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The Maryland men's basketball team can advance to its first Sweet 16 since 2003 with a win against Hawaii in the NCAA Tournament's second round on Sunday night.
The Terps and Rainbow Warriors will tip at 7 p.m. on TBS from Spokane Arena in – you guessed it – Spokane, Wash.
2003 was a long time ago. Your faithful correspondent on this post was 8 years old. It was the first month of the United States' war in Iraq. Rod Blagojevich had just been sworn in as the fresh-faced governor of Illinois. Perhaps even more jarring, the Maryland football program was coming off an 11-win season.
Maryland's Sweet 16 drought is now old enough to have a Bar Mitzvah. That's the long subtext behind a relatively simple task ahead: If the Terps win this game, they'll get to hang a banner in Xfinity Center and have at least one legitimate achievement under their belt for the 2015-16 season. They'll get a shot at Kansas, the tournament's top overall seed, for the right to play for the right to play in the Final Four. It's a significant but straightforward thing.
Enjoy it all, and talk about it here.