Terps head to enemy territory

When the Terrapin men's basketball team steps onto the court at the Greensboro Coliseum in their first ACC Tournament game tomorrow, its players will have good memories associated with the 51-year old arena.

Many have credited a 97-63 throttling of UNC-Greensboro there on Jan. 3 as a turning point in the Terps' season before their unlikely run to a share of the ACC regular season title.

But for longtime ACC fans, the return to Greensboro, N.C., invokes good feelings for a different reason. For the year-end tournament, which has been held annually since 1954, the venue is its most consistent home.

Even if Terp players don't understand that history when the tournament kicks off for the 22nd time at the Greensboro Coliseum today, there will be plenty of people who appreciate the event's unique mystique. Playing the tournament at the arena nestled in the heart of ACC country and just miles from the conference's headquarters provides an interesting dynamic for local teams and squads with a longer commute, such as the Terps.

"I think Greensboro brings everybody together," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who relishes the opportunity to make the roughly 50-mile trip from Durham, N.C. "There are fans there from all the schools, and I just think it's just a very special place to have it."

Tradition plays a major role in the conference's attraction to Greensboro as its go-to site.
Past tournament MVPs at the arena, which underwent a major overhaul and expansion in the early 1990s, include North Carolina's James Worthy, Wake Forest's Tim Duncan and former Terps Len Bias and Albert King. The Terps last won the tournament championship in 2004, when John Gilchrist's weekend scoring binge lifted the team to an unlikely title. After upsetting No. 1 seed Duke in overtime in the final, Gilchrist famously celebrated on the court with a Maryland state flag.

Four different ACC squads played nonconference games against UNC-Greensboro at the arena this season in order to get a feel for the court and sightlines.

According to Clemson coach Oliver Purnell, it might take actually playing in the tournament to understand why the atmosphere feels a little different than in past year's venues. Last season, the tournament was played in Atlanta's Georgia Dome, a football stadium.

"I don't think they get that right now this second," said Purnell, whose Tigers beat UNC-Greensboro 89-67 earlier this season at the arena. "But I think as you get up there and start reading some things about the tournament and start to think about the tournament, I think they will get some sense of that [history.]"

Greensboro's experience putting on the event is another reason the tournament keeps coming back, according to Karl Hicks, the ACC's associate commissioner for men's basketball operations.

The tournament will return to Greensboro, which dubs itself "Tournament Town," in five of the next six years.

Hicks said although tournaments in other traditional ACC cities have "gone exceedingly well," Greensboro's location and ready-made infrastructure as far as organizing volunteers remain key to conference athletic directors, who vote where to award the event.

"I think what happens as a result of that history is an expertise has developed in Greensboro," Hicks said in a phone interview.

That central location — close to the fan bases of the conference's four North Carolina schools — remains something the rest of the league must account for.

Terps' forward Landon Milbourne said the team hasn't thought about the tournament atmosphere. But the Terps know they will face a hostile crowd if they run into one of those schools.

The Terps would open up tournament play against North Carolina if the Tar Heels upset Georgia Tech tonight.

"We're just going to take it as an away game," Milbourne said of the tournament as a whole. "We're going to take it as trying to go out there and getting a road win really. It'll be kinda like home for a couple of these teams."

On the other hand, longtime Terrapin radio play-by-play man Johnny Holliday, who will be calling his 31st ACC Tournament, said there's nothing like beating a North Carolina school in Greensboro, citing the 2004 ACC Championship game.

Holliday said he wishes the tournament would migrate north again, as it did in 2005 when it came to Verizon Center in downtown Washington. But Holliday still appreciates the inherent charm of calling the tournament on Tobacco Road.

If the seeds hold and the No. 2 seed Terps make it to the Sunday final against No. 1 seed Duke, Holliday expects the faithful from the local schools to turn against the hated Blue Devils.

"If that match-up happens, I just expect the crowd will be a tremendous boost for Maryland," Holliday said. "That would be a fun one."

In the end, coach Gary Williams said he doesn't get especially attached to any of the various venues that have housed the tournament during his 21-year run on the Terps' bench.

When Williams played, the tournament was held in Reynolds Coliseum on the N.C. State campus in Raleigh, N.C.

The tournament, which Duke and North Carolina have dominated in recent years, was tough to win then, and it's tough to win now — no matter the arena.

"In other words, you look at the league and who you see coming in that you might have to play and things like that," Williams said. "That really determines how you feel about the place."

edetweiler@umdbk.com