Good Enough to Be Great : The Inside Story of Maryland Basketball's National Championship Season

Michael Wilbon, from the Foreword
... Nobody knew this team better than Josh.... He knows the story inside and out. And it's an amazing story.

Dick Vitale, ESPN
If you like basketball and enjoy big-time college hoops competition, you will enjoy this read.

Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News
Josh Barr recounts the 2002 Maryland Terps' special season with unmatched eloquence and insight.

Book Description
With cooperation from Williams and his star players, this book sets up the tournament run with several heart-wrenching tales of overcoming adversity, expectations and even tragedy.

From the Publisher
The 2001-02 season was a magical one for the Maryland basketball team, culminating in the school's first-ever NCAA title. But as Washington Post sportswriter Josh Barr reveals in Good Enough to Be Great, it was never an easy road. Barr, who has spent four years on the Maryland beat, had unrivaled access to Terrapin coaches and players, and here he provides the extraordinary behind-the-scenes story of Maryland's rise to glory. This was a season marked by daunting expectations, unwanted distractions, even tragedy. Barr shows how the Terrapins coped with it all-from the devastating phone call Coach Gary Williams received before the biggest game of the year to the shocking news that the brother of starting forward Byron Mouton had been murdered. He also reveals how, under Williams's leadership, players most observers had sneered at became the best team in college basketball. Barr offers keen insight into just what separated the Terrapins from every other team in the country-and from previous Maryland teams that always came up short. Along the way, we get riveting portraits of unlikely All-American Juan Dixon, who in high school lost both parents to drug-related AIDS; standout center Lonny Baxter, once considered too short and too chubby to play big-time college basketball; sophomore Chris Wilcox, the amazingly talented but frustratingly inconsistent forward; fiery Gary Williams, the coach who, many critics had said, could never win the big one; and many others. Good Enough to Be Great is a remarkable story of talent and determination at college basketball's highest levels.

About the Author
Josh Barr has been a sportswriter for the Washington Post for seven years, including four seasons covering University of Maryland athletics. He played tennis at Lafayette College but still fondly remembers walking across campus on cold nights to play pickup basketball in the old Memorial Gym. Josh and Jodi live in Bethesda, Maryland, with their dog, Schad.


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"The call went out from Room 556 of the Renaissance Hotel: Get in here. Now. Players only." "It was the night before the 2002 NCAA basketball tournament was to begin. The Maryland Terrapins were a number-one seed, one of the favorites. But senior guard Juan Dixon knew something was wrong - the players too confident, some guys putting themselves before the team." "During the twenty-minute team meeting, only Dixon spoke. He went through every player, outlining each man's role for the next three weeks. All season long, the Terrapins had had only one goal: a national championship. They were going to straighten things out now, before it was too late." "The 2001-02 season was a magical one for the Maryland basketball team, culminating in the school's first-ever NCAA title. But as Washington Post sportswriter Josh Barr reveals in Good Enough to Be Great, it was never an easy road." "This was a season marked by daunting expectations, unwanted distractions, even tragedy. Barr shows how the Terrapins coped with it all - from the devastating phone call Coach Gary Williams received before the biggest game of the year to the shocking news that the brother of starting forward Byron Mouton had been murdered." "He also reveals how, under Williams's leadership, players most observers had sneered at became the best team in college basketball. Barr offers keen insight into just what separated the Terrapins from every other team in the country - and from previous Maryland teams that always came up short." Along the way, we get portraits of unlikely All-American Juan Dixon, who in high school lost both parents to drug-related AIDS; standout center Lonny Baxter, once considered too short and too chubby to play big-time college basketball; sophomore Chris Wilcox, the amazingly talented but frustratingly inconsistent forward; fiery Gary Williams, the coach who, many critics had said, could never win the big one; and many others.


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