Maryland Basketball: Good Night, Good Luck and Good Riddance

Miami Hurricanes (15-12, 7-7 ACC) at
Maryland Terrapins (16-11, 6-8 ACC)
Comcast Center - College Park, MD

Well, it’s been four years since the current class of seniors arrived on campus. Contrary to popular belief, this was not the “Championship Class”. That refers to the first class that was signed after the Terps won the whole thing in 2002. Most of this year’s class signed before the Terps won the tournament. So the D.J. Strawberry/Mike Jones/Ekene Ibekwe class is the real championship class. Regardless, anyway you analyze it, the current crop of seniors who are graduating (or not graduating) have been a bust. Other than the ACC Championship they secured in 2004, the entire four-man class, five if you count Sterling Ledbetter, has been a nightmare. Instead of being the class that cemented Maryland as a national power, this was the class that cost the Terps a shot at becoming one of college basketball’s most dominate programs.

The best player of the group was John Gilchrist. For the second half of the 2004 season, Gilchrist played better than anyone in the country. He and Jamar Smith willed Maryland to their ACC Championship that year, going through the conference’s best three teams in order to capture it. Coming back for his junior season, Gilchrist had the potential to be the ACC, in not national, player of the year. But in the offseason, Gilchrist flirted with the chance to go pro. In fact, at one point he told Nik Caner-Medley that he was going to enter the NBA draft. By doing this, Gilchrist was in essence, passing the leadership torch to his fellow classman. No one is quite sure if Gary new about the conversation that John and Nik had, but Gary seemed to agree that Caner-Medley would be the team leader for the 2004-05 season with Gilchrist in the NBA. Suddenly, Gilchrist decided that the NBA wasn’t for him, and returned to the team as if nothing had happened. Except Gilchrist returned with the idea that the 04-05 season was nothing more than a stage to showcase his talents to the NBA for next year’s draft.

This was the beginning of the end. Gary could sense John’s newfound attitude immediately. Gary treated him poorly in workouts and practices in October. Nik was upset. According to people I knew around the team at the time, Gilchrist and Nik even got into a fight after practice one day, with Nik acting like a seven-year-old whose parents promised him a PS2 and didn’t get one for him. Nik actually said, and I can just imagine him saying it in a high-pitched whiny voice, “You said this was my team. You can’t just come back here. This was going to be my year.” Apparently, Nik was happy playing second fiddle to the Gilchrist Show in 2004, but wanted to help his own draft status by being the team’s main man in 2005. The team quickly divided into a Gilchrist Camp and a Caner-Medley Camp.

The season went fine for the first two months. Then Gilchrist started hot-dogging practices. He also started missing assignments and exams. The season started to unravel during the team’s four day road trip in early January to play North Carolina and Wake Forest. UNC and Wake, for those who don’t remember, were both in the top 5 at the time. UNC blew Maryland out of the Dean Dome in Gary’s worst ACC loss ever. Tensions were high in the Maryland locker room after the game. Again, John and Nik got into a verbal argument. Nik decided he had enough. He blamed Gilchrist’s selfishness for the loss. He ratted out Gilchrist missing assignments to Gary. Gilchrist did not start in the blowout loss to Wake. In fact, he hardly played at all. Officially, everyone was told it was because of Gilchrist’s wrist injury. But, when I arrived with my WMUC crew to broadcast the game at the Joel, we were told before the game by a friend on the Maryland staff that Gilchrist was being benched because of missed assignments. I asked if there was a chance Gilchrist would flunk out (aka: “McCray out”). I was told that there wasn’t. So I asked how Gary knew that Gilchrist was missing assignments. The man looked to the court, where the players were warming up and said “Figure it out.” He was looking right at Caner-Medley.

Gilchrist obviously had a bad relationship with Caner-Medley and Gary. But when none of his teammates backed him up in Winston-Salem, he figured out that he was all alone on the team. Gilchrist, who had a history of depression, sank into a major funk. He was no longer loved or even respected by his teammates. His coach was riding him hard because of his attitude. And after two ugly blowout road losses, and one at home to NC State, the fans who fell in love with the team the year before during March, were starting to turn. Gilchrist was stuck on his own island, and pride and depression kept him from jumping in a lifeboat and getting back to civilization. Instead, as the season continued, he sank further and further back into the jungle of his mind. Towards the end of 2005, Gilchrist, whose mind had given up on the season a long time ago, finally had his body quit on him too. Beaten and bruised both mentally and physically, Gilchrist watched from the bench as what used to be his team collapsed at the end of the year.


Hard to believe that he was the ACC's best player only two years ago.

Maryland’s season perhaps would have been fine if the team didn’t abandon Caner-Medley as well. The two opposing camps in the locker room soon became five or six different fractions. Caner-Medley was also left alone. McCray and Travis Garrison had their own click. This click, according to many students I know, started using drugs, mostly marijuana, almost daily. Even before games. Ibekwe, Ledbetter and Will Bowers were another group. This was the “bar group”, despite none of the players being old enough to drink. Mike Jones was an odd-man out. James Gist was hazed as “the rookie”, and felt like an outsider most of the time. Strawberry, perhaps wisely given his father’s history, stayed away from most of these groups as well. And nobody liked Mike Grinnon. A team that was so unified the previous season had hit rock bottom. The season would soon follow suit.

