Two Great Careers Come to an End

This wasn't the way it was supposed to end for Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman. They were supposed to be riding out into the sunset in St. Louis. They were supposed to lead a team of destiny back to glory. A national title banner was supposed to be raised right next to the numbers 20 and 25.

Unfortunately, fairy tale endings don't always come true.

Instead the two seniors had to watch teary-eyed as former Maryland assistant Jeff Walz and Louisville cut down the nets in celebration of their first ever final four birth.

There couldn't have been a more abrupt ending to Maryland's season or to the careers of Toliver and Coleman. After the Vanderbilt comeback win it really looked as if this was a team of destiny. But as it turned out that game was just the beginning of the end for the Terps. Playing from behind for an entire 40 minutes really took it's toll on the team mentally and physically. To be asked to pull off a similar comeback two days later was just too much.

Time and time again over the course of the season, Toliver and Coleman had to put the team on their shoulders. Their play over the second half of the season was nothing shy of remarkable. When one wasn't quite up to par the other stepped up even more. It was only about time when the two of them had off-games on the same night. Unfortunately that had to happen at the most critical point of the season.

But give credit to Louisville. They played a bruising, physical brand of basketball that exposed weaknesses in the run-and-gun, finesse basketball that the Terps play. And the man who helped recruit Coleman and Toliver made it his priority to stop the stars and make someone else beat him. The Terps didn't have anyone who could answer the bell.

What makes this loss so tough is that the Terps were at this exact point last year and couldn't complete the mission. There probably wasn't any way Maryland could've stopped Candace Wiggins and a Stanford team who played perfectly. But this year they were more talented than Louisville but had an off-game. Being the number one seed two consecutive years and falling one game shy of the final four each time has to be heartbreaking.

For Terps fans this loss has to be tougher than last year's because it marks the end of an era. Now the entire starting five from the 2006 national championship team is gone (it's unbelievable that all five will have made it to the NBA). Next year's team doesn't have any returning all-Americans or a player who's made a buzzer-beating shot in a national championship game. It will be a good team but not one ready to get to a final four. And on top of that Terps fans are losing the two faces of Maryland women's basketball. As great as Shay Doron, Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper were, it was always Toliver and Coleman who the fans so deeply admired and idolized.

Nonetheless it's been an amazing ride for these two. Hopefully they keep their heads up, they should be so proud of what they accomplished at Maryland. They have helped establish a Maryland basketball program that should be a mainstay as a national powerhouse for years to come. They will do big things in the WNBA. By the way congrats to Toliver for making the all-American first team. It's a travesty that Coleman wasn't on that team also. The voters must've completely missed the Maryland-Vanderbilt regional final.

For me it's tough to think that I won't get the chance to cover women's basketball anymore. More specifically I won't get to watch these two play together. It truly has been a pleasure watching and covering the games they play.

Thank you all for checking out our blog and listening in to the broadcasts. Tune in for women's basketball on WMUC next season.