One of these days or nights, the Maryland women are going to find themselves in a basketball thriller.
Probably sooner than later.
Then again, maybe not.
So far in the NCAA’s Raleigh Region, the Terrapins have dispatched Dartmouth and Utah by a total of 44 points following Tuesday night’s 71-56 demolishing of the Utes before a mostly joyous audience of 10,065 at Comcast Center.
Now it’s on to Tobacco Road for Saturday’s regional semifinal date with Vanderbilt. The Commodores are 26-8 and not to be taken lightly, but right now the Terps are looking - if not quite bragging - like they can lick anybody in the house.
With Pat Summitt’s Tennessee powerhouse out of the picture early, Maryland and Oklahoma are gaining considerable support as the primary threats to undefeated Connecticut. The Terps and Sooners could tangle in the national semifinals, and maybe Maryland would find itself in a titanic tussle then.
Maybe.
Coaches being the way they are, Brenda Frese probably would throttle anybody in a Maryland uniform who peers that far ahead. But nothing so far suggests that the Terps, now 30-4 with a 13-game wining streak, can’t collect their second national title in four years.
Oops, sorry, Brenda - my bad. Yet I can’t perish the thought.
Utah came in with a 23-9 record Tuesday night, and after a promising start the Utes collapsed almost as completely as pathetic Dartmouth two days earlier. True, the Terps had homecourt advantage, yet they might have beaten the Utes just as badly in Salt Lake City.
The visitors led 15-8 after a surprising first 5 1/2 minutes, but all that did was inspire the Terps onward and upward.
“I knew it would take us a while to get our rhythm because their offense is so different,” Frese said of Utah’s misleading early advantage. “I knew if we kept our poise we’d get back to getting stops and rebounds.”
And so they did. The rest of the half was a joke as senior stars Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman sparked a 36-13 burst that sent Maryland to the locker room with a 16-point lead.
Utah coach Elaine Edwards could have put her chastened troops on the next plane home then and there. Edwards’ teams have won 553 games in 26 seasons and seven Mountain West Conference championships in this decade alone, but Utah plays at a much more modest level than Maryland.
Utah repeatedly brought the ball downcourt, found its path to the basket blocked by taller, more athletic Terps players and fired from the perimeter without much success.
Meanwhile, Toliver was whipping assists to Coleman on the wing and Kizer in the paint - or finding nothing but net on her own jumpers. If this had been a prizefight, they would have stopped it early and let Terps fans repair to their watering holes of choice.
Regardless of what the immediate future holds, this season has been a much easier emotional ride for the Terps and their coach. Last winter, you’ll recall, Frese was pregnant much of the season, sat quietly in a comfy chair during games and missed several road games before giving birth to twin sons Feb. 17, 2008. Maryland finished 33-4 but lost to Stanford in the Elite Eight.
Now she’s stalking the sideline and yowling encouragement once more while providing the tough love that has made her one of the top coaches in the women’s ranks. Over the last five of her seven seasons at Terptown, Brenda’s teams are 147-28 with a national championship in 2006 and four other trips to the NCAAs.
When it comes to courtside conduct, Frese is every bit as intense as famously hyper men’s hoops honcho Gary Williams. Of Maryland’s two perpetually passionate coaches, Frese recently has been more successful by far - and with no physical or psychological restraints any longer.
“I feel like I have a 50-pound tire around my waist,” Frese said early last season. “I want my body back.”
Now she has it, and the Terps want the national championship back. It would not be wise to bet against them or their coach.
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