Maryland takes a risk on a talented player with troubled past (cont.)

Evans was averaging 17.6 points per game for Butler before he had a falling out with coach Randy Smithson, whom Evans said was "real crazy" and impatient over the amount of time it was taking him to grasp the nuances of the triangle offense. Smithson announced on Jan. 9, 2007, just 15 games into the season, that Evans had been dismissed from the team, saying, "We didn't feel like we were getting all [we asked] from Tyree." While the dismissal remains the official characterization of the events at Butler, and Smithson (who has since retired) did not return calls for this story, a source close to the situation told SI.com that Evans' teammates had voted him off the squad after he returned late from winter break and disrupted team chemistry.

Evans served his jail time in the summer of 2007 before heading to Motlow, where he was given a roster spot by Steinburg, who grew up in Richmond and whose endorsement of Evans would aid his admission to Maryland. After spending a season coaching Evans in Tennessee, Steinburg is one of the future Terp's staunchest supporters, and he warned that "There's more to Tyree than meets the eye. If anybody deserves a second chance, he does. He never gave me any reason to worry, and he has truly grown up -- that's what I explained to Maryland."

According to the Times-Dispatch, Evans was involved in one physical altercation at Motlow; he told the paper that he had slammed teammate Cliff Dixon, a former prep star from Suitland, Md., to the locker room floor during halftime of a game. Steinburg, though, told SI.com he had not been alarmed by the incident, dismissing it as a standard dispute that might happen "in any team's locker room."

Much intrigue surrounds Evans' impending debut at Maryland this winter, where, if all goes well, Byrnes believes the well-traveled shooting guard will be a player who will show "he's capable of making money playing basketball down the road." Evans says some of his former peers from the high-school classes of '04 and '05 have been asking about him: "I talked to Andray Blatche [now of the Washington Wizards] and Corey Brewer [of the Minnesota Timberwolves] and they were like, 'Man, where you at? You're supposed to be out here with us.' I told them both, I'll be there."

Clearly Evans needs to thrive at Maryland to reach his dream of playing professional basketball, but does Maryland need him badly enough to justify the risk? The Terrapins ranked 219th in the nation in three-point percentage (33.8) last season, when they went 19-15 and were relegated to the NIT. And Williams has had some success with junior-college projects, particularly Steve Francis and current senior Bambale Osby, another Richmond product -- but none of the Terps' previous juco transfers have had criminal histories like Evans'. His commitment in April sparked spirited debate amongst Maryland fans on the TurtleSportsReport.com message boards, with the tone of user posts ranging from, "Our on-the-court problems are way too embarrassing right now to worry about off-the-court problems," to the flip-side, stating that a scholarship offer to Evans "seems like a copout by [Williams], one that tarnishes our university's reputation."

The nature of Maryland's recruiting since winning a title in 2002 hints at an identity crisis, in that Williams is a national-championship coach, but has not brought in the same caliber of talent as other champs from this decade. Of those other title teams -- Syracuse, UConn, North Carolina, Florida and Kansas -- none have suited up multiple juco transfers, much less a recruit with a past that compares to Evans', since winning their respective championships. (The Jayhawks, for the record, signed two juco players for 2008-09, Mario Little and Tyrone Appleton, but neither have criminal histories.)

Even within the ACC, using junior-college players is relatively rare: According to the Washington Times, the Terrapins and Florida State have each signed six juco recruits since 2002, while the rest of the conference has signed six combined. Repeatedly missing out on the incredible wealth of Maryland-grown talent -- local stars such as Texas' Kevin Durant, Kansas State's Michael Beasley, North Carolina's Tywon Lawson, Georgetown's Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, DaJuan Summers and Austin Freeman, and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony and Donte Greene -- has forced Williams to fill in gaps with two-year, rather than four-year, players, and Evans is the latest temporary solution.

Yow, in her statement to SI.com, said she would stand by Williams' assertion that Evans will be an asset to Maryland. "Whether talking with the admissions office, the Academic Committee or me, Coach Williams feels very strongly that Tyree deserves this chance and that Tyree will be a credit to the campus and to the team," she wrote. "Gary has been the Maryland head coach for 19 years and he has won a National Championship. Along with that tenure and success has come a degree of respect/equity, so that when he indicates that this is the right thing to do, people listen."

If Evans completes his remaining two years of eligibility at Maryland, he'll be 25 at the time of the 2010 NCAA tournament, in which he could be the eldest statesman of the dance. Williams must hope that this union formed out of mutual desperation -- the Terrapins' desperation to return to the NCAAs, buoyed by Evans' scoring power and his desperation to salvage his basketball career -- will not end badly. Because if it does, Maryland won't be able to argue that it didn't know what it was getting into, and Evans won't be able to easily find another college basketball destination. Williams is playing perhaps his highest-risk recruiting game, and Evans claims he is not going to let it blow up in his coach's face. Evans says he will treat his scholarship as a blessing. And all Maryland can do, now, is try its best to believe him.

"I know a lot of guys, back where I'm from, who would have given up," Evans said. "They would have said, 'What is this juco? I'm not going there.' But I never gave up. No matter how many times I've been through storms, I never gave up my dream. And I'm just happy now, because everybody can't say they got a second chance from the Lord, with life. The Lord notices a good guy when he sees one."