Maryland Terrapins: A Legacy in the NCAA Tournament

The Maryland Terrapins, representing the University of Maryland, College Park, have a storied athletic history, particularly in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. With 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams, the Terps have etched their name in various sports, achieving both individual and team success. This article delves into the Maryland Terrapins' journey through the NCAA Tournament, highlighting key moments, legendary figures, and the program's overall impact.

From "Old Liners" to "Terrapins": The Origin of a Nickname

The University of Maryland, College Park, was established in 1856 as Maryland Agricultural College. While baseball and football were played on campus as early as the Civil War era, the "Terrapins" nickname wasn't coined until 1932. Harry C. "Curley" Byrd, then the school's football coach and later its president, proposed the name due to the diamondback terrapins native to the Chesapeake Bay region. Previously, Maryland teams were known as the "Old Liners," a reference to the state's nickname, "The Old Line State." The school mascot is an anthropomorphic turtle named "Testudo".

Early Basketball Years and the Rise of the ACC

Before basketball became a permanent fixture in College Park, the school-then known as Maryland Agricultural College-met with little success in its intermittent attempts to establish a basketball team. A team first appeared in 1904-05, playing only two games in an intramural/club setting. Games were played sporadically during the 1910-1911, 1912-13, 1913-1914, and the 1918-1919 seasons, going a combined 7-36. Basketball returned to stay for the 1923-24 season, when the school convinced former star quarterback H. Burton Shipley, who had been coaching at the University of Delaware, to come back to his alma mater.

The Old Liners, as they were then known, joined the Southern Conference in their inaugural season. The team met with moderate success that year at 5-7 and also played its first games against future ACC rivals North Carolina and Virginia. The Old Liners had their first sustained success over the next four seasons, finishing at or above .500 in each of them and putting together an outstanding 24-9 record against Southern Conference foes.

The school's biggest success during its formative years took place in the early 1930s, around the time it adopted its current nickname, Terrapins. After finishing second in the conference in 1930-31, Maryland won the Southern Conference tournaments, beating Louisiana State, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky over five days, a feat they followed by winning the conference regular season crown the next year. The team also had its first individual star in Louis "Bosey" Berger who was named to All-America teams both seasons. Although the team would remain competitive throughout the rest of the decade, finishing as high as second in the conference regular season, it never again matched its achievements of the early part of the decade, and as the 1940s began, the school's basketball team fell on exceedingly hard times. Shipley tallied just one winning season in his last seven years before stepping down to focus on coaching the baseball team, a post he'd held for his entire tenure since returning to College Park. He was succeeded by Flucie Stewart.

The 1950s began with a new head coach leading the way, Bud Millikan. Maryland quickly reeled off seven straight winning seasons under Millikan. For the 1953-54 season, the team joined North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Clemson, and South Carolina in leaving the SoCon for the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference. That season was perhaps the finest the Terrapins had experienced to date, finishing with a 23-7 record and a conference mark good enough for second in the league. Maryland experienced its first games as a ranked team, spending the final nine weeks of the season ranked in the AP Top 20, peaking at No. 11 before settling for a final ranking of #20. It also featured the school's first win over a ranked team when it beat local rival George Washington, then-number 7 in the country. After that season, the team remained the only school outside of the North Carolina "Big Four" - Duke, UNC, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest - to consistently field competitive teams. In the ACC's second year, the Terps cracked the top ten for the first time, peaking at No.

The Lefty Driesell Era: A Transformative Period

In 1969, Charles "Lefty" Driesell was hired by the University of Maryland. During his introductory press conference, he made the bold statement that he wanted to make Maryland the "UCLA of the East". At that time, UCLA was the nation's dominant college basketball program. While Driesell did not elevate Maryland to UCLA's heights, he did lead the Terrapins to eight NCAA tournament appearances, a National Invitation Tournament championship, two Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championships, and one Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship. Maryland also attained a No.

Driesell coached the Maryland Terrapins from 1969 to 1986. During his tenure, he successfully recruited numerous exceptional players, including Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert King, Buck Williams, and Len Bias. In 1974, he signed perhaps the best college prospect of his career, future basketball Hall of Famer Moses Malone, but Malone chose instead to go to a professional basketball franchise, the Utah Stars. At Maryland, Driesell began the now nationwide tradition of Midnight Madness. According to longstanding NCAA rules, college basketball teams were not permitted to begin practices until October 15.

In 1974, the No. 4 Terrapins played in what many consider one of the greatest college basketball games of all time, losing the ACC men's basketball tournament 103-100 in overtime to eventual national champion and No. 1 North Carolina State. Each team only played seven players each, and eight of those 14 went on to be NBA Draft picks, including six from Maryland. The game included 91 field goals made on 157 attempts between the teams, in spite of top-level defense being played. After the game, the Greensboro, N.C. crowd, traditionally unfriendly to non-North Carolina ACC teams, gave both teams a standing ovation. Maryland's team was considered by many to be the greatest team not to have participated in the NCAA tournament because, at the time, only the winner of a conference tournament would earn a bid.

Driesell's legacy will forever be tied to one of Maryland's greatest players and one of the best college basketball players of all time, Len Bias, who played under Driesell from 1982 to 1986. As a freshman, Bias was viewed as "raw and undisciplined", but ultimately developed into an All-American player who impressed basketball fans with his amazing leaping ability, his physical stature and his ability to create plays, and was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation. In 1984, Driesell and Bias led the team to the school's second ACC tournament Championship.

