600

Gary Williams is a baller. That is the mantra of this blog.

On Wednesday night he won his 600th career game, becoming the 8th active Division I coach to reach that mark. Along the way there have been tons of awesome wins, including about 53,000 against #1 ranked teams. So to commemorate Coach Williams on his milestone victory, here is the Official Says Things Top Nine Gary Williams Victories. Why 9? Because Gary Williams will win 900 games. Or because I'm lazy.

9. 1/8/97 - @ North Carolina, 85-75 - Chapel Hill, NC. I think I remember this one. I might have listened to Johnny Holliday call in on the radio back in the dark days before my parents sprung for cable. The Tar Heels were led by some pretty good players at the time, including Antawn Jamison and Shammond Williams. They took a commanding 22 point lead on the Terps with less than 15 minutes to go in the game. Game over, right? Not so fast. The Terps went on a game ending 41-9 run to complete the improbable comeback, led by 21 points from sophomore Obinna Ekezie. The assholes at Youtube don't even have a clip of this game because Dean Smith ate it in a fit of petulance.

8. 11/26/93 - vs Georgetown, 84-83 - Washington, DC. The Hoyas and the Terps are the two superpowers of Washington area basketball, always competing indirectly for coverage and recruits despite being in different conferences and playing only sporadically. Up until the '93-'94 season, the Hoyas - home to players like Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning - were THE dominant team in the era while Maryland struggled through the Bob Wade era and the Sanctions era. But a freshman from Virginia named Joe Smith made his debut in this game to the tune of 26 points as the Terps pulled out a last second win on the back of a Duane Simpkins game winner. Move over John Thompson, Gary Williams is the new man in charge.

7. 1/19/08 - at North Carolina, 82-80 - Chapel Hill, NC. At the time there were questions about whether or not the Terps would even make the NIT. It was a true David vs. Goliath matchup, especially with starting guard Eric Hayes limited to a bench role by injury. But Gary Williams is a baller and Roy Williams is not. The game plan was excellent and the execution was even better. Boom Osby hit a late layup to put away the top ranked Tar Heel and the season turned around as the buzzer sounded.

6. 3/19/94 - vs Massachusetts, 95-87 - NCAA Second Round - Wichita, KS. The Terrapins went finished the 1994 season at 18-12, good enough for a 10 seed and their first tournament appearance since 1988. After dispatching Saint Louis in the first round, the Terps faced the highly ranked, second seeded Minutemen. Joe Smith > Marcus Camby although Camby won the individual battle. Gary Williams >> John Calipari. The Terps were back in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in a decade.

5. 3/14/04 - vs Duke, 95-87, OT - ACC Championship - Greensboro, NC. What a game. This was Gary Williams first, and so far only, ACC tournament championship and just the third overall for the Terps. After an up and down regular season, the team went down to Tobacco Road and beat highly ranked Wake Forest and North Carolina State teams to set up another matchup with rival Duke. This game had it all as John Gilchrist and Jamar Smith led the team with 25 points apiece and even Mike Grinnon got in on the action with crucial free throws down the stretch. What a game.

4. 1/19/97 - @ Wake Forest, 54-51 - Winston-Salem, NC. One of my favorite Terp wins ever. Wake Forest was ranked number two and undefeated at the time with superstar senior Tim Duncan leading the way. Boy did I hate him. Maryland had a very good senior of its own in PF Keith Booth. Even if you became a fan in 2002 you know that name. The Deacons made a huge comeback to tie the game at 51 after being down double digits at the half. The Terps gave the ball to star Keith Booth on the last possession to work on the inside. Booth kicked it out to SF Laron Profit who hit a buzzer beating three to seal the deal and shock Wake Forest.

3. 2/17/02 - vs Duke, 87-73 - College Park, MD. Everyone with a functioning brain knew that the Terps were the top team in the country in 2002. Poll voters are apparently among those that had lobotomies as Duke was ranked #1 at the time. A 21 point win for the Blue Devils in Durham also had something to do with that perception. But the Terps were not to be denied behind a career high 23 points from Chris Wilcox. And yet somehow the #3 Terps didn't hop to number one the next week, settling in at #2 behind Kansas.

2. 3/24/01 - vs Stanford, 87-73 - Elite Eight - Anaheim, CA. Lefty Driesell coached at Maryland for nearly two decades and although he promised to make Maryland the "UCLA of the East" and had tons of success, he never made the Final Four. Gary Williams had taken his Maryland team to seven straight NCAA tournaments without getting to the final weekend. But after this day the Terps were no longer The Best Program Never to Make a Final Four. Before this game people actually thought that Casey Jacobson was a better player than Juan F. Dixon. And somehow I missed this game to play for my crappy CYO basketball team.

1. 4/1/02 - vs Indiana, 64-52 - National Championship - Atlanta, GA. Gary Williams crowning moment. The night that Maryland went from a very good program to one of the brand names in college hoops. The game itself wasn't that great. Indiana wasn't a top 5 team that year, and Terps only scored 64 points despite averaging over 80 for the season. But none of that matters to any Terp fan because the team had finally won a championship. Who can forget Johnny Holliday telling us that "THE KIDS HAVE DONE IT!"