So Gilchrist watched as his team fell apart. We only got to see his talent for 2 ½ years in College Park.

Caner-Medley, who has been playing better during the last few weeks, has been a major disappointment. It appeared that he had the most room to excel after his freshman season. Of the entire class, no one showed more promise their first year. Nik injured his ankle in the NCAA tournament game against Michigan State, and never seemed to be the same player after that. He had a tendency to disappear during big games. At times he was too predictable on the court. Other times, he was too passive. He also got into an embarrassing situation after the 2004 season back home in Portland. This is a well publicized event now. Most know it as the time that Caner-Medley went to a Portland bar, got into a drunken altercation, and in the process of being thrown out, screamed “I’m from Maryland and no one can beat me!” This, sadly, will probably be his most lasting moment at the university.

We don’t need to go over Chris McCray again. Perhaps the most consistent member of the four-man class, McCray couldn’t keep his grades above water. This wasn’t the administration’s fault. It wasn’t Gary’s fault. It was McCray’s and McCray’s alone. Before this season started, McCray was also arrested outside a College Park bar, for among other things, resisting arrest and running away from police. On the court, McCray was always good, but never great. He was afraid to take open shots and take control of a team that desperately needed his leadership.

McCray was present at Cornerstone the night that Travis Garrison decided to feel up a woman against her will (again, this case is still pending and Garrison has not been found guilty of anything…innocent until proven guilty if my memory serves me right). Unlike McCray and Caner-Medley, who both showed flashes of brilliance, Garrison was the ultimate bust. He was the class’ lone McDonald’s All-American coming into Maryland. He never played like it. Garrison, despite being 6’9” and having a wide body, never learned how to play inside with his back to the basket. He never learned how to rebound aggressively. This was his ultimate undoing. Garrison’s fade-a-way from 10 feet out was the only shot he could hit consistently. Of all the players, Garrison’s failure disappointed me the most. Over his first two seasons, my friends will be the first to tell you that I was a big Garrison supporter, even when everyone else was ready to label him a letdown. Needless to say, during last season, I saw the err in my ways. Garrison never had the work ethic, the commitment, or the nerve to play inside like a dominant forward. I kept waiting for him to realize his potential, and he never did. He threw away his talents with a lifestyle of drugs, womanizing and laziness. I’m not criticizing his lifestyle, because most students live similar lives while attending college. But most of them aren’t 6’9” with the chance to play D-1 basketball. I’m criticizing his choice. I’m criticizing his decision to represent the university so poorly.


Travis Garrison and Chris McCray were best friends on and off the court. And, I'm sure not a coincidence, neither one excelled on or off the court.

Ledbetter also is a senior, but he was a JUCO transfer. I don’t really count him. For anything. Why he still sees any playing time, even with the loss of McCray, is beyond me. He came in the games against FSU and UNC and suddenly everything went down the drain.

So that’s the class that once looked so promising. In two years, off-court incidents and on-court meltdowns affected all four players and the Maryland program. The class that was supposed to signal Maryland’s arrival as a power program had the exact opposite result. Just watch the senior night festivities. Only two of the four players will be in uniform. Only one, Caner-Medley, will have earned the start (Garrison will start because of senior night tradition). The Gilchrist/McCray/Garrison/Caner-Medley class will have one final legacy. They will serve as a warning to all future national champions that a program’s demise can come at any time. Even immediately after a program’s greatest achievement.

Maryland 81
Miami 77

Elsewhere around the ACC…

After missing most of the weekend’s games, my overall record during the week was 6-1. This continues to improve my record to an impressive 48-22.

Tuesday
Wake Forest at Boston College
With another lackluster opponent in town, BC will once again play down to the level of their competition. I don’t think we’ll see the upset by Wake, but this isn’t senor night at Chestnut Hill. That comes this weekend. So who knows if the Eagles, with a NCAA bid already locked up, will have any motivation in this one.
Pick: Boston College 77, Wake Forest 65

Wednesday
Clemson at Virginia Tech
With both teams playing out the string, look for the Hokies to win their final home game of the season.
Pick: Virginia Tech 68, Clemson 59

Duke at Florida State
This will be an interesting week for Duke. They should get two more wins and finish 16-0 in conference. But they’re playing UNC this weekend, and playing in Tallahassee, a place where they have been upset several times the past few years. FSU is desperate for a quality win after a bad loss to the Hokies this weekend. Plus, the Seminoles should have won the first meeting in Durham. Only a couple of off-balanced three-pointers from Backne and some very questionable officiating saved Duke. Finally, with their senior night game against UNC on the horizon, this is the ultimate trap game for Duke. I’ll pick it, what do I have to lose.
Pick: Florida State 83, Duke 80

Virginia at North Carolina
The two ACC coach of the year candidates match-up in Chapel Hill. Will this be Tyler Hansbrough’s final game at the Dome? I think it will. With a talented class coming in next year for UNC, Tyler will no longer be the main scorer in UNC’s offense. Also, if he waits another year to make the jump to the NBA, he’ll have to deal with Greg Oden and other talented big men. His draft status isn’t going to be any higher then after this season.
Pick: North Carolina 80, Virginia 71