- [Clara] It is April 4th, 2006.
We're in Boston for the NCAA Final between a school
with a powerhouse reputation who you might be surprised
to hear has never won a championship
and a school you might not be surprised
to hear has never won a championship.
The first one's Duke
and the latter is Maryland, in case I'm being too opaque.
Terps have the ball down three with 12 seconds left
to understand just how surprising it is
that Maryland is this close to winning the title
and how annoying that must be for Duke.
We gotta rewind.
(soft music)
The game's being played at a neutral site,
TD Garden, so some fans in Maryland Red have
to sit near some fans in Duke Blue,
but they don't have to like each other.
These two teams have a big old rivalry,
at least according to Maryland.
In 2004, the Duke at UMD regular season game brought in the
second largest crowd in women's ACC history.
Duke won by double digits
and thus perhaps wasn't even aware of the rivalry,
assuming all those people came simply to watch them dazzle.
And that's kind of how things go between these two teams.
Duke has been really good for a really long time,
and the Terps, well, they've been less good.
And this season Duke beat them twice,
making it 14 times in a row
the Blue Devils have triumphed.
In that early January rout,
I'm not sure Duke even noticed the UMD defense.
After the game, Blue Devil coach Gail Goestenkors
said this was the best Duke team yet.
They had a deep experienced roster
and a balanced offense,
which is significant because while Duke's been so good,
they've also come up short.
And a lot of people thought it was the coach's fault.
But maybe with this year's squad Goestenkors
can finally stick it to everybody who,
oh nevermind.
Duke had a bland, timid exit to the regular season.
They lost to conference rival UNC twice.
This one was after being up 16 points
and they needed double overtime to get past Miami,
a team that wasn't expected to make the tournament.
Meanwhile, Maryland had been steadily improving
to the extent that they finally beat Duke
when it counted, the semi-finals of the ACC tournament.
This was the first year since 1999
Duke would miss the ACC final.
Hey, maybe the rivalry isn't so one-sided anymore,
but Duke's recent slide
and lowered expectations gave them a little fire in the
belly going into March Madness,
which they used to burn their tournament opponents
to the ground while blocking the fire exits.
Oh yeah, okay, UConn gave them some trouble.
But then look at their Final Four game, a 19 point blowout.
Duke's back, big kids. Gail, you go right ahead
and spit in the face of your critic.
Oh wait, Duke's lead is not quite as commanding tonight.
Maybe they really can't win the big one.
I mean, why is a team they used to crush
giving them so much trouble all of a sudden?
Since when is UMD good?
Women's College basketball has its established powerhouses
and Maryland is not in that club.
As we discussed, Maryland's had their troubles for a while,
but then in 2002, coach Brenda Frese was hired
to turn the program around and she did.
'Cause Frese is really good at recruiting.
She convinced Shay Doron
to ditch established programs for Maryland.
And as a freshman, Doron led the team above 500
and into the tournament where they advanced
to the second round, the following year saw
an even better record.
Thanks Frese luring, Crystal Langhorne away from Tennessee
and Laura Harper from Yukon.
And this year Frese added top recruits Kristi Toliver
and Marissa Coleman to complete perhaps UMD'S best team yet.
Not only did they finally beat Duke,
but they are the only team to beat top ranked UNC all year.
Maryland went from not in the tournament
to a two seed in less than four years,
which is wildly fast.
Less than one college cycle.
People take longer to pick a major.
But hang on, how did Frese get these top recruits to ignore
and reject established programs for a program
that hadn't been to the Sweet 16 in more than a decade?
Well, some say with the legal recruiting tactics,
and they say it anonymously to the NCAA
to trigger an informal investigation, that's still ongoing.
But of course that's not what UMD says.
Frese established a good relationship with recruits
by being genuine and dedicated.
She actually attended high school games herself,
but it's in her recruiting pitch where the key
to Maryland's rapid ascent lies.
'Cause you can recruit great players,
but they're still gonna be young
and it usually takes time
to develop youth,
Coach Frese essentially posed the question,
do you wanna follow a worn path to glory
or would you like to blaze your own trail to glory?
And I think this idea would appeal
to a certain type of star recruit.
The type that's not just talented,
but also extremely confident and daring.
Qualities you might need to lead a championship level team
as a sophomore or a freshman.
Now the team's youth might be why they couldn't beat Duke
earlier in the season
and certainly had experts doubting they could beat
Duke in the title game.
But I assume all those experts are fired now.
'Cause Maryland could take this thing,
but which one of these babies is gonna take the final shot?
Crystal Langhorne, She's UMD's best player.
And if it weren't for her,
Maryland would've gone home in the second round.
In the round of 32.
The Terps didn't look championship caliber,
except for Langhorne, who single handedly
kept Maryland's dream alive.
Not only did she put up huge numbers,
but she hit two clutch baskets in the final minutes
to put the game out of reach.
In the sweet 16, Maryland found their poise again.
A lot of players were hot, including two freshmen,
but Langhorne was the hottest.
The sophomore center is the team's star.
She was all ACC first team.
But that's right, she's a center
who only attempted one three all season.
And as you see here, the Terps could use a three.
Now if Langhorne one attempt had gone in,
no, no, no, it's too risky.
So who's gonna get the final shot?
