ESPN'S TAKE   with Jay Bilas   The Terps are balance inside and out, and only Kansas and Duke can boast a guard corps of similar quality. Maryland can run and press, and Gary Williams has great size and strength inside with Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox. The only caveat is shooting, because the Terps have not been shooting the ball quite as well over the last two weeks. Tickling the twine or not, Maryland has the chops to win it all, and it will take a Herculean effort to beat them Player to Watch     Juan Dixon       The senior shooting guard was once an overlooked recruit who got ignored by most major colleges outside the Washington D.C. area. He is now the only Division I player in history to score 2,000 points, make 300 steals and hit 200 three-pointers. The only one. Dixon also is among national leaders in free-throw percentage (90.7) and is in the top 20 in almost every individual category the ACC charts. Not bad for a 6-foot-3, 160-pound puff of air. Team Statistics   Points Per Game 80.7 Rebounds Per Game 38.7 Assists Per Game 21.0 Steals Per Game 12.7 Blocks Per Game 4.3 Turnovers Per Game 11.7 Field Goal % .497 Free Throw % .729 3-Point % .375 3-Pointers Per Game 0.6 Scoring Margin 13.9

How They Got Here
Coming off the first Final Four appearance in program history and with four starters back, greatness was predicted for Maryland. It's still on track after doing what it thought it should have done all season -- return to the Final Four.

Now the Terps hope to take two steps further than a year ago. And with Duke nowhere to be seen, it just might happen.

Maryland had little trouble in the East until the final -- beating play-in game winner Siena by 15, Wisconsin by 30 and Kentucky by 10. But UConn gave the Terps all they wanted for 39 minutes before Steve Blake's big 3-pointer with under a minute to play gave Maryland its second straight trip to the promise land.

It's been a long season, Maryland first 30-win season. Remember, the Terps were rocked in their opener by Arizona, a loss that looked a lot worse then, when the Wildcats were unranked, than now that they're a top-10 caliber team. But, since then, only two elite teams playing at home managed to beat Maryland -- Oklahoma and Duke -- before the Terrapins surprising loss to North Carolina State in the ACC semifinals.

Chris Wilcox has developed into a ferocious rebounder and interior junk scorer. The Terps have looked like a No. 1 seed since early January, joining Kansas and Duke as three teams that seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the national pack.

They closed Cole Field House with a perfect season at home, and are poised to make a deep run in the tournament -- if not bring back a banner to College Park, Md., which they'll happily hang in the new Comcast Center to start next season.

What We Like
Maryland has a potent inside-outside offense led by Lonny Baxter in the paint and Juan Dixon on the perimeter. Byron Mouton scores in between, and Wilcox and point guard Steve Blake also have been known to score in double figures. The balance is here, and so is depth in the frontcourt, where 6-11 Tahj Holden and 6-9 Ryan Randle come off the bench. If it weren't for Baxter and Wilcox, both would be starting -- and doing fine with the extended minutes.

What We Don't Like
The Terps could use a little more depth on the perimeter. Drew Nicholas, a 6-3 junior, is versatile and able to spell Blake at the point, Dixon at shooting guard and even Mouton at small forward. But having one reserve for three positions is a scary position to be in given the possibility of foul trouble or an ankle sprain during three weeks of March Madness.