It's been a little more than a day since the Maryland basketball team hit rock bottom with a loss at home to American.

Well, at least rock bottom as it is presently constituted and understood. Things could still regress, and I'm not sure there's many fans that think they won't get worse.

An editor asked me at the under-four timeout in the second half when the last time Maryland suffered such a bad loss under Gary Williams. I mumbled that I didn't know, but that wasn't exactly true. I knew it had never really been this low, not even during the probation years when only the folks who showed up at Cole Field House got to see the proceedings because of the one-season television ban.

Another editor came up with a list for tomorrow's print edition detailing the five worst losses under Gary. The usual suspects are there: American, Coppin State (1989), the 2000 NCAA tournament rout against UCLA, Gone in 54 Seconds (vs. Duke in 2001), Florida State (2001).

But as much of a train wreck as yesterday's game was, it was also jarring. The team that lost to Coppin State wasn't coming off a great season, and those Coppin teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s were pretty good. The UCLA loss, ugly as it turned out to be, was the end of a surprisingly good season during which walk-on Matt Hahn was the only senior on the roster.

No one likes to be reminded of those games, but they didn't shake the external perception of the program quite like these 10 defeats. It's a list rooted mostly in recent events, but in reality the expectations were much, much different in the early days of Gary's tenure than after NCAA tournament berths became a regular occurrence.

10. Santa Clara 91, Maryland 79, March 15, 1996: This is more a nod to the 1995-96 season. The Terps lost Joe Smith to the NBA Draft, and senior Exree Hipp regressed into a middling player. There was enough talent for a third straight trip to the Sweet 16, but plenty of things derailed Maryland before a Canadian point guard named Steve Nash pushed the plunger on the Terps in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

7A, 7B, 7C: Clemson 88, Maryland 73, Feb. 1, 2005; Clemson 97, Maryland 93, Feb. 22, 2005; Clemson 84, Maryland 72, March 10, 2005: Three losses to Clemson more than trumped a pair of victories over Duke and doomed the Terps to missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993. It was tough to believe Maryland was only three years removed from a national title, especially after it was bounced in the first game of the ACC tournament just 10 miles from campus.

6. Manhattan 87, Maryland 84, March 18, 2006: An 11 a.m. tip. A 75 percent empty Comcast Center. A tournament Gary Williams tried his darnedest to decline an invitation to. And a team that would have been better served to produce a tent-packing seminar in the woods than in a nationally televised game against a Metro Atlantic team. Fortunately, very few people were watching a rancid display of basketball. Unfortunately, I was. So while this NIT loss ultimately wasn't damaging so much as humiliating, it makes my list out of spite.

5. North Carolina 102, Maryland 66, March 12, 1993: Gary talks sometimes about how he was fortunate to get as much time as he did to turn things around. If ever there was a temptation to think about a change, it might have come after the Terps were run out of the Charlotte Coliseum by the eventual national champions. The result was no surprise with such a young team and capped a 12-16 season that featured a victory in the Les Robinson Invitational for the second straight year. But a season-ending 36-point loss will leave a mark.

4. St. John's 76, Maryland 62, March 18, 1999: Know who was really good as a college player? Steve Francis. And if ever Maryland was finally going to shed the tag of "best program never to reach a Final Four," it was going to come with Francis dunking all over the place. But instead, the Terps were dissected in the regional semifinals and some fans were permanently convinced Williams would never win the big one.

3. Duke 98, Maryland 96, Jan. 27, 2001: The Blue Devils' comeback from 10 down with 54 seconds left in regulation --- hence "Gone in 54 Seconds," a sign that popped up a few days later when the Terps were trounced by Virginia at University Hall --- was truly impressive. And it was also discombobulating to the Terps, who spent the next couple weeks in a daze. Officially, they lost five of six, capped off by ...

2. Florida State 74, Maryland 71, Feb. 14, 2001: Where to begin with College Park's answer to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre? There are so many searing memories from this game against a truly bad Seminoles ream. There was Florida State guard Delvon Arrington hopping onto the scorer's table to celebrate. There was Gary in his postgame radio remarks piped into the arena as he said "Thanks for coming. Thanks for booing." And there was his defiant stare as he stuck around to hear the alma mater.

The Terps then won 10 of 11 to reach their first-ever Final Four, and this night became a rallying cry for Gary anytime criticism was leveled at his program. "Well, I remember when we were booed off the floor against Florida State, and we came back and made the Final Four," is a tried-and-true Williams reply that could grow very stale in the coming months.

1. American 67, Maryland 59, Dec. 22, 2007: This should probably be paired with the 61-55 loss to Ohio 10 days earlier. The score is stunning, but it more than accurately reflected the game. The on-court ennui from players was galling, but it was not out of line with nearly the rest of the season.

Gary's decision to stick around for the alma mater was also eerily familiar, but guess what? Juan Dixon isn't walking through that door. Lonny Baxter isn't walking through that door. Steve Blake isn't walking through that door. And Maryland hasn't seen its last sub-60-point game this season; one more would make it four (UCLA, Ohio and American), which would be a single-season record under Gary. Maryland also has six losses before Christmas for the first time since 1949-50.

Is it rock bottom? Perhaps. But at this point, there won't be many more surprises even if the season devolves into a grislier mess. Barring an injury or a suspension, a dozen games is a fair sample to get a gauge of how good a team really is. And with all respect to reserve forward Dave Neal and his shoulder injury, it's not a good team and it has gotten worse in the last three weeks.

No one should be shocked by anything that happens from here on out, be it twin 30-point blowouts at Duke and North Carolina, another ridiculous home nonconference defeat (hello, Delaware and Savannah State) or simply a losing record. Nothing is off the table at this point. Nothing.

And if you've followed Maryland basketball for quite a while, that might be the most startling thing of all.

--- Patrick Stevens