It really was improbable, two teams that helped serve up two aesthetically displeasing games a year ago producing one of the best games Comcast Center had ever seen.
Yet there it was yesterday, Maryland's 76-74 defeat of Georgia Tech providing pretty much everything anyone could want out of a game.
It was tight throughout and cleanly played after the first four minutes. There were great individual performances, plenty of lead changes and, of course, a finish folks won't soon forget.
So where does it rank among the building's best games? It's up there, for certain.
The criteria for such a list is subjective, of course. To me, it doesn't matter who wins a really good game, and it doesn't matter if a highly ranked team gets run off the floor. A taut thriller is a taut thriller, regardless of who is playing and what is at stake.
Now, implications do make a difference. But don't go looking for 15-point victories over Duke on this list. They're not here.
1. Feb. 21, 2009: Maryland 88, North Carolina 85 (OT)
Pretty much as good a game as anyone could ask for. Greivis Vasquez produced a triple-double and Cliff Tucker came off the bench to score 22 points. Maryland erased a 16-point deficit in the second half against the eventual national champions. Toss in that Maryland direly needed a late-season victory to burnish its NCAA tournament credentials, and this goes down as the top game in the eight-year-old building's history.
2. Feb. 25, 2007: Maryland 89, North Carolina 87
North Carolina was up 77-65 with 7:14 to go before Mike Jones scored nine of his 18 points in a burst that brought the Terps back. Maryland actually built a 89-84 lead, but Wayne Ellington's 3-pointer and a Terp turnover gave the Tar Heels a chance to tie. However, Brandan Wright missed two free throws with 3.5 seconds left, and bedlam ensued as Maryland finished off its fifth straight victory. D.J. Strawberry had a career-high 27 points in the victory.
3. Feb. 20, 2010: Maryland 76, Georgia Tech 74
It's amazing what a buzzer-beater can do. Yesterday's game has a pretty good case for No. 2, and with the passage of time (and the evaporation of a conscious attempt to not overhype what just occurred) it might just wind up there. Neither team led by more than six, and in the final eight minutes there were five lead changes in the last two minutes. Cliff Tucker has probably stopped running around by now, but his improbable 3-pointer (just moments after Greivis Vasquez's apparent winner was waved off when Maryland called timeout) was just icing on a game that was already superb without a shot as time expired.
4. Feb. 12, 2005: Maryland 99, Duke 92 (OT)
On the list more for a rock-'em-sock-'em regulation than overtime, this game at the time was seen as a sign the season was back on the right track. It wasn't, of course, and the Terps went 1-5 between then and Selection Sunday. But Maryland will always have the game in which five Duke players fouled out. Six Terps scored in double figures, and Travis Garrison's 17 points and 11 rebounds represented the high tide of the second half of his career.
5. March 2, 2008: Clemson 73, Maryland 70
No, this one was not competitive throughout, with actually helps vault it up the list in a quirky way. Maryland led 59-39 with 11 minutes to go, but Clemson gradually eroded the deficit. Terrence Oglesby then drilled a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left to complete the comeback and deal a crippling loss to Maryland's NCAA tournament hopes. The Terps would go on to lose to Virginia and Boston College, thus relegating them to the NIT for the third time in four years. Twenty-point comeback + Late dagger + Big-picture implications = A significant game in the building's history.
6. Dec. 2, 2003: Maryland 73, Wisconsin 67 (OT)
The Badgers erased a seven-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation, and even took a one-point lead before Nik Caner-Medley's free throw with 2.4 seconds forced overtime. Wisconsin then took a two-point lead early in overtime, but Jamar Smith scored the go-ahead basket with 56 seconds remaining as part of a 25-point outing.
7. Dec. 19, 2004: Maryland 90, Florida State 88 (OT)
Not exactly the best-played game, the Terps nonetheless escaped despite blowing a 13-point lead in the second half. John Gilchrist's free throws with 6.6 seconds left were the difference for Maryland, which survived when Von Wafer's 3-pointer at the buzzer caromed off the rim.
8. Jan. 7, 2009: Morgan State 66, Maryland 65
A bit anticlimactic given the bumbling of the final 25 seconds, but the Bears --- led by Reggie Holmes' 25 points --- erased a 14-point deficit in the final 12:37 to deal Maryland a shocking loss to an in-state opponent. Here's guessing the Bears aren't invited back to Comcast Center any time soon.
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