Chemistry of the Champs

It's halftime of the semifinal game in college basketball's Final Four, and Maryland's Ryan Randle is frustrated over his play against Kansas. As he walks dejectedly toward the court to warm up for the second half, fellow big man Tahj Holden offers his teammate inspirational and brazen words: "Look, it's us 12 against 53,000 people," he says, referring to the Terps roster and the attendance at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. "That seems like a lot, but I like those odds. I can deal with that.

Holden's pep talk reflected the Terrapins us-against-the-world mindset during the 2001-2002 season, one that emboldened them to persevere no matter the challenge. He further encapsulated the team's mentality by saying: "When you feel that everybody's backing you into a corner, that's sometimes when you're at your best."

The Terps were undeniably at their best last season, the most glorious one in the 79-year history of the university's men's basketball program. Their brilliance led to a school-record 32 wins against four losses, cresting with a victory over Indiana for the NCAA Division I title in April. It was a prize Maryland's players refused to be denied after losing in the semifinals of the tournament to nemesis Duke the year before.

"We had nine guys back from that Final Four team," Terps guard Juan Dixon says. "Guys knew what it took to get back there, and we stayed focused. We all had a goal to win the national championship game. We weren't going to settle for anything less."

Dixon's deft jump shooting and clutch baskets, and center Lonny Baxter's dominance of defender after defender in the paint, were team trademarks last season. So were Byron Mouton's hustle and enthusiasm, Chris Wilcox's rim-rattling dunks and suffocating defense, and Steve Blake's bull's-eye passes, along with the stellar play of super-subs Holden, Randle and Drew Nicholas.

But just who were these Maryland Terrapins, the first team since 1978 with no McDonald's All-Americans to finish No. 1 in the country, a squad with what The Sporting News called the recruiting equivalent of "Five Guys Named Moe"? In addition to their noticeable talents, they possessed a tough inner fabric, one comprised of some of the most basic elements in athletics: teamwork, sacrifice, a strong work ethic, leadership and a commitment to excellence. Those traits--often called "intangibles" in sports vernacular--are capable of elevating a great team to a championship plane. Indeed, Maryland was excellent on paper entering the season, ranked No. 2 in the nation. By digging deep into the team's soul, however, the Terps took an extra hurdle to become the best by season's end.

Maryland emitted other characteristics of an elite team, one being that they didn't only want to win--they knew how to win. They showed resilience in situations with their backs to the wall, pulling out nail-biters that may have gone the other way in past years, including comeback wins over Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Virginia and Wake Forest, and powerhouse Kansas, to name a few.

Such unflappability stemmed from several sources. For one, the players carried a quiet arrogance of "we're better than you are, and we're not going to let you beat us," says Johnny Holliday, the team's radio play-by-play announcer for the past 23 years, an experience he chronicles in his autobiography, From Rock to Jock, scheduled for release this fall. While avoiding tendencies toward showboating, the team still walked with a swagger all season, he adds.

Moreover, Maryland's experienced starting lineup featured four players with at least 100 starts in their college careers. Three of those four--seniors Dixon, Baxter and Mouton--were 23 years old, and the fourth, Blake, was a 22-year-old junior, providing valuable layers of maturity. Plus, the presence of so many seniors in the starting lineup with the potential to make it in the National Basketball Association was a godsend in this era, when many players are departing early for the wealthy pastures of the NBA.

Senior Lonny Baxter (left) slams for 2 of his 16 points in the Terps' 78-68 NCAA Sweet 16 victory against Kentucky. Baxter's steady play and strong leadership throughout the season helped propel Maryland to its first NCAA Championship.

Of the three seniors, the self-confident Dixon was the most vocal. Having instilled in himself that this Terps team belonged to him and that he wasn't going to let it down, he took the liberty to speak up in practice and games, praising, admonishing and cajoling his teammates. In turn, they afforded Dixon, a first-team All-American and the ACC Player of the Year, tremendous respect.

Terps coach Gary Williams also held Dixon in high esteem. He admired the tremendous work ethic of the player who planted himself in Cole Field House and shot jump shots into the early morning hours, as well as his classiness. The coach says when Dixon was interviewed on national television during the NCAA Tournament, he did a superb job of re-routing praise from himself to his teammates.

"Whenever they said, 'Juan, you're a great player, you're leading the team,' Juan would go, 'Hey wait a minute, we've got a very good team, we've got a bunch of other guys here playing great,'" Williams recalls. "The way he represented the university on national TV was as good as any player I've ever seen in terms of his ability to put his thoughts out there."

The two built a symbiotic relationship over their five seasons together (Dixon red-shirted his freshman year). Dixon, who playfully called Williams "G-Dub," a takeoff on the initial "G" for Gary and the sound of the "W" in his last name, says they discovered a kindred spirit in one another because of domestic hardships in their youth. Williams' parents divorced, and both of Dixon's parents died from AIDS.

Juan Dixson embodied the Terp's quiet confidence throughout the 2001-02 season.

"We are both strong individuals, and we came from a similar background," Dixon says. "We didn't have our parents our whole lives, so we kind of understood each other. When he got upset on the sidelines, I knew what he was going through, that all he wanted to do was win. I had the same attitude. That's why we were able to get along so well. I fed off his energy, and he fed off my play on the court. I made him a better coach, and he made me a better player."

The team itself benefited from Dixon's presence, just as it did from the other senior starters, Mouton and Baxter. The charismatic Mouton, a small forward, often pumped his fist joyously after making a basket or crucial play, exuberance that injected a charge in his fellow Terps. Holliday dubbed Mouton "Mr. Excitement," saying, "Nobody on the team displayed more emotion than him."

Mouton also inspired with his hustle, his gutsy play in the championship game against Indiana serving as a perfect example: With the Terps clinging to a 53-49 lead late in the second half, Blake missed a three-pointer that ricocheted out of bounds. But the 6-foot-6 Mouton lunged after the ball while falling over the baseline and managed to lob a pass back to Blake at mid-court, as his momentum sent him tumbling into a television cameraman. Rejuvenated, Maryland scored to start an 11-4 run that accounted for the final score.

Baxter was a quiet leader who set examples with his meticulousness on the court. Whether assigned to position himself at the foul line, the left or right side of the lane, or in the low blocks, the burly, 6-foot-8, 260-pounder always displayed utmost focus and discipline. The other senior, reserve guard Earl Badu, contributed to the team's fortunes by battling hard in practice in the hope of preparing his teammates for games.

Aside from the four seniors, every player on the team exhibited leadership in one form or another. Point guard Blake, for one, personified a conductor leading his orchestra. When bringing the ball upcourt, he would always think "pass first, shoot second," an approach he has subscribed to in his three seasons at Maryland. Such selflessness led him to shatter the university's all-time assist record last season; he now boasts 751, the most of any player in the nation entering the 2002-2003 season. Baxter, a frequent recipient of his assists, says unequivocally that Blake is the most unselfish teammate he's ever had.

Blake also connected on the court with Dixon--once under dubious circumstances. Before the 1999-2000 season, when Blake was about to become a freshman and Dixon a sophomore, the two got into a heated shoving match in a pick-up game. But the tough, feisty, hard-nosed teammates, both of whom carry a street-kid mentality, proceeded to develop a mutual respect for one another on the court and a solid friendship off the court. How did they come to understand each other?

"Basically, because we're both such competitive people," Blake says. "We got into a fight when I first got here ... I guess he didn't know what to expect from me, and when I gave it, he'd go at me, and I'd give it back to him. But that made us respect each other that much more, two people who want to win so badly and work so hard to get what they want."

With Blake leading the way, Maryland became synonymous with teamwork. All five players touched the ball on many possessions, and the Terps led the ACC in assists. Sacrifice was thus a common theme, even for Dixon, who established himself last season as Maryland's all-time leading scorer and finished his career with 2,269 points. Dixon could have hoisted many shots. But he and everyone else subjugated personal glory for the good of the team.

