My Maryland/Duke Story

These are my confessions...

Before I attended Maryland, I was a tepid Terp fan. Don't get me wrong, I liked them and all, but experiencing that '01-'02 national title run turned that like into full on l.o.v.e. Call me Fairweather Ferris if you want, but that was a special season filled with drunken nights, skipped classes and Garyland hoops. That season was part of the reason I'm still without an undergrad degree despite my writing prowess.

My first basketball love? Don't laugh... I became a basketball fan because of Christian Laettner and his shot. What an impressionable kid I was.

Make no mistake, though: Duke basketball may have been my first love, but I'm a full-on Terp fan. I camped out two weeks before they were coming to Cole Field House for the last time, getting sick and missing valuable class time in the process. By game-time I had little to no voice. But, it was all worth it when Steve Blake swiped the ball from Jason Williams while he was picking his nose at half-court before intermission, ultimately giving the Terps the momentum they needed to smother Duke in the second half.

Sweet as that victory was, sweet as that national championship run might have been, for some reason it doesn't replace what happened more than eight years ago in January. Roll tape.



The good news about basketball? Anything can happen. The bad news? Anything can happen.

Good luck, fellas. As lopsided as this game looks on paper, I know you'll bring it against the Devils.