ATLANTA (AP) -- For more than 20 minutes, Juan Dixon was nearly
invisible, a little man lost in the cavernous Georgia Dome.
Then, when Maryland needed him most in the NCAA championship
game, Dixon knocked down two of the biggest shots of the night
against Indiana.
No way he was going to let this title get away from the
Terrapins.
Dixon endured too much heartache in his life, losing both
parents to the drug culture. He heard too many people say this
skinny kid couldn't make it at a big school such as Maryland.
When the Terps were reeling, Dixon was there for them -- just as
he had been all season.
The All-American guard scored 18 points and made five steals
Monday night to propel Maryland to its first national title, 64-52
over Indiana.
After going 20:22 without scoring, Dixon made a 3-pointer that
put Maryland ahead to stay with 9:40 remaining, erasing the only
lead the Hoosiers had all night.
Then, with the look of a man on a mission, Dixon sank a fadeaway
jumper over his designated stopper, Indiana's Dane Fife. Maryland
steadily pulled away from that point, overcoming a sloppy
performance that threatened to ruin its first appearance in the
championship game.
"I was patient and let the game come to me," Dixon said. "I
can't put into words what this feels like."
When the horn sounded, he hurled the ball into the air and
collapsed to the court between teammates Lonny Baxter (260 pounds)
and Tahj Holden (247).
Somehow, Dixon's 165-pound body held up in the human sandwich.
"I may be small, but I'm not weak," he said a day before the
game. "I may be 165, but don't let it fool you."
Dixon scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes, then Fife
clamped down and Maryland struggled to get its dynamic transition
game in gear.
Dixon was part of the problem, committing seven turnovers.
Indiana's Jared Jeffries sent the huge crowd into a frenzy -- it was
definitely leaning toward the underdog -- when he slipped inside for
the basket that gave the Hoosiers a 44-42 lead with just under 10
minutes to go.
The advantage lasted only 13 seconds; Dixon made sure of that.
Appropriately, a fan held up a sign when it was over:
"Thanks Juan."
Dixon can thank basketball for providing the refuge to escape
his troubled life.
His mother, Juanita, often used heroin in the bathroom when
Dixon was growing up. His father, Phil, also was a heavy drug user
and spent part of his life in jail.
Both died of AIDS when Dixon was in high school. But he found
peers who could improve the quality of his life, and avoided the
temptation to hang out on the Baltimore streets that claimed his
parents.
"They got caught up in the wrong crowd," said Dixon, whose
parents' names, Nita and Phil, are tattooed on his left biceps.
Dixon wanted to play at Maryland, but when he came to the school
-- at 6-foot-3, but weighing just 150 pounds -- he was deemed too
frail to survive in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He spent his
first year as a redshirt freshman, and didn't start a game as a
sophomore.
Still, he finished as the leading scorer in the history of the
program, passing such greats as Len Bias and John Lucas. Dixon was
at his best in the last six games, scoring at least 27 points four
times in the NCAA tournament.
With his college career over and the NBA awaiting, Dixon gave
one of his biggest hugs to Maryland coach Gary Williams.
"He took a chance on me," Dixon said. "I love him for that."