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| Mark Turgeon put Terps back in spotlight. Next time, they can’t shrink from it. | Mark Turgeon put Terps back in spotlight. Next time, they can’t shrink from it. |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| LOUISVILLE — To the end, an otherwise inconsistent Maryland men’s basketball team proved steadfast in one area. | LOUISVILLE — To the end, an otherwise inconsistent Maryland men’s basketball team proved steadfast in one area. |
| Discomfort. | Discomfort. |
| The Terrapins fidgeted all season, unable to mitigate the pressure of being a preseason top-five team. Even on Thursday night, after four months and 36 games on center stage, they still made references to how much they didn’t like it. They were deer, and hype beamed on them like headlights, and, well, you’re familiar with the rest of that sad story. | The Terrapins fidgeted all season, unable to mitigate the pressure of being a preseason top-five team. Even on Thursday night, after four months and 36 games on center stage, they still made references to how much they didn’t like it. They were deer, and hype beamed on them like headlights, and, well, you’re familiar with the rest of that sad story. |
| No matter how much Coach Mark Turgeon prepared his team, it can be a cumbersome situation to go through for the first time, and I’ve been sensitive to the strain that this kind of scrutiny can cause. But now that the season is over and the future becomes the focus, that compassion must turn into a suggestion. | No matter how much Coach Mark Turgeon prepared his team, it can be a cumbersome situation to go through for the first time, and I’ve been sensitive to the strain that this kind of scrutiny can cause. But now that the season is over and the future becomes the focus, that compassion must turn into a suggestion. |
| Get over it. Get used to being a top dog. Get acquainted with the perks of expectations and forget the burden. | Get over it. Get used to being a top dog. Get acquainted with the perks of expectations and forget the burden. |
| [Dan Steinberg: Terps had a very nice season. We expected something more.] | [Dan Steinberg: Terps had a very nice season. We expected something more.] |
| This is what Turgeon wanted when he left Texas A&M for Maryland. During his introduction five years ago, Turgeon told an anecdote about talking to friend and mentor Roy Williams. Turgeon asked the North Carolina coach about the job, and Williams said: “It’s one of the top 10 jobs in the country, Mark, and you deserve one of these jobs. You’d be foolish not to take it.” | This is what Turgeon wanted when he left Texas A&M for Maryland. During his introduction five years ago, Turgeon told an anecdote about talking to friend and mentor Roy Williams. Turgeon asked the North Carolina coach about the job, and Williams said: “It’s one of the top 10 jobs in the country, Mark, and you deserve one of these jobs. You’d be foolish not to take it.” |
| Turgeon had done fantastic work with more limited resources at Wichita State and Texas A&M, but he wanted to chase the big time, to be at a program that doesn’t need to visit a wishing well before pursuing a national championship. That can’t be achieved by squinting in the limelight, or by sneaking through a side door. | Turgeon had done fantastic work with more limited resources at Wichita State and Texas A&M, but he wanted to chase the big time, to be at a program that doesn’t need to visit a wishing well before pursuing a national championship. That can’t be achieved by squinting in the limelight, or by sneaking through a side door. |
| [Roy Williams and the emotional tolls of Tobacco Road] | [Roy Williams and the emotional tolls of Tobacco Road] |
| Maryland must embrace all that happened this season, including a late-season fade that resulted in six losses in the final 11 games. As much as some want to lament the Terrapins falling short with a supposed once-in-a-lifetime collection of talent, the big picture suggests that the program has returned to prominence. After going 59-43 in his first three seasons, Turgeon has led Maryland to a 55-16 record and three NCAA tournament victories over the past two years. The adjustment to the Big Ten Conference is complete. Recruiting is solid. The Terrapins’ name has appeared in the past 33 weeks of Associated Press top 25 polls. | Maryland must embrace all that happened this season, including a late-season fade that resulted in six losses in the final 11 games. As much as some want to lament the Terrapins falling short with a supposed once-in-a-lifetime collection of talent, the big picture suggests that the program has returned to prominence. After going 59-43 in his first three seasons, Turgeon has led Maryland to a 55-16 record and three NCAA tournament victories over the past two years. The adjustment to the Big Ten Conference is complete. Recruiting is solid. The Terrapins’ name has appeared in the past 33 weeks of Associated Press top 25 polls. |
| Yes, Maryland failed to turn a perfect storm of having five players with NBA potential into a Final Four run. But a Sweet 16 season is hardly a debacle, and Turgeon and his coaching staff now have the momentum and leverage to complete the task of building a program that can sustain success. | Yes, Maryland failed to turn a perfect storm of having five players with NBA potential into a Final Four run. But a Sweet 16 season is hardly a debacle, and Turgeon and his coaching staff now have the momentum and leverage to complete the task of building a program that can sustain success. |
| So this almost-famous season represented an opportunity lost, and at the same time, it might have laid a bridge for Turgeon to do something similar to what Gary Williams accomplished at the height of his Maryland tenure. Starting in the 1993-94 season, Williams went to 11 consecutive NCAA tournaments, advancing to the Sweet 16 seven times, making the Final Four twice and winning the national title in 2002. | So this almost-famous season represented an opportunity lost, and at the same time, it might have laid a bridge for Turgeon to do something similar to what Gary Williams accomplished at the height of his Maryland tenure. Starting in the 1993-94 season, Williams went to 11 consecutive NCAA tournaments, advancing to the Sweet 16 seven times, making the Final Four twice and winning the national title in 2002. |