On June 19, 1986, Bias tragically died of a cocaine-induced heart attack shortly after being drafted by the Boston Celtics as the No. 2 overall selection. In October, a university panel found that the basketball staff had stressed athletics over academics. On October 29, Driesell resigned as head coach and took a position as an assistant athletic director.

The Gary Williams Era: Restoring Glory and Achieving the Ultimate Goal

The Maryland Terrapins announced Maryland alumnus Gary Williams as its next head coach on June 13, 1989. The basketball program and the Maryland athletic program as a whole were still reeling from the aftershock of the 1986 death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias and struggles under coach Bob Wade. Williams was coming off a successful stint at Ohio State featuring one NCAA tournament appearance and two NIT appearances in three seasons.

With his recruiting efforts severely hamstrung, Williams found it very difficult to rebuild the program. After a surprise appearance in the 1994 Sweet 16, the Terrapins were a fixture in the national rankings until 2005. In 2001, Williams led Maryland to the first Final Four in school history, losing to Duke in the semifinals despite leading by as much as 22 points in the first half and being up by 11 at half.

On April 1, 2002, Williams led the Terrapins to their first NCAA National Championship, defeating Indiana 64-52. Maryland's historic run included wins against four straight former champions, including Kentucky in the Sweet 16, UConn in the Elite Eight, and Kansas in the Final Four. Senior Juan Dixon was named the 2002 NCAA Final Four MVP, ACC Player of the Year, and finished his career as the school's all-time scoring leader.

In 2004, having slipped to 7-9 in the ACC (the team's first sub-.500 conference record in more than a decade), the Terps upset the tournament's top three seeds to win its first ACC tournament title since 1984.

NCAA Tournament History: A Detailed Breakdown

The Maryland Terrapins have a long history of NCAA Tournament appearances and play. Maryland first appeared in 1958 and has collected 26 total NCAA Tournament appearances. Their overall record in the tournament stands at 40-24. In those 26 appearances, the Terrapins have collected 14 Sweet Sixteens, 4 Elite Eights, 2 Final Fours and 1 National Championship (2002).

Overall NCAA Tournament Record: 43-28 (42-27 excluding 1988 vacated appearance)

Record Since Tournament Expansion (1985):

Round of 64: 19-3
Round of 32: 9-10
Sweet 16: 2-7
Elite 8: 2-0
Final Four: 1-1
National Championship: 1-0

Sweet Sixteen Appearances (Since 1985):

2016 (No. 5): Lost to No. 1 Kansas, 79-63
2003 (No. 6): Lost to No. 7 Michigan State, 60-58
2002 (No. 1): Beat No. 4 Kentucky, 78-68
2001 (No. 3): Beat No. 10 Georgetown, 76-66
1999 (No. 2): Lost to No. 3 St. John’s, 76-62
1998 (No. 4): Lost to No. 1 Arizona, 87-79
1995 (No. 3): Lost to No. 2 Connecticut, 99-89
1994 (No. 10): Lost to No. 3 Michigan, 78-71
1985 (No. 5): Lost to No. 8 Villanova, 46-43

Elite Eight Appearances (Since 1985):

2002 (No. 1): Beat No. 2 Connecticut, 90-82
2001 (No. 3): Beat No. 1 Stanford, 87-73

Final Four Appearances (Since 1985):

2002 (No. 1): Beat No. 1 Kansas, 97-88
2001 (No. 3): Lost to No. 1 Duke, 95-84

National Championship Game Appearance (Since 1985):

2002 (No. 1): Beat No. 5 Indiana, 64-52

Pre-1985 Tournament Record:

Round of 48: 2-0
Round of 32: 3-2
Round of 24: 1-0
Sweet 16: 2-3
Elite 8: 0-2
Regional Third Place Game: 1-0

Recent History and Future Aspirations

The Mark Turgeon Era: (2011-present) Current Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon would rebuild the Terrapins in his first three years in College Park. By the 2014-15 season, the Terps were ready to return to the NCAA field. The Terrapins reached the Round of 32 under Turgeon that season and then followed that up with a Sweet Sixteen the following season.

For the first time since 2021, the Maryland Terrapins heard their name called on Selection Sunday. In Kevin Willard’s first year as the head coach in College Park, the Terps earned a No. 8 seed in this year’s March Madness, their highest since 2019.

The tournament hasn’t been all that kind to Maryland as of late, as they are seeking just their second trip to the second weekend since 2003 - and their first since 2016.

Following back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2001 and 2002, including a national championship in 2002, this is a program that has not had much March success.

A Legacy Beyond Basketball

While the men's basketball team's NCAA Tournament journey is a central part of the Terrapins' athletic narrative, it's important to acknowledge the broader success across various sports. Eight Terrapin programs have combined to win a total of 47 national championships for the University of Maryland.

Maryland's tradition of winning NCAA national championships began with football. Head coach Gary Williams' men's basketball team captured the 2002 NCAA title by defeating Indiana 64-52. Head Coach Sasho Cirovski led the men's soccer team to three NCAA national titles since 2005. Maryland owns four NCAA titles in men's lacrosse, most recently capturing the championship with a 9-7 win over Cornell in 2022 to cap off an undefeated 18-0 season. Women's lacrosse has a total of 15 NCAA national championships.

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