ESPN Women's Basketball

It was a year ago this week that Maryland coach Brenda Frese had her twins, Markus and Tyler. Time really zips by. They're already playing H-O-R-S-E with Kristi Toliver.

OK, not quite.

"But they're real little boys now, not babies," Frese said. "They already know how to manipulate mom and dad at the age of 1."

You might think that this past season was a particularly draining one for Frese. She had to miss several road games during her pregnancy. And at home contests, she was in a big chair on the sidelines, sometimes looking about as comfortable as Violet Beauregarde when she "inflates" into a giant blueberry in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." (Or "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," if you prefer the weird Johnny Depp version.)

Frese's sons aren't into that, yet.

"They're big fans of Elmo," said Frese, who celebrated their birthday Tuesday with her husband, Mark Thomas, and the boys with a cake decorated like the "Sesame Street" character.

"I'm just glad I was at home, no game, no recruiting," Frese said, but that's because of the birthday, not because of any weariness.

That's the thing: You might have assumed this past year wore out Frese. It didn't. Rather, she said, it had elements of a semi-sabbatical. Being "grounded" so much ended up being a refreshing experience for her. As did, of course, the arrival of the twins themselves.

"Having kids puts so much of the sport into perspective," she said. "When you go through the lows, you can go back home and go to a high.

"Plus, last year I wasn't involved with the coaching with the team as much. So I feel like I appreciate so many more moments this year and have more energy to give to this team."

Senior Marissa Coleman said it has been good to have the "old Coach B" back.

"She just has a passion and fire," Coleman said. "Not having her around as much last year, it was weird. Those times we didn't have as much energy as we needed, and we were used to her giving us that. But she wasn't always there to start things."

Frese was there, though, for the NCAA tournament, where ultimately the Terps ran into "team-on-a-mission" Stanford in the Elite Eight. That loss closed the college careers of Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper, meaning Toliver and Coleman had to carry on as Maryland's leaders without them.

"It's been a process -- anytime you lose two first-round WNBA draft picks," Frese said. "You saw it early, the TCU game. Us having to fit new players in, and we had to find ourselves as a team.

"It's taken Kristi and Marissa time -- not only were Laura and Crystal great teammates for them, but they were their best friends. It took awhile for them to have the bond with this team."

Specifically, there were two newcomers who had to play big parts: freshman Lynetta Kizer and junior-college transfer Demauria Liles. The opener at TCU was a jolt: Maryland lost by 12.

Another nonconference road loss came in December, this one pretty much a pounding. The Terps fell 86-57 at Pitt.

Then in January at Duke, in their second ACC game, they lost 68-65 … but something started to really click. Sophomore Marah Strickland was sick and didn't make that trip. Coleman cramped up badly in the latter part of the second half and wasn't able to finish the game.

"It was definitely frustrating," Coleman said. "But more than anything, I gained a lot of confidence in this team. Despite the outcome of that game, if you want to pinpoint any game that really helped us figure out who we were, that was it."

So who were these Terps? They were more than Toliver and Coleman. Much as those two bring -- Toliver averages 17.4 points, Coleman 16.3 -- other Terps have emerged, too.

Kizer, a center out of Woodbridge, Va., resembles Harper in more ways than just also being 6 feet, 4 inches.

"One thing I wanted to pick up on where Harp left off was her energy for the game," said Kizer, who is averaging 12.3 points and 7.6 rebounds. "And it's made my job a lot easier, getting to play with Kristi and Marissa and taking from their knowledge of basketball."

Meanwhile, Liles had committed in her mind to go to Maryland when she was just a kid. Growing up in the state, she was a fan of the program and signed with the Terps when she got the chance. But she was a non-qualifier and went to Gulf Coast Community College, always with an eye on returning to College Park.

The 6-1 Liles, like Kizer, has started all but one game and is averaging 11.4 points and a team-best 8.9 rebounds.

"Lynetta and Dee, they complement each other really well," Frese said. "It's similar to the way Crystal and Laura were. Lynetta is our outgoing, very passionate, vocal person on the floor. Dee is the quiet personality; she takes everything in.

"They're different, but they get along. And I think they have a keen sense of knowing where each other is on the floor, getting a feel for the high-low pass and the trust with each other."

Have there still been bumps for Maryland? Yes, such as an 89-81 loss at Virginia on Jan. 30. But since then, the Terps have felt more united, more confident. They went to Florida State three days after losing in Charlottesville, and gave the Seminoles their only ACC loss thus far.

And that came with no small amount of drama, as the Terps went the length of the court and won 72-71 on a Toliver 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Maryland now has won six in a row and nine of its past 10, after an 87-79 victory at Georgia Tech on Thursday. The Terps are at home against Duke on Sunday. There are just four games left before the Terps head to Greensboro and the ACC tournament. After that, they'll have a chance to host the NCAA tournament.

Time is winding down for Toliver and Coleman, who won a national championship as freshmen and will see their jerseys go into the rafters at the Comcast Center. When this season ends, Maryland will see two more players be WNBA first-round draft picks.

"The main thing is, it's been a great ride, it's been a lot of fun," Coleman said. "Even the hardships you face, we've learned from them. I feel so lucky to have played with someone like Kristi, and it's something I know I'll be able to look back on and appreciate even more years from now."

Coleman and Toliver still have more to add to their Maryland legacy. It's sort of interesting, though, that their grandest moment came three years ago on April 4. They won the national championship the same day Kizer turned 16.

"Yeah, they did it on my birthday," Kizer said, laughing. "I remember watching that game -- they were down, but it was like, 'OK, we're not giving up.' You could see the fight in them.

"This season, it's been the same way. It's been rough at times; we've hit some rocky points. But we've been able to stick together, and it's been a blast for me to be here with Kristi and Marissa, to be able to follow those two."

Mechelle Voepel, a regular contributor to ESPN.com, can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com. Read her blog at http://voepel.wordpress.com/.