Nicholas (who filled in at point guard, shooting guard and small forward), Holden and Randle sacrificed in a different way. The three juniors had the potential to start for many other Division I programs, though they accepted their time on the bench with dignity in return for a possible championship ring.

The Terps planted the seeds for their championship run at the end of the 2000-2001 season, a roller-coaster campaign that saw them start 1-3 and lose five of six games around mid-season, before regrouping to reach the first Final Four in school history. But Maryland blew a 22-point, first-half lead to Duke in the Final Four semifinal and lost, 95-84.

The ignominious loss was bitter, for Maryland's players believed they were better than Duke, which went on to win the national title. But the Terps found adversity to be an excellent motivator and dedicated themselves to winning it all in 2001-2002. Before the season even began, the players donned T-shirts that said, "Final Four, Atlanta, Georgia, 2002."

Prior to marching into Atlanta, however, the Terps had to weather some precarious, character-testing sequences starting with a 71-67 loss to unranked Arizona in the season-opener. While everyone was wondering if Maryland was as good as its No. 2 ranking, the Terps knew they had to shift into higher gear in order to meet their goals.

			CHRIS WILCOX		JUAN DIXON		LONNY BAXTER
		Draft Pick: First round, 8th by the Los Angeles Clippers Likely Position: Power forward Hometown: Whiteville, N.C. Key Stats: Averaged 12 points and 7.1 rebounds per game during sophomore season at Maryland. Fifth NBA lottery pick in Terrapin history.		Draft Pick: First round, 17th by the Washington Wizards Likely Position: Guard, small forward Hometown: Baltimore, Md. Key Stats: First Terrapin with more than 2,000 career points, 300 steals and 200 three-point goals. All-time leading scorer at Maryland.		Draft Pick: Second round, 44th by the Chicago Bulls Likely Position: Power forward Hometown: Silver Spring, Md. Key Stats: Averaged 15.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game during his senior season at Maryland.

They did just that, bouncing back with an 82-74 win over Temple to start an eight-game winning streak entering a meeting against No. 21 Oklahoma in Norman. The Terps were coming off a 10-day break, and the Sooners caught them flat in a 72-56 win. Again, Maryland kept its composure, winning five straight before losing to No. 1 Duke in Durham, 99-78.

After the loss, the Terps demeanor was drastically different than when they fell to Duke in January 2001, a defeat mocked as the "Maryland meltdown" after the Terps blew a 10-point lead in the final minute and lost in overtime--then endured their precipitous mid-season slide. This time, they were much more sanguine, knowing a lot of basketball was yet to be played.

"That mindset helped us all year long," Holden says. "When you think you're going to win the national championship ... everything seems to fall into place. We didn't have that the year before. It seems like we were focusing on each game so much that each one had an unbelievable amount of weight, and it's hard to play when you have a piano on your back. This year, we didn't have as much on our backs because going into each game it was like, 'We want to win, we should win, but if we don't win it's not the end of the world because we still have so many games to play until we get to the tournament.'

" After three straight wins, Maryland met the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville, a game denoting that the Terps might be eyeing destiny. They surged back from a nine-point deficit in the final 3:22 to earn a 91-87 victory. And while Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen called repeated timeouts during that stretch to stifle Maryland's momentum, Johnny Holliday noticed a Gary Williams markedly different from the coach notorious for his intense and animated style on the sidelines.

"In the Terps huddle right next to us, nobody's talking, they're all listening, and Gary's saying, 'Here's what we're going to do,' " Holliday recalls. "They'd go out and do it, and Virginia would call another timeout, and Maryland would come back in the huddle again, no screaming or shouting."

Williams' forbearance exemplified what Holliday labeled the "calming influence" the coach had on his players last season. Holliday says Williams cut down on his sideline ranting and raving, noting that "he would pick and choose much more carefully when to get in somebody's face after they committed a turnover, didn't run the play properly or took a quick shot." Williams insists he was no more relaxed than in any of his 23 prior years as a college head coach. But he adds that he might have done some things differently because "it was a senior-dominated team, and I knew I could trust them."

