College Park, Md. ? Maryland is making a second straight trip to the Final Four for countless reasons.

Among them the two-headed monster of seniors Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter, the athleticism of sophomore forward Chris Wilcox and the fiery intensity and defense of senior Byron Mouton.

A maryland fan waves a Maryland state flag during a sendoff. The men's basketball team departed College Park, Md., on Wednesday for this weekend's Final Four in Atlanta.

The man who holds the key to Maryland’s first national championship, however, is the man who holds the key to the Terps’ offense junior point guard Steve Blake.

Blake has been in the unfortunate situation of playing in the same conference as Duke point guard Jason Williams for the last three years. While Williams has grabbed the headlines, some would argue he’s not even the best point guard in his conference.

That would be Blake. Already the school’s all-time assists leader, Blake lives by the “pass first, pass second, shoot third maybe” motto.

He had more assists (272) this season than field goal attempts (225). Blake averaged 8.0 points per game, but he has a knack for taking his shots at just the right time like his dagger-in-the-heart three-pointer in the final minute of Maryland’s East Regional final win over Connecticut.

Blake’s experience in the tournament should assist him in his matchup with his Kansas freshman Aaron Miles.

If he can force Miles into some early turnovers, it would go a long way in slowing down KU’s high-powered offense.

The Terrapins will need Dixon and Baxter to have the kinds of games they’ve had the entire tournament, but if Blake runs the offense as he has all year pounding the ball inside to Baxter, finding Dixon for open jumpers or hitting Wilcox in the transition game the Terrapins could find themselves cutting down the nets in Atlanta on Monday.