Rising above it all

With a look of abject disappointment painted across his face, Dino Gregory walked toward the exit in Comcast Center on Saturday, the last Terrapin men's basketball player to leave the floor after a 74-60 Senior Day loss to Virginia.

His untucked white No. 33 jersey hung loosely from his shoulders as sweat dripped from his face, betraying an otherwise impressive 15-point day that — once again — wasn't enough. The solemn departure from his home court captured the bittersweet moment that just a year ago seemed as if it would never come.

While the Terps' disappointing year and three-game losing streak to finish the regular season have largely obscured Gregory's standout senior campaign and ultimately marred his Senior Day recognition Saturday, Gregory's rise to relevance has nonetheless been remarkable.

After a forgettable start to his career and a headline-making interruption that threatened to consume his legacy in College Park, Gregory's breakout senior year has proven equally redemptive and instructive.

"It feels good. It feels great, actually," Gregory said Friday, reflecting on his successful senior season. "When you look at my freshman year, no one would have guessed that I would have came this far. I'm extremely proud of myself."

DECISION TIME

Three years ago, Pat Clatchey answered his phone and heard a familiar voice on the other end. Clatchey, the coach of Mount St. Joseph High School's boys' basketball team, knew he was about to have a difficult conversation.

The voice wavered, unsure of himself and slowly weakening. Gregory, Clatchey remembered, explained to him how some thought that he wouldn't be able to make it, that he should transfer or that he just didn't belong in the ACC.

"Dude, either pack your bags and go somewhere else," Clatchey recalled saying, "or really work hard and prove to yourself that you can play at that level."

The high-school coach felt for his former star but knew his tough words would eventually help. Gregory, after playing a limited role for the Terps in his freshman campaign and making only rare appearances in the team's final 13 games of the season, had lost much of the confidence in his game. His seven turnovers nearly matched his season's 12 points.

"You have people doubting whether he can play at that level," Clatchey said. "I remember having a conversation with him after the season. It was a really simple conversation. I remember telling him that you're going to have to change the way you play and the way you perceive yourself as a player."

"To be honest with you, my freshman year, I didn't know if I could do it," Gregory said. "But I had people around me and my support system to tell me that I could do that. They were picking me up when I was down."

TOUGHING IT OUT

This season, Gregory has often answered questions from the media with a wide smile. No other player has found a way to pepper so much optimism into his responses than the senior co-captain.

For every tough loss, Gregory has found a way to think positively about his team's chances. Even as the prospects became increasingly bleak, he never gave up on returning to the NCAA Tournament.

It's a trait that has been contagious for his teammates all season, especially for a group that welcomed six new players this year. But it's also one that prevailed earlier in his career.

As a 6-foot-7 "tweener" coming out of high school, Gregory was a player without a true position on the court. Some analysts said he was too small to play in the post but not technically sound enough to thrive on the wing.

And after a year on the bench, he still hadn't found his niche with the Terps. But supported by the words of his former coach and his family, Gregory focused on what he had in front of him. He added muscle, channeled his athleticism to the defensive end and started to play with obvious energy and effort.

"You learn how to be tough enough to handle it," coach Gary Williams said. "Maybe it's not perfect, but it's something you committed to and you want to do the best you can. You have to make the best of things sometimes."

"It was a goal and a dream to be able to play in the ACC," Clatchey said. "Dino's not the type of person that's going to bail after a year or bail, period."

Gregory saw his production significantly increase in his sophomore season. Playing alongside similarly undersized forwards Landon Milbourne and Dave Neal, Gregory provided much-needed frontcourt relief for the team throughout the season. He played in all 35 games in the 2008-09 season, recording more than 16 minutes per game and leading the team with 34 blocks.

SIDELINED

But in a matter of months, another roadblock came crashing down. After an academic dishonesty charge from the summer, according to a report in The Washington Post, Gregory served a team-mandated suspension at the start of his junior year. For nine games, Gregory watched his starting spot disappear as a mere spectator.

Freshman forward Jordan Williams stepped into the void and provided much-needed size. When Gregory returned Dec. 12, 2009, he started just two games before becoming a role player off the bench for the Terps.

"It's a good learning experience for me, seeing basketball taken away from me like that," Gregory said earlier this season. "I mean, it was really tough, but it's over with now. I'm playing basketball again. I'm doing what I love to do."

His minutes increased and his scoring average jumped to more than four points per game, but Gregory still hadn't quite seized the role he envisioned as a high-school senior when he committed to the program in 2005.