Last season the Maryland Terrapins had an abundance of potential senior leadership. Johnny Rhodes, Duane Simpkins and Exree Hipp had the talent and the experience to warrant high expectations. But when the team struggled, none of the seniors stepped up, and the Terps fell short of their goals. This year, the burden of leadership falls squarely on the shoulders of senior forward Keith Booth, and he's not going to shrug it off.
Booth, a three-time all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection, leads by example, and his dedication to the game is obvious. Since coming to Maryland, he has started every game of his 94-game career. He is on pace to break nearly every school record for games played and started.
"[Keith] has been a tough player for us, never missed a practice in three years," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "I think this year people will really get a chance to see just how good he is."
Booth seems to have the perfect attitude for a player in his position.
"My role will change from the past," Booth said. "I am not coming out and trying to carry the team all by myself, [but] if I feel as though I have to, that's what I'll do... It'll be a total team effort if we want to be successful."
Though he only stands 6-foot-6, Booth has played his first three seasons at Maryland as a power forward, mostly matching up against players with a significant size advantage on him. Remarkably, Booth collected a career low 100 fouls last season and fouled out only five times over the year.
"After three years of banging with the big guys you get used to that," Booth said.
But with the makeup of this year's Maryland team, Williams has decided to move Booth to the small forward position. Junior Rodney Elliot and sophomore Brian Watkins, a transfer from Notre Dame, will split the duties at power forward.
"We'll be able to play [Keith] a lot more at the small forward," Williams said. "Keith will be able to show off his ball handling ability and hopefully his ability to shoot the outside shot."
Booth is not troubled by the move. He considers himself to be a player who never really got caught up in positions and relishes the opportunity to show off new aspects of his game. Booth expects to play this year facing the basket more and sees no problem dealing with the quickness of smaller players. In fact, Booth's size is closer to that of the prototypical small forward than the power forward position he has played.
Fortunately for Booth, he shouldn't have to carry the offensive load the whole season. When the Terps struggled last year, Williams turned to his young players to inject some energy into what was becoming a lifeless team.
"We had to retool just to get to the NCAA Tournament," Williams said.
Three players in particular got increased playing time: center Obinna Ekezie and guards Laron Profit and Terell Stokes. Their freshman experience should save them from a rough transition at the beginning of this season.
Ekezie, a native of Nigeria, will be playing only his fourth year of competitive basketball. The mammoth center, who slimmed down a bit in the off-season, started 18 games for Maryland last season.
"He's been a quick learner," Williams said. "He played soccer so he has great feet, [and] he's always on balance. He seems to be catching the ball a lot better this year."
Profit, a shooting guard, displayed his offensive prowess in the second half of last year. In his final 10 games, he averaged 9.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Laron's 19-point performance helped Maryland eliminate Duke from the first round of the ACC Tournament.
Stokes will handle the point guard duties and hope to build on his impressive freshman effort. A true point guard, he looks to pass the ball before he thinks of shooting. Last season, Stokes ranked second in the ACC to Georgia Tech senior Drew Barry in assists to minutes played.
While scoring at Maryland should not be a problem, the Terps recognize the need to improve on last year's dreadful defensive play-Maryland had the worst field goal percentage defense in the ACC.
"Until last year I took a lot of pride in our defense," Williams said. "But I think we can get that back."
Williams sees the ACC race as a tight one this year, with one or two teams at the top, and six teams, including Maryland, battling for a postseason invitation.
As for Booth, he doesn't mind the fact that predictions of success at Maryland are not as high as in years past.
"Since I've been at the University of Maryland I've had the opportunity to be on both sides of that," Booth said. "When I came in as a freshman, we weren't picked to do as well, but we wound up going to the Sweet 16 that year. Where you're picked at the beginning of the year-first or eighth-it doesn't matter. What really matters is the work that you're willing to put forth."
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