Big Ten schedule for Maryland basketball graded as third-easiest

After finishing below .500 in conference play for the second time in three seasons, head coach Kevin Willard and Maryland basketball project to face one of the easier slates in the conference.

BetOhio.com graded the difficulty of the Big Ten’s home & away schedule on a point system, grading Maryland’s conference slate as the third-easiest in the Big Ten.

Reference:

One point: home vs. ESPN top 25, On3 team transfer portal rankings top 25, 247 team recruiting rankings top 25
Two points: away vs. ESPN top 25, On3 team transfer portal rankings top 25, 247 team recruiting rankings top 25, 75%+ win @ home since 2021

Maryland graded with 33 points, the second-lowest score as Illinois and Indiana both tied with 32. Penn State narrowly edged out Ohio State for the conference’s toughest schedule with 44 and 43 points respectively, while Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, UCLA and USC all tied for the third-toughest schedule.

The Big Ten previously announced that Maryland will face Nebraska, Northwestern and Ohio State both home and away this season. Meanwhile, Maryland will host Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State, Rutgers, UCLA, USC and Wisconsin and travel to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue and Washington.

While the home conference schedule only features a pair of teams ranked inside ESPN’s preseason top 25, which slotted Maryland at 23 in its updated rankings, fans will look for an improved non-conference slate inside Xfinity Center with a potential matchup against Georgetown still swirling as a possibility. Maryland has previously announced a neutral site matchup against Villanova in the 2024 Empire Classic while they’re expected to face Syracuse in Brooklyn in December.

Maryland was one of five ranked teams in ESPN’s way-too-early rankings for the 2024-25 season, while Joe Lunardi has the Terps among his last four byes and drawing a ten-seed vs. Ole Miss in the latest preseason bracketology.

Full ranking:

Penn State: 44
Ohio State: 43
Michigan: 41
Minnesota: 41
UCLA: 41
USC: 41
Wisconsin: 41
Oregon: 38
Washington: 38
Purdue: 37
Iowa: 36
Michigan State: 36
Nebraska: 34
Northwestern: 34
Maryland: 33
Illinois: 32
Indiana: 32

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