The year 1969 was a turning point in Washington sports history. The University of Maryland had hired Lefty Driesell to coach basketball. The Senators named Ted Williams as manager. The Washington Redskins hired Vince Lombardi as Head Coach and he had brought a winning attitude to the nation's capital. It marked a renaissance in sports interest in America's most transient of cities.
Maryland participated in the ACC Final. The Final pitted two of the top teams in the country. It has been regarded by many to be the greatest ACC game in history — and one of the greatest college games ever. The game was instrumental in forcing the expansion of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship to 32 teams, allowing more than one bid from a conference.
Maryland had six future NBA draft picks on the team. The six picks were Tom McMillen and Len Elmore (1974),[12] Tom Roy and Owen Brown (1975)[13] and John Lucas and Mo Howard (1976).[14] It is considered the greatest team that did not participate in the NCAA tournament.[15]
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^ ab"Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved March 26, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ ab"Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Bill Free – This Overtime Lasts 25 YearsArchived 2008-09-12 at the Wayback Machine The 1974 team left it all out on the floor. Baltimore Sun, hosted at University of Maryland Terrapins athletic site, February 20, 1999