Last night, in first-year head coach Mark Turgeon's inaugural home game versus Duke, the Terps unveiled "Gary Williams Court" in front of a sold-out crowd.
It was a moment that touched the 17,950 in attendance and
thousands more through their television screens. The end of an era, now fondly remembered by the jerseys in the rafters and the signature on the court.It's hard to think of anyone associated with the Terps men's basketball program who would have any opposition to the court-naming. That's why it came as such a shock when former head coach Lefty Driesell, who led the Terps from 1969 to 1986 and national prominence, called the court-naming "unfair."
Two days before the naming was made official, Driesell told the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Barker that, "It's not fair to my players that they would put Gary Williams' name on the court. It's a disservice to players such as Tom McMillen, John Lucas, Len Elmore, Brad Davis, Greg Manning, Adrian Branch and Steve Sheppard."
Sour grapes, for sure. But considering this was announced months ago, the timing looks particularly classless from Driesell's end.
But fans -- particularly the under-30 crowd -- associate Williams with Comcast Center, not Cole Field House, where Driesell coached all of his 507 games. And while it'd be good to see Lefty honored at some point, that may have to wait a bit longer than it would have if he had simply kept quiet.
And though Maryland fell to mighty Duke for the 10th time in 11 games, the night was still special for Terps fans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment