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Gary Williams’ Lenco Bearcat armored vehicle was too heavy to drive onto the court at Comcast Center.
The Terrapin men’s basketball coach rode in the tank along the sideline when he made his much-anticipated entrance at Maryland Madness on Friday night, but he simply waved from out the hatch, crawled out the back and walked onto the court to address the crowd.
The annual event, which serves as the formal introduction of the Terrapin men’s and women’s basketball teams, had most of its typical performances, gimmicks and scrimmages Friday. But the event lacked its usual flair, and many students said they left disappointed.
The armored vehicle, with a blatant Under Armour advertisement on its side, was just one of several parts of the show fans felt missed its mark.
“It’s hyped up a lot, and I think that it’s the same thing a lot every year,” sophomore letters and sciences major Adam Hammer said. “The only real difference is what the teams decide to do. The men’s basketball team’s dance this year was just – it wasn’t good.”
“I thought it was entertaining,” sophomore marketing major Max Tartar said. “I thought that Gymkana was the best part of the night, and, I mean, the rest was pretty good.”
The men’s basketball team’s entrance was subdued compared to last year’s, when the Terps rolled in on a vintage Cadillac.
The Terps simply jogged onto the court in the dark this year, wearing sunglasses and sport coats over their uniforms.
After a few choreographed minutes, the Terps formed a circle around individual and small groups of players who danced in the middle.
Guard Greivis Vasquez got the most screams when he took off his jacket and gyrated in the middle first. He later pointed to the Terps’ national championship banner in the rafters.
“That’s what I want,” Vasquez said. “Hopefully we get this before I leave school.”
The men reappeared later for their traditional individual introductions, jogging down the aisles of the stands and onto the court, where they each dunked on one of the hoops. Forward Dave Neal, the Terps’ only senior this year, came down last.
“I was just hoping nobody tripped,” Williams said.
Williams then made his entrance and addressed the crowd with a promise for the upcoming season.
“We’re going to be tough; we’re going to play hard,” Williams said. “Our pledge to you is to come out here every night playing as hard as we can.”
The Terps didn’t play very hard defensively in their intrasquad scrimmage, and poor shooting and sloppy passing bogged down the game before the team started to settle in.
Forward Dino Gregory and guard Sean Mosley each threw down dunks on alley-oop passes, and forward Landon Milbourne led all scorers with 9 points, including an emphatic slam in transition, in the red team’s 27-26 win.
The women’s team went with an even darker approach earlier in the night, marching onto the floor in white hockey masks similar to Jason’s in Friday the 13th, black tank tops, camouflage pants and army boots, then dancing at midcourt.
But the crowd seemed to lose interest when the Terps stomped and marched some more at center court without music.
The performance picked up when the Terp women ripped off their masks and also formed a big circle as individual players showed off their moves in the center.
The women’s players were later introduced as they ran through a fog machine and laser light show.
Coach Brenda Frese then addressed the crowd, giving fans credit for the Terps’ undefeated record at home last season. She followed with a charge to the students about answering Duke coach’s Joanne P. McCallie’s comments last season about Terp fans’ “turtle IQ.”
Before that, the Terrapin dance team, spirit squad, competitive cheer team and the Gymkana troupe did not disappoint.
The three-time defending national champion competitive cheer team drew huge cheers from the crowd, flipping all over the place and tumbling and dancing in sync.
Gymkana’s high-flying trampoline act whipped the crowd into its biggest frenzy, culminating when the troupe’s best leapers flew over six girls lying on top of each other on the vault and then flew through, and finally over, a ring of fire.
The basketball teams just weren’t as exciting.
“It wasn’t as good as the last couple of years,” junior neurobiology and physiology major Sasha Sood said. “Hopefully, the men’s and women’s teams can play better than they dance.”
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