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'I like Maryland'

Lefty downplays matchup with Terrapins

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At age 69, Georgia State head coach Charles 'Lefty' Driesell is leading his fourth team to an NCAA tourney. AP

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Lefty Driesell doesn't resent the way he was forced out of Maryland 15 years ago.

He harbors no ill will toward the school he spent 17 years building into a basketball powerhouse only to be sent away following Len Bias' death, a tragedy that still gnaws at him every day.

"The only bitterness I have is Leonard's death," Driesell, the Georgia State head coach, said Friday on the eve of a second-round showdown against third-seeded Maryland. "I wish I would have been with him. I loved Len Bias and I miss him. I think about him almost every day."

But even though he won't admit to it, the ol' left-hander must be relishing the opportunity to play the Terrapins for the first time since left the school.

He was forced out at Maryland in 1986 when Bias died from a cocaine overdose shortly after he was drafted in the first round by the Boston Celtics.

An investigation found academic deficiencies in the basketball program and drug use among athletes. There also were charges that Driesell hindered the police probe into Bias' death, though a grand jury took no action.

"I never agreed with the idea that Lefty was responsible for Len Bias' death," Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. "I never figured that one out. They had to blame someone."

Hindsight's 20/20 When Lefty Driesell dropped by Maryland's practice before the ACC tournament last week, it wasn't supposed to be a scouting trip. But with Driesell's Georgia State team playing Maryland in Saturday's second-round game, it just might have been. "I'm sorry I let him," Maryland head coach Gary Williams said jokingly. "I'm sure he picked up a couple of things in his brief time there." Driesell only stayed long enough to wish the Terrapins luck and talk with assistant coaches Billy Hahn and Dave Dickerson, who played for Driesell at Maryland. While most of the current Terps were barely walking when Driesell left Maryland in 1986, they are still aware of his influence at the school. "We weren't aware at that time that we were going to be playing Georgia State," guard Drew Nicholas said. "We're all pretty much aware of coach Driesell and his past at Maryland. He was able to get to the Elite Eight twice but right now, we're not focused on the past."

Driesell, for his part, has moved on. After sitting out two years, he was hired by James Madison. He spent eight seasons with the Dukes, winning five regular-season championships and making the NCAAs in 1994.

But he was fired in 1997, and ended up at Georgia State, a commuter school in Atlanta that only had three winning seasons in its first 35 years.

Driesell has put together four consecutive winning seasons, and has the 11th-seeded Panthers (29-4) into the second round of the NCAA West Regional against third-seeded Maryland (22-10).

"Y'all trying to make something out of nothing," Driesell said. "I got a paycheck from Maryland for 17 years and they paid me for nine more after I left. I like Maryland. They bought me a house on the beach, a boat and a car. I have nothing against Maryland.

"But tomorrow night when we tip it up, we're going to war. It's just a basketball game. Y'all make it out to be some vendetta. It's a basketball game and it's going to last 40 minutes. Someone's going to win and someone's going to lose. After the game, we'll kiss and hug each other."

But his players, lured to Georgia State in part because of Driesell's successful tenure at Maryland, know the game has special meaning -- even if Driesell won't admit it.

"I really want to get us a win for coach," said point guard Kevin Morris, Driesell's first recruit after transferring from Georgia Tech. "Whenever you play a school, you used to be at, you really want to win. He tries to downplay it, but I know in the back of his mind that he really wants to beat them."

Driesell talks about his Maryland days with his new players, using Bias' death as a lesson to stay away from drugs and Buck Williams' tenacity as a tool to show how to play basketball.

He doesn't talk about his departure, although his players know it didn't come on his own terms.

"It definitely will be significant for him if we can come away with a win," said Shernard Long, who scored the game-winning basket in the Panthers' 50-49 first-round upset against Wisconsin. "I don't know how much he is concentrating on it because he hides his emotions a lot. But it would be special for him."

Hampton (25-6), the surprise of the tournament after upending second-seeded Iowa State in the first round, plays 10th-seeded Georgetown (24-7) in Saturday's second game.

The Pirates became the darlings of Boise, with their raucous band and wild celebration following their 58-57 win against second-seeded Iowa State. Hampton became just the fourth No. 15 seed to win a game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

"I think we kind of shocked the nation," said Tarvis Williams, whose basket with 6.9 seconds left won it for Hampton. "It wasn't a shock to us."

The Hoyas had to survive themselves, beating Arkansas 63-61 on Nat Burton's buzzer-beater.

 

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