams, as upbeat as could be.
Coach Gary Williams, Travis Garrison left the court after second-round loss to Syracuse ended Maryland's season.
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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"This team," he said. "You've got to love them."
In the three prior seasons, Williams had led Maryland to its first Final Four, then its first national championship. But quietly, he likely believes this season -- with the Terps as young as they had been in a decade, battling through confidence problems and losing skids -- was among the best he has had in his 15 years at Maryland, the best in 26 years as a head coach.
"I don't blow my own horn very often," he said. "But this was a challenge this year."
The challenge ended with the Terps a few missed free throws or a last-gasp layup from D.J. Strawberry away from advancing to the round of 16 for the fourth straight year. A month ago, there was no logical reason to expect even that. Five months ago, when practice opened, there was no logical way to predict what might happen. That wasn't the case in 2001 or 2002, when Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Steve Blake provided stability from the first whistle.
"The national championship team and the team that went to the Final Four, those guys were experienced," assistant coach Dave Dickerson said. "They knew our system. They knew what Gary wanted from a coaching aspect. Then, it was just up to them to just play.
"This group, we didn't have a clue coming into the year. As a coaching staff, we knew every day was going to be a different day. We had to continue to teach, continue to teach, continue to mold, continue to mold. And then, hopefully, near the middle and the end, we'd become a good team."
It didn't happen during the middle, and there was no guarantee that it would, ever. The Terps lost nine of their first 14 ACC games. Along the way, Williams and his staff pulled, prodded, yelled and whispered.
Williams benched sophomore forward Travis Garrison in early January. Garrison, with fragile self-confidence, relaxed, played better, and earned his starting job back. Williams watched guard Chris McCray melt down after making a mistake at Duke, and benched him. McCray responded immediately, and played his best basketball at the end of the season. Williams grew frustrated with center Jamar Smith, and sat him for the final 19 minutes of a loss to Wake Forest. Smith, too, improved.
Through all that, the Terps kept hearing: Maryland has been to the NCAA tournament for 10 straight years, but the streak looks like it will end here.
"The expectations weren't on our team," Williams said. "They were based on previous years. We had to fight through that, and my job was to make the players understand that's how they were being judged."
The season could have easily ended with losses in the final two regular season games, or in the ACC tournament. Instead, the Terps beat North Carolina State and Virginia to close the regular season, then ran off three unlikely wins to take the school's first ACC championship in 20 years.
"He knew how good we could be," Garrison said. "He wanted us to see that in ourselves."
Because they finally did, Williams could sit in that locker room Saturday night and quickly move on to next season. Smith, the Terps' lone senior, is the only player who won't return in 2004-05. The Terps have signed only one new recruit -- forward James Gist of Good Counsel -- but are eyeing a few junior college players.
But even with the team as it is, there is reason for Williams to be optimistic. Over the last month of the season, John Gilchrist developed into the team's unquestioned leader, not to mention one of the best guards in the backcourt-rich ACC. Garrison discovered confidence in his jumper, and generally grew more aggressive. McCray needs to work on his strength and his perimeter shot, but showed an improved attitude and game in the last month. Freshman forward Ekene Ibekwe, with amazing athletic potential, could play small forward, Williams said, if he improves his ball-handling. Forward Nik Caner-Medley had flashes when he was the team's best offensive player, others when he disappeared, and will be pushed to improve by Ibekwe and Gist.
"We have a history of working in the offseason in this program," Williams said. "That's when our best teams have really gotten better."
Next season will be different, for the Terps will be more of a known commodity. The expectations will be right back where they have been for the last 10 years, to win games in the ACC and easily earn a berth the NCAA tournament.
Williams, in a way, will be different, too. This season, with its frustration and fun, changed him.
"In coaching, I think you need something like this," he said. "You forget what it's like to go through it, to teach so much. It's been an interesting year in a lot of ways. But I wouldn't change it."
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