The Maryland Terrapins’ men’s basketball team saw their regular season come to an end with a 65-64 buzzer beater loss against the Penn State Nittany Lions at State College. The Terps sit at 20-11 on the season, their 11-9 conference record good for sixth in the Big Ten. As such, they’ll have a first round bye in the Big Ten tournament this week, set to play the winner of Wednesday’s game between Nebraska and Minnesota the following day.
While their conference record is far from stellar, it’s a testament to the strength of the Big Ten. It’s been a dogfight all season, with each team struggling to make themselves stand out from the pack. Purdue is ranked No. 5 in the nation, the lone team to be more than four games above .500 in conference play. Maryland beat Purdue at home in February, boat racing the Boilermakers 68-54.
We’ve seen this story play out before, however, with the Big Ten lauded all season for its competitiveness before failing to make an impact when the calendar turns to March.
As of right now, the state of Maryland’s DraftKings sportsbooks lists the Terps at +650 to win the Big Ten, better than their regular season margin as it’s good for fourth in the conference: DraftKings’ Maryland promo code is available to bet on Maryland’s men basketball.
Including the loss to Penn State, Maryland closed the season on a two game losing streak: they fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road to split the season series.
ESPN currently projects the Terps as an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’re a borderline lock to go dancing, but we’ll have to wait until Selection Sunday on the 12th to see exactly how the field shakes out: not all paths to basketball immortality are created equally, and the way the brackets are set up could play a big role in how deep of a run Maryland makes.
The eventual epitaph on the Terps’ regular season depends on how they fare in the conference and NCAA tournaments. If they struggle in one or both, those losses against tough teams will become a harrowing sign of things to come for a team out of its depth. Should they go on a deep tournament run, they’ll become the gut check moment that showed the team exactly what was at stake.
The Terps are capable of making a deep run: when it comes to a resume, it’s hard to argue against top five wins. Which version of Maryland shows up in the tournament remains to be seen.
Recently, the Terrapins saw four of their players receive recognition for their performance this season. Guard Jahmir Young was named to the All-Big Ten second team by both the media and coaches, while Hakim Hart, Donta Scott and Julian Reese were honorable mentions.
Women’s Basketball: Recent News
Of course, the men’s team aren’t the only Terrapins with a chance at postseason glory: with a pair of basketball teams set to play in the NCAA Tournament, these are exciting times for Maryland fans. The women’s team made their tournament as a four seed, and they’ll host the first two rounds at College Park.
The Terrapins just missed out on a chance to play for the Big Ten title, falling to Iowa in the semifinals last weekend.
They had six players earn All-Big Ten honors, including power forward Angel Reese, one of the best in the nation at her position. After struggling with injuries for much of the regular season, the Terps are getting healthy at just the right time, and it’s hard to beat the opportunity to play a pair of playoff games at home.
They’ll face Delaware to open the tournament.