Post interview with Gary Williams and Duane Simpkins about the 1993 game. I thought this part was great.
Simpkins — now an assistant at George Mason — offered another reason. Moments like that 1993 game — memorable finishes against local rivals with large TV audiences and electric crowds — are part of what add texture and heft to a college basketball program, making it more than just an annual collection of changing faces. He compared a meaningful local rivalry to his own feelings about Len Bias; something that is now burned into his sense of the program.
“There was a generation or two that was lost, of local kids that had no remembrance of that [rivalry],” he said. “Because they didn’t renew the rivalry, didn’t keep it going year in and year out, [today’s players] have no concept of it. … When you put on that Maryland jersey, you’re not just representing your team at that point in time; you’re representing the Tom McMillens and Walt Williamses and Joe Smiths and Buck Williamses of the world. … I cried when Len Bias died. I still get chills when I hear his name. In order to have that team pride, that program pride, you’ve got to have something that really resonates.”
https://www.washingt...ryland-matters/
