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Let me be clear. I fully support the Maryland Terrapins. I went there for six years as an undergraduate and graduate student and suffered through the Bob Wade years and the early absurd sanctions during Gary Williams' tenure. I sat in the 2nd row as a student in the late 80's for virtually every ACC game. I was a season ticket holder in the mid 90s. I bleed MD red. I also believe Gary Williams deserves the right to coach at MD as long as he damn well pleases. He gave us two final fours and a National Championship. He is the greatest coach in the history of Maryland Basketball and a sure-fire Hall of Famer. This is not a bash Gary column. If anything, I'm a Gary Williams apologist. I love what he's done for my alma mater.

But losses like the one in Miami Wednesday night are becoming all too familiar to Terp fans. And nobody knows better than Gary Williams how crushing that loss is to MD's tournament hopes. Not because the Terps lost on the road. Road games in the ACC are brutal. But when you have your opponent down 17 in the 2nd half and let the game slip away, you can rationalize it any way you want, but that is a must-win game.

I'm sure Gary will defend his team to the media and fans. But I guarantee you he is livid. The kids will not escape his wrath. Sure MD is only two games into the 16-game conference schedule. But mark my words, this loss will haunt MD come tournament time.

Back in the day, if you got to 8-8 you were virtually assured of getting into the NCAA tournament if your non-conference record was good and you got close to 20 wins. If you made it to 9-7 you were golden. Not anymore. Today, 20 wins alone is meaningless. You have to have some credible out-of-conference wins on the road and at home. Losing to Morgan State at Comcast doesn't do you any favors either by the way. You almost have to get to 10-6 to secure a spot in the Big Dance. This team can't afford to blow 17-point leads and still get to the magic number.

Here's the great conundrum of it all. MD will have their moments this season. Despite their brutal conference schedule and their obvious limitations in size, depth and talent, I guarantee they beat a much higher ranked conference opponent this year. Maybe more than once. I don't care if it's Duke, North Carolina or Wake Forest. Nobody is a better big game coach than Gary Williams. He's a giant killer. He knocks of #1 ranked teams more than anybody in the country.

It's the losses to Miami after being up by 17 and the let down against Morgan State that haunt this team year after year. Why does MD typically play so poorly against GW in the BB&T? We have more talent than them. It's not even close. Why did MD lose to AU last year? They should win that game by 30.

The common criticism from MD's own supporters is that Gary doesn't recruit well enough. It may well be true. When you have Kevin Durant, Michael Beasely, Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, Ty Lawson and numerous other hoop phenoms in your backyard and going elsewhere it's frustrating. Prince Georges County was recently profiled as being the #1 hot bed for high school and AAU talent in the country. When your campus is in the heart of that county and you aren't getting your share of those superstars the criticism is hard to ignore.

I'm always quick to point out how many guys Gary has put into the NBA. Everybody knew Steve Francis was a stud. Many thought Walt Williams could play in the league. It was obvious after seeing Joe Smith play a few games that he'd have a long NBA career. But who in their right mind thought Obinna Ekezie, Lonny Baxter, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Chris McCray and countless others would collect NBA paychecks when they were recruited? The man can develop players and obviously has an eye for talent.

Part of me thinks Gary's recruiting is a reflection of his personality. Anybody that has ever met or listened to Gary knows he has a huge chip on his shoulder. He thrives off of the criticism. It's always me against the world in Garyland. That's what makes him tick. He'd probably go nuts if everybody just stroked him and kissed his butt. The man is a fighter. Somewhere in his mind I bet Gary thinks he can win with anybody. Give him 8 or 10 guys that can play a little and he'll do the rest.

But is that still good enough? Maybe it is. I don' know the answer. College Basketball is a coaches domain. It's not like the NBA where the coaches are virtually irrelevant and just jump on and off the coaching carousel. Talent dictates in the NBA where systems and coaches rule the college scene. I think there has to be a mix of both. Clearly MD has the coach and system to be a dominant power in college basketball. But maybe they really do need a little more talent.