The victory over Virginia triggered a 10-game win streak, including an 85-59 rout of Florida State in the first round of the ACC Tournament. NC State upset Maryland, 86-82, in the second round, but the Terps gleaned a vital message from the loss.

"It helped us win a national championship," Mouton says. "If we hadn't lost, we probably would have felt, 'Oh, we're cool.' There are times to be cocky, but if we had won that game, we would have been too cocky."

Sure enough, the Terps were at monotone level by the time the NCAA Tournament began, despite the thrill of being the No. 1 seed in the East Region. They approached matters in yeoman-like fashion, as evidenced by their reaction following a 30-point blowout of Wisconsin that qualified them for the Sweet 16. Reporters asked them why they weren't celebrating, to which Nicholas responded by echoing team-wide sentiment: "It's all about business."

Dixon, no doubt, was the CEO. He averaged a team-high 26 points in the tournament, was voted MVP of the Final Four, and hit what Williams called the two biggest shots of the post-season event. His 3-pointer with less than five minutes left in the East Region final against Connecticut tied the game at 75, and his 3-pointer with less than 10 minutes to play against Indiana gave Maryland the lead for good. Both shots diffused the opponents' momentum, turned the tide in the Terps' favor and testified to the killer instinct of the small-framed, 165-pound Dixon.

Byron Mouton was at a crossroads. Crestfallen while at home with his family in Louisiana last December after the shooting-related death of his brother, Kevin, he considered shelving his last season of college basketball.

"I was thinking about it, because I could see the sadness in my mom's face," he says. "Basketball is great, school is great, but my family comes first, and I just wanted to make sure my mom was all right. She gave me the okay, that it was best for me to go back to Maryland and pursue my education and basketball career."

Upon returning, he walked into the open arms of his other family--his teammates and coaches. Everyone rallied around him, offering support and encouragement. Juan Dixon, who lost both of his parents to AIDS while he was in high school and wears a tattoo on his arm that says, "Only The Strong Survive," shared some especially poignant words.

"I knew what Byron was going through in losing a close relative, so the only thing I could say to him was, 'Byron, stay strong, your brother wants you to move on. Work hard on whatever you decide to do, and hopefully things will work out for you.' "

Mouton used Dixon's words as positive reinforcement and exhibited a stronger focus than ever. He increased his scoring average from seven points in the first seven games, after which he departed to Louisiana, to 12 points for the rest of the season. He attacked the sport with a vigor, making hustle plays and rebounding like never before. His trademark ebullience on the court didn't waver, either.

"With Byron, it was his love for the game and his happiness," Tahj Holden says. "Sometimes, you go through rough times and basketball seems secondary. But he just let us know that despite his brother's death, he could come out and still have fun. Just seeing him have fun rubbed off on everybody."   -Michael Richman

"Juan is a great player, but he's also a great clutch player," Williams says. "There's a difference. There are guys who score a lot of points. But when it comes down to crunch time, when you need that shot to win or tie the game, they don't always appear. But Juan always wanted to take the clutch shot. That's a tremendous characteristic as a basketball player. He just made up his mind he was going to score in those situations."

The coach is quick to emphasize that the whole team knew when to apply the dagger, a major reason the championship Maryland coveted for so many years became reality. But will the kids from College Park repeat? Another strong senior crop in Holden, Blake, Nicholas and Randle, plus the entrance of five highly touted recruits, breeds cause for optimism. As last season's team proved, though, the Terps must buttress their on-the-court potential with some of those priceless intangibles, mental fortitude for one.

"If you don't believe in something, it's not going to happen," Nicholas says. "We really thought throughout the whole year that we were one of the best teams in the nation. We weren't going to say outright that we were the best team because a few other teams did just as well as we did in the regular season. But when we got into March, we proved our case."   --CP

Michael Richman is a freelance journalist and 1985 graduate of the College of Journalism.

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