ATLANTA – Anyone looking for the pivotal matchup in tonight’s national championship between Maryland and Indiana need search no further than shooting guards Juan Dixon and Dane Fife.
Dane Fife is IU’s defensive stopper, and has shut down some of the country’s best guards; but he’s never faced a challenge like Dixon. The All-American has scored more points than anybody in Maryland history and more than anybody in this year’s NCAA Tourney. But he hasn’t faced a pest so adept at getting into people’s heads and under their skins.
The private battle between these two driven seniors – the Baltimore kid who overcame a tragic past and a smallish 164-lb. frame to become lottery material vs. the self-confessed pain-in-the-posterior from Michigan who fell in love with the Hoosier mystique – will go a long way toward deciding who wins tonight’s 9:18 p.m. war in the Georgia Dome.
“I have the utmost respect for Juan Dixon. What he’s gone through in his life is amazing. Juan Dixon is a stud,” Fife said. “He’s the catalyst for Maryland basketball. He should be in the pros. This is definitely going to be the toughest challenge of my life and of our careers.”
Fife was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and needs just one steal to pass Steve Alford as the school’s all-time leader. He has a talent for frustrating foes, shutting out Notre Dame’s Matt Carroll earlier this year and holding OU star Hollis Price to six points on 1-for-11 shooting in Saturday’s semifinal.
But neither are as good as Dixon, of whom IU coach Mike Davis says is on a mission and is “probably the best player in the tournament.”
Terp coach Gary Williams labeled him the best player to come out of a program that produced Len Bias, Steve Francis, Len Elmore and both Buck and Walt Williams. His 33 points vs. Kansas are the most ever by a Terp in the Big Dance, and he’s on pace for the fourth-most ever in a single Tourney.
“I’m not worried at all, man I’m just going to go out and play my game. I’m not talking trash, but I have a lot of confidence in my abilities. If I play my game, play hard like I’ve been doing all year long, I think I’ll be fine.” said Dixon, who said after losing both his parents to AIDS, no amount of defense or chippy play should rattle him.