Ending the slide

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Will Bowers looked up from his seat last month to contemplate what really is the most significant question facing the Maryland men's basketball program. It isn't who will play point guard or who will provide offense inside. At least with those concerns, the Terrapins easily can identify potential solutions.

Instead, it is simply whether Maryland, which opens its season tonight at Comcast Center against Hampton, can return to the NCAA tournament after playing in the wrong postseason event the last two years.

"Anything less than an NCAA appearance would be a big disappointment," Bowers said. "You kind of look at it in terms of the long run that if you don't make the NCAA tournament again, you're gonna be looked at as 'those kids.' When everybody looks back on Maryland basketball history, those are the kids that kind of screwed it up."

An NCAA berth might suggest that back-to-back 19-13 seasons were simply hiccups and the ceaseless harping from fans a byproduct of unrealistic expectations established with consecutive Final Four appearances earlier in the decade.

But if not, it could solidify a slide from glory not seen in the sport in some time. No national champion has missed the tournament in three of the next five seasons since UNLV, which was hammered with probation after its 1990 title.

The last team to fall off so precipitously before the Runnin' Rebels? Michigan State, which missed five straight 48-team fields once bereft of Magic Johnson's presence.

The Terps missed the 65-team NCAAs the last two seasons, ending an 11-year stretch during which Maryland became such a tournament regular that most just assumed the Terps would find their way back every March.

"Coming to Maryland, I always thought the NCAA tournament was automatic, just knowing that Maryland was a powerhouse in the nation," junior forward James Gist said. "Now it's like we have to fight. It's a fight every year."

Particularly last season, during which Maryland encountered problems on and off the floor. Senior Chris McCray was declared academically ineligible in late January, and his departure coincided almost perfectly with a 2-7 slide.

The Terps also struggled all over the floor as they broke in D.J. Strawberry, a natural wing player, at point guard. There was inconsistency inside at both ends of the floor and lousy perimeter defense that coach Gary Williams described last month as the worst the Terps had played in his 17 seasons.