Gary Williams, 2001-02 Maryland men's basketball team ranked among the best of the 2000s

Ahmed Ghafir
Jul 16, 2025
3 min read

More than halfway through the college basketball offseason, Maryland men’s basketball drew a pair of mentions after The Athletic ranked the top coaches and teams through the 2000s.

Former Maryland head coach Gary Williams checked in as the 23rd-best coach over the last 25 years in The Athletic’s rankings, ahead of Bob Huggins and Sean Miller and behind coaches like Rick Barnes, Dana Altman and Matt Painter. Current Kansas head coach Bill Self topped the list ahead of a pair of longtime former ACC head coaches, though Williams is one of 13 coaches included who have won at least one national championship.

“Williams was at the tail end of his prime in the early 2000s when he made back-to-back Final Fours and won his lone national title in 2002. The Terps started to fall off a few years later, but that start earned him a spot on this list. The 2002 champs probably do not get enough love, likely because their stars (Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Steve Blake) were just OK pros, but Williams built an awesome college starting five. Those Terps won the ACC over a Duke team that had Jay Williams and Carlos Boozer, then knocked off one of the greatest Kansas teams of all time in the Final Four.”

Maryland would find success over Duke nearly ten years after winning the title after Greivis Vasquez led the Terps to a 79-72 win on Senior Night to secure a share of the ACC regular season title with the 2009-10 team also featured among the best seasons of the Gary Williams era. Of course, it was the 2001-02 team that would secure the program’s only national title as they ranked as the 23rd-best team in The Athletic’s rankings.

“A snoozer of a national title game, and over two decades of fading memories, should not detract from Gary Williams’ only national title team. Behind Dixon, an All-American, and Blake, the national assists leader, the Terps and their fifth-ranked offense were a scoring juggernaut. Maryland outlasted eventual No. 1 overall seed Duke to win the ACC regular-season crown — back when that meant something — and rode Dixon’s steady scoring to a second consecutive Final Four. Considering the Terps haven’t advanced past the Sweet 16 since, this team’s reputation has aged like fine wine.”

Maryland is coming off its third Sweet 16 appearance since its national title after Derik Queen’s buzzer beater vs. Colorado State lifted the program into the second weekend for the first time since 2016.

Juan Dixon, who is set to serve as the head coach of Shell Shock TBT beginning Friday, went on to be named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament after averaging nearly 26 points, four rebounds and three assists during the championship run in Atlanta. Lonny Baxter led the way for Maryland in the national title game with a 15 point, 14 rebound double-double while Steve Blake, whose son is among the 15 new additions for head coach Buzz Williams in 2025-26, added six points and six rebounds in the title. Maryland took down ten ranked teams en route to the title game, including second-ranked Kansas in the Final Four after Dixon added a game-high 33 points in a 97-88 win.

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