Maryland to Play Crayola Conference Representative in Tournament

(3/11/02)

On Friday, the University of Maryland men's basketball team will open what it hopes is a long run in the NCAA tournament by playing either Alcorn State or Siena, which will fight in the play-in game to represent the Crayola Conference in the first round.

"I was kind of surprised," said Gary Williams. "I had expected Cornflower University to dominate that conference. But they pretty much wilted this year, and I know the tournament selection committee was trying to give more consideration to sub-major teams."

Before the season started, Alcorn State was a virtual unknown; the Brown Bombers were picked by media representatives to finish 127th in the 128-team league. But their miraculous victory in the conference tournament, highlighted by a 28-2 run in which Siena just couldn't seem to find them on the court, put them in the NCAAs.

Meanwhile, many feel Siena was a sentimental pick, since their campus went up in flames in the middle of the season. Their coach Brent Scrowcroft took issue with this desription. "Butler thinks it should have been in the tournament, but Butler didn't do it," he said at a press conference. "We've been burnt, and now we're going to burn any team that underestimates us."

That may be a danger for the Terrapins, at least if senior forward Lonny Baxter's comments are any indication. "The Crayola conference? We'll wax their asses," the Silver Spring native asserted.

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