Byline: Jimmy Golen Associated Press
BOSTON -- During Maryland's last visit to this city, for a regular-season game against Boston College, coach Brenda Frese took her team on a surprise bus trip.
The destination was un-disclosed.
The players were puzzled.
But when they unloaded at the new Boston Garden, the site of the NCAA women's Final Four, the message was clear.
'If you want to come back here, the next time will be for the Final Four,' Maryland guard Shay Doron recalled on Monday, a day before the Terrapins play Duke for the NCAA title. 'That feeling was unbelievable. You just want to get back here no matter what.'
Maryland (33-4) reached the title game by beating top-ranked North Carolina in the semifinals Sunday -- its second victory this year over the Tar Heels, a team no one else beat even once. But the groundwork was laid much earlier, when Frese took over the once-proud program in 2002.
The original power in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a charter member of the NCAA Final Four, 25 years ago, Maryland won five of the ACC's first six tournaments but hadn't broken .500 in the conference in five years before Frese arrived.
'First, it is my job to keep reminding people of history, because we feel like it's pretty special at Maryland,' Frese said. 'I think people forget, since it was in the 1980s, that Maryland still owns the most ACC titles and has done some pretty special things.'
So Frese didn't talk about making baby steps back to greatness.
'From Day 1, it's always been about an ACC championship, the NCAA championship,' Doron said. 'I think it was just making us believe that we can be a part of something different that nobody in the country can say they've ever done ... going from a 10-18 team to three years later playing in the Final Four.'
Standing in Maryland's way is another No. 1 seed: Duke (31-3), which is trying to earn its first national championship in its fourth trip to the Final Four since 1999. The Blue Devils also visited Boston College's campus this season, but coach Gail Goestenkors opted not to make a special trip to see the championship site.
'I've done that in the past several years and I felt like that put more pressure on my kids, honestly,' she said.
Duke will rely on frontcourt stars Alison Bales -- a graduate of Beavercreek High School near Dayton, Ohio -- and Mistie Williams to take back whatever advantage Maryland has with its speed. The ACC rivals have played three times this year, and Maryland has improved each time -- losing by 18, losing by 10 and then winning by eight in the ACC tournament semifinals.
'I could tell you what each of them ate for breakfast this morning,' Doron said. 'Both teams know each other very well.'
