June 8, 2004

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Terrapins were among college basketball's most-watched teams during the 2003-04 season, according to television ratings information provided by CBS and ESPN.

Head coach Gary Williams led his youthful Terrapin squad to an 11th-consecutive NCAA Tournament in 2004, making Maryland one of only five Division I teams to boast such a stretch. The Terps posted their eighth-straight 20-win season, and in one pulse-pounding weekend in March, defeated the No. 3 seed Wake Forest, No. 2 NC State and No. 1 seed Duke to capture the 2004 ACC Tournament -- the first for the Terps since 1984.

The television numbers add to the hallmarks of Terrapin success under Williams. For the second-consecutive season, Maryland will finish in the national Top 5 for home attendance, as the Terps averaged a sell-out crowd of 17,950 in each of their 16 home basketball games this season (attendance figures are forthcoming from the NCAA). Earlier this season, Maryland was recognized in a national study by a University of Michigan professor to be one of the five most recognizable and popular programs in college basketball. The top five teams, in terms of fan interest, were found to be: Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Maryland and UCLA.

The Terps' high-energy, high-octane style of play, plus the team's propensity for coming back when several contests looked out of reach, made for quality entertainment -- as evidenced by the following TV ratings figures.

[All ESPN games are based on a universe of 89,000,000 households. All CBS games are based on a universe of 108,400,000 households.]

NCAA TOURNAMENT
Maryland's matchup with Syracuse marked only the third time in NCAA Tournament history, and the first time since 1995, that the previous two national champions faced each other. That game, which shared the same broadcast window with St. Joseph's vs. Texas Tech and Stanford vs. Alabama, rated as the sixth most-watched broadcast of the entire 2004 NCAA Tournament, and rated as the third most watched broadcast not including the three Final Four games. More than nine million households were tuned in during that broadcast window.

Date	  Game	             Ranking   Rating   Approx. No. of Households Viewing
Mar. 20	  MD vs. Syracuse       6       7.70     8,346,800

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
Maryland's victory over Duke in the 2004 ACC Tournament title game was the most-watched basketball game during "Championship Week" on ESPN. During that week, ESPN and ESPN2 combined to air 56 total games, and the Maryland-Duke game rated No. 1.

Date	  Game	             Ranking   Rating   Approx. No. of Households Viewing
Mar. 14	  MD vs. Duke	        1       2.33     2,073,700

REGULAR SEASON
Three of Maryland's games ranked in the Top 10 of all of ESPN's college basketball regular-season broadcasts, with two of those contests being played at Comcast Center.

Date	  Game	             Ranking   Rating   Approx. No. of Households Viewing
Jan. 21	  Duke at MD	        3       1.81     1,610,900
Jan. 14	  UNC at MD	        8       1.61     1,432,900
Dec. 10	  MD at Florida	        9       1.56     1,388,400

MARYLAND VS. DUKE
The Terps' rivalry with Duke continues to make for popular viewing, as more than six million total households combined to watch the three matchups in 2003-04.

Date	  Game	             Network   Rating   Approx. No. of Households Viewing
Jan. 21	  Duke at MD          ESPN      1.81     1,610,900
Feb. 22	  MD at Duke          CBS       2.20     2,384,800
Mar. 14	  MD vs. Duke (ACC)   ESPN      2.33     2,073,700