| Now that’s a run. That’s what it takes to maximize the tournament experience. Some tournaments will end sooner than hoped, but it can lead to the team that breaks through to find glory. | Now that’s a run. That’s what it takes to maximize the tournament experience. Some tournaments will end sooner than hoped, but it can lead to the team that breaks through to find glory. |
| But being that kind of program requires consistently dealing with expectations. The Terrapins wanted all the love and none of the complication this season. Maybe it was too much to have five starters thinking they would be pros after one incredible season. Maybe the problem was specific to this roster and its lack of depth. Nevertheless, Turgeon must prove he can do more than recruit a super team. He must show that he can coach this level of talent better. | |
| [Terps enter offseason with no guarantees of who might return] | [Terps enter offseason with no guarantees of who might return] |
| Some skeptics would say the problem was strategy. Not me. The issue was more about managing people, about cutting through the players’ distractions and the outside voices influencing them and getting them to function properly within this team. Maryland never got to a point in which the individual parts meshed and played off each other. It felt like a team that needed to play another season together. But Jake Layman and Rasheed Sulaimon are seniors who have played their last collegiate game. Diamond Stone is a freshman with enviable NBA options. Sophomore point guard Melo Trimble and junior forward Robert Carter Jr. should stay another year, which would stabilize the program in the short term. If they don’t, Turgeon will have five new starters next season. | Some skeptics would say the problem was strategy. Not me. The issue was more about managing people, about cutting through the players’ distractions and the outside voices influencing them and getting them to function properly within this team. Maryland never got to a point in which the individual parts meshed and played off each other. It felt like a team that needed to play another season together. But Jake Layman and Rasheed Sulaimon are seniors who have played their last collegiate game. Diamond Stone is a freshman with enviable NBA options. Sophomore point guard Melo Trimble and junior forward Robert Carter Jr. should stay another year, which would stabilize the program in the short term. If they don’t, Turgeon will have five new starters next season. |
| The coach did a good job holding his team together enough for a Sweet 16 push. But he never found an answer for the pressure that burdened the Terrapins. That’s because he felt it, too. He told me last week that he tinkered too much late in the season trying to make his team live up to the expectations. | The coach did a good job holding his team together enough for a Sweet 16 push. But he never found an answer for the pressure that burdened the Terrapins. That’s because he felt it, too. He told me last week that he tinkered too much late in the season trying to make his team live up to the expectations. |
| “We didn’t expect to have the downs that we had, but we did,” Turgeon said. “We’re a family, so you just try to figure it out and get better.” | “We didn’t expect to have the downs that we had, but we did,” Turgeon said. “We’re a family, so you just try to figure it out and get better.” |
| Turgeon is famous for ignoring external pressures. He doesn’t consume any media during the season. He locks in and forgets where he left the keys. But it’s impossible to coach in a bubble because his players don’t live that way. For someone who doesn’t like distractions, the season offered too many for his tolerance level. | Turgeon is famous for ignoring external pressures. He doesn’t consume any media during the season. He locks in and forgets where he left the keys. But it’s impossible to coach in a bubble because his players don’t live that way. For someone who doesn’t like distractions, the season offered too many for his tolerance level. |
| Turgeon reminds me so much of another coach I once covered — Tubby Smith. They’re good, honest, family men. They don’t have egos of their coaching brethren. And they’re purists. They coach for the ideal reasons: teaching and grooming college kids, trying to create higher education out of basketball. | Turgeon reminds me so much of another coach I once covered — Tubby Smith. They’re good, honest, family men. They don’t have egos of their coaching brethren. And they’re purists. They coach for the ideal reasons: teaching and grooming college kids, trying to create higher education out of basketball. |
| Even though Smith won a national title and posted a .760 winning percentage at Kentucky, he was never comfortable in the spotlight. The job made him someone he didn’t want to be, a man who was stressed and obsessed and couldn’t be satisfy the monster. He tried to hide from a spotlight that you have to bask in. Smith ended up resigning and going to Minnesota in 2007, where he was fired by 2013. Now he’s rebuilding Texas Tech. It’s a wild career path for a wonderful man and an exceptional coach. | Even though Smith won a national title and posted a .760 winning percentage at Kentucky, he was never comfortable in the spotlight. The job made him someone he didn’t want to be, a man who was stressed and obsessed and couldn’t be satisfy the monster. He tried to hide from a spotlight that you have to bask in. Smith ended up resigning and going to Minnesota in 2007, where he was fired by 2013. Now he’s rebuilding Texas Tech. It’s a wild career path for a wonderful man and an exceptional coach. |
| Maryland isn’t Kentucky. The spotlight will never be that harsh. But Turgeon has restored a program that he must stand in front of, not concoct behind the scenes. Raising Maryland’s profile means extra attention, unrelenting criticism and pressure, lots of pressure. | Maryland isn’t Kentucky. The spotlight will never be that harsh. But Turgeon has restored a program that he must stand in front of, not concoct behind the scenes. Raising Maryland’s profile means extra attention, unrelenting criticism and pressure, lots of pressure. |
| This was his season to recoil. This was the only season in which recoiling will be understandable. | This was his season to recoil. This was the only season in which recoiling will be understandable. |
| For more by Jerry Brewer, visit washingtonpost.com/brewer. | For more by Jerry Brewer, visit washingtonpost.com/brewer. |