The Terps' Seesaw Ride

Gary Williams crouched in a defensive stance, turning only to curse toward the bench at his team's sudden loss of poise. Greivis Vasquez, his unpredictable sophomore guard, had somehow decided that, late in the second half, dribbling into a trap along the baseline -- and stepping out of bounds to turn the ball over -- was a better thought than a simple entry pass from the wing or a drive down the middle.

It was late Wednesday night, and Maryland was on the brink again. Five seasons running, it seems, that's all the Terrapins know.

They could have just polished off a reeling Virginia Tech team, locked up an NCAA tournament berth and, worst case, split the ACC regular season's last four games. That way, Maryland would still ensure itself a bye in the first round of the conference tournament, play a beat-up and tired team that had played the night before and pick up at least one more victory before Selection Sunday.

But that's not the Terrapins, a team this region has come to loathe and love, sometimes in the same game -- sometimes on the same possession.

Putting a team away? What a monotonous ending would that be to the annual passion play in College Park, where there is a coach who wears his aortic valve on his sleeve and the equally emotional player from Venezuela who is his kindred spirit, whose heart about jumps out of his mesh jersey.

At Maryland, there is Gary, Greivis and no gray area.

The way they gave back double-digit leads in both halves in the eventual loss to Virginia Tech played right into every There-They-Go-Again insecurity of every Terrapin fan's psyche.

The Terrapins have the potential to careen off an embankment and miss the NCAA tournament or cruise, cocksure, into the Sweet 16, maybe further, as if this is how it was always planned.

Purpose isn't the problem; Maryland wanted badly to finish off the Hokies. But somewhere between Juan Dixon and John Gilchrist, Vasquez ended up following the same theatrical script.

One moment he was lifting his arms toward the heavens, persuading the student section to rise and roar as the Terrapins built a 14-point first-half lead and Vasquez knocked down three-pointers from all over the arc. The next, he was an out-of-control kid at the community center, unable to fit his 6-foot-6 frame between the nooks and crannies of the Hokies' defense, and finally throwing up junk.

In the locker room afterward, Vasquez called the loss the toughest of his career and seemed to be on the verge of tears. It wasn't as disturbing as hearing Gilchrist flagellate himself unmercifully during his most trying days before he left Maryland. And, in stark contrast to Gilchrist, Vasquez spoke of how he needed to improve in certain areas. He spoke of next season as if he understood he needed to return to school and the program.

But the kid is more volatile than the stock market, able to produce eight assists on the same night as eight turnovers. From possession to possession, he alternates between savvy floor leader to awful decision-maker -- from General Greivis to Egregious Vasquez.