Could freshman Marissa Coleman be lining up at the top
of the key for a handoff?
Coleman was ACC Rookie of the Year,
boasts impressive numbers,
and most importantly, right now, she can hit threes.
Also important, Coleman's proven she can keep her
cool and big games.
And the Terps second loss to Duke,
Coleman's performance was the silver lining.
She had 23 points in the regular season win over UNC
and in front of a sold out TD Garden in the final four.
Marissa Coleman one year removed from high school
and having her mom pack her lunches,
I assume earned a double, double.
So yeah, the kid can handle big games,
but maybe not really big games.
'Cause Coleman only scored two points in the first half.
Maryland as a whole had a bad first half
and it got worse early in the second half.
- [Mike] Holy for three and four, what a killer.
- [Announcer] It's not necessarily how many threes, Mike,
it's the times at which they come.
- [Clara] What the commentators are getting at is
that Foley's three should have been demoralizing.
Maryland already had this huge hole they had
to dig themselves out of,
and Foley basically put a hand on their head, said, nope,
and shoved them down further.
But here's something interesting.
Instead of responding in what would be a natural way
for a human, resigning to their fate to die in the hole,
Maryland immediately sparked a comeback.
30 seconds after that,
supposedly deadly timed three pointer,
Langhorne stole the ball and ran it down for two points.
- [Mike] Two on one Langhorne with very few opportunities.
- [Clara] Then Coleman was like eff off Clara,
I can too perform in really big games,
hitting two fast break jumpers,
the latter of which put the Terps within one point.
Apparently Frese yelling at her so much
during a timeout in the first half actually helped.
You know, even if I were really tall,
I don't think I'd make it as a basketball player.
So is the Coleman right here,
the one who can perform in big games, or the one who can't?
Maybe she's too risky too,
but hey, who's over here with the ball?
Freshman point guard, Kristi Toliver.
Toliver grew up around basketball.
Her dad was an NBA ref.
She got to attend a lot of games, watch tape,
and even shoot around with the 1996 Dream Team
at nine years old.
Seems like a conflict of interest, but whatever.
And her dad, an accomplished D1 player himself,
trained her growing up inventing drills like dribbling
with tennis balls in the dark to learn fundamentals,
which must have been a good drill.
'Cause in high school, Toliver collected
accolades right and left.
She could have gone anywhere
and she chose Maryland,
where she was to be the missing piece.
Through their recent rise,
the team hadn't really had a true point guard,
but Toliver could be the floor general leading the offense.
Kind of heavy expectations to place on the shoulders
of a 5'7 teenager.
But ostensibly, Toliver chose Maryland
because she was up for that challenge.
At first, she was timid about being vocal,
but she couldn't keep that up.
Toliver grew up quickly
and that win over Duke in the ACC semis, she was described
as cool rookie, point guard, Kristi Toliver.
And let's consider what went down in the Elite eight.
The Terps were in a bad spot
because most of them, including Toliver, spent the night
before the game awake and sick
and near the bathroom.
As forward, Jade Perry said it was gross.
I don't think we need more details.
The Terps won in overtime
and everyone was impressive to push through the illness,
but Toliver stood out with a 28 point performance
that belied her age.
But here's the thing, while Toliver can be clutch
beyond her years, she can also be
not that.
Let's take a look at some other big games.
In the ACC championship loss,
Toliver picked up her fourth foul early in the second half,
and Frese was forced to play her two guard,
Shay Doron at points against UNCs
Notorious trapping 131 defense.
Maryland had 19 turnovers that game.
Then in the final four, two days ago,
Kristi Toliver was the only one who played like a freshman.
She couldn't hit from beyond the arc and had 12 turnovers.
Was the pressure getting to her?
Her detractor saw double digits in her turnover column
and said, yep, she's too young for this.
But her supporters mainly Coach Frese,
saw something else in that Final Four game,
poise and maturity, despite all the turnovers,
Toliver didn't crumple, she played excellent D
and had some big shots at the end of the game.
Frese didn't think there were many players
of any age who could do that.
And how's the point guard been tonight?
Well, like the rest of the team,
she didn't have a great first half.
Maybe she did need more experience,
but as Maryland clawed their way back from a 13 point
deficit, Toliver stepped up.
Check out this assist with Maryland down nine
between two defenders.
I mean, that's confidence.
With 10 minutes left, Toliver for three,
you can feel the momentum shift then down just three points
with 25 seconds remaining.
The commentators are saying Maryland should go
for an easy two, but Toliver spins
and fades with more self-confidence than most
of us have ever even imagined having.
So yeah, she might be a pretty good choice
for the game tying shot right now,
but she'll have to get open.
Duke needs a stop here to get the little monkey screaming,
can't win the big one off their back.
Maryland needs a three to keep their hopes alive
and to tell the exclusive club
of established women's basketball programs to shove over
and make room for a new member.
Welcome to a moment in history,
- [Mike] Toliver looking for scream.
She fires
(crowd cheering)
(TV clicking)
- [Clara] A moment made more historic in overtime.
- [Mike] Under three.
Foley has the fortune, no, no, let's do it.
(crowd cheering)
(TV clicking)
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- [Clara] Hey everybody, thank you for watching.
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for Secret Base, I'm Clara Morris.
Good night and good game.