LOVERRO: Mark Turgeon set to meet his biggest challenge yet as Maryland’s mountain man

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Let’s remember something about Maryland coach Mark Turgeon — they had to find him on a mountain.

That’s where the legend of Mark Turgeon and Maryland basketball began — deep in the Pennsylvania woods, away from all human contact. Well, at least cellphone service.

But when Turgeon finally came off the mountain, he met with Terps athletic director Kevin Anderson, who, after being turned down by Sean Miller at Arizona for the Maryland job — left vacant by the retirement of Gary Williams — declared that Turgeon is a “man who is not intimidated by anybody in college basketball.”

Mountain man. Not intimidated by anyone.

I bring up these things because I think, after listening to Turgeon in press conferences since being hired in 2011, including his postgame comments following the win over Hawaii, when he expressed his distaste over having to face his former school, Kansas, in the Sweet 16 Thursday, that maybe we think that maybe Turgeon isn’t up to the job.

“I hate that I have to play Kansas,” Turgeon told TBS. “I’m just glad we’re there. They’re the best team in the country. We’re just excited to be in the game.”

That doesn’t sound like mountain man who fears no one.

Turgeon, though, is a throwback — a guy who you have to judge by substance and not style.

Mark Turgeon’s substance shows he will measure up to the moment Thursday in Louisville. He’s doesn’t hate that he has to play Kansas. He isn’t just glad his team is there. He isn’t just excited to be in the game.

He wants to beat everyone.

“He’s competitive to a fault, unfortunately,” his wife Ann told reporters when Turgeon was hired. “Sometimes he can’t drop it. I beat him a couple times in backgammon when we were first married and now he won’t play me anymore. If that’s his biggest fault, then that’s a good thing.”

I bring all this up because the whispers have already started about whether Turgeon is really a good coach — whether or not he is Gary Williams.

Turgeon knew that challenge the day he was hired — following the Hall of Fame coach who left no doubt with both his style and substance that he was Maryland basketball.

“Gary Williams was Maryland basketball,” Turgeon said. “And I hope 15 years from now, 20 years, however long this lasts, that you’re going to say Mark Turgeon was Maryland basketball.”

Thursday could be the beginning of that conversation.

Turgeon built winning basketball programs at Wichita State, where he went 128-90 over seven seasons, with one trip to the tournament, and at Texas A&M, where he went 97-40 and took the school to four straight NCAA postseason appearances. He has done everything anyone could have expected from him since taking the Maryland job. He had to weather the dramatic change from leaving the ACC and moving to the Big Ten — something he reportedly was not thrilled about. After three seasons with a 59-43 record, no NCAA tournament appearances and a mass exodus of players, Turgeon’s job was reportedly already in jeopardy.

Then came last year’s 28-7 record and a return to the tournament, followed by this year’s 27 victories and Maryland’s first trip back to the Sweet 16 in 13 seasons.

So far, he has met every challenge and beat them all.

Larry Brown, who coached Turgeon when he played college basketball at Kansas and later hired him as a coaching assistant at Kansas and the Philadelphia 76ers, told reporters upon the hiring of Turgeon at Maryland that he is “right up there” with some of Brown’s former assistants when it comes to basketball knowledge — including Kansas coach Bill Self.

“Five minutes after the first practice, kids at Maryland will know he can coach,” Brown told reporters.

Five years after he was introduced to succeed Gary Williams, we should all know by now that Mark Turgeon can coach — and is up to the task facing him Thursday.

“My style of play is winning,” said the man who came down from the mountain to climb another one, replacing Gary Williams and putting Maryland basketball back on the map.

It is also his substance as well.

• Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.