Maryland men’s basketball found itself four points shy of their first AP ranking in nearly two years despite being the only Big Ten team ranked inside the top-15 in the NET, KenPom, EvanMiya and Torvik. Still, one week after placing Maryland tenth in his conference power rankings, BTN analyst Andy Katz made a strong claim for Kevin Willard’s squad after watching them take down Syracuse in Brooklyn.
“I saw them on Saturday in-person at Barclays – they absolutely obliterated Syracuse. Derik Queen is one of the top three to four freshmen in the country – Kevin Willard, their coach, says he’s number one, saying he’s over Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper. But hey, he’s one of the best. Their guard play with Selton Miguel, transfer from South Florida, Rodney Rice, transfer from Virginia Tech, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, transfer from Belmont, some of the best guards in the country that have come together. Maybe not individually, but as a unit. Julian Reese playing off of Queen, he’s a secondary, third, fourth guy and yet he has All-Big Ten kind of caliber.”
Maryland landed as high as 13th by Philadelphia Inquirer writer Jeff Neiburg, one of seven writers to include the Terps inside the top-20. While eight voters slotted the Terps at 24th, in the end, 33 voters -- including Dick Vitale, Jon Rothstein, Jeff Borzello and Jeff Rabjons -- didn't vote for Maryland to be included.
The argument against Maryland’s inclusion inside the top-25 is clear: strength of schedule. Maryland ranks 323rd in KenPom's strength of schedule rating -- the third-worst among high major teams behind Texas and Missouri –while the neutral site wins against Villanova and Syracuse currently serve as Quad Two and Quad Three wins. Maryland also sits 1-2 in Quad One game with their two losses by a combined nine points.
The irony? A win against UMES on Saturday afternoon to wrap up non-conference play may end up being the last push needed to slide back into the top-25 for the first time since the Terps were ranked 21st back on Feb. 27, 2023.
“I know the rest of the schedule is soft, I get it, but we could argue the same thing with a number of teams on this list here. Watch Maryland. I’m telling you, Maryland is going to compete for the Big Ten title and a potential three, four, five, six – somewhere in that three-to-six range seed. Maryland, as we enter the holidays, should be ranked.”
Of course, the schedule will take care of itself as Maryland turns its attention to the newly-added Big Ten teams with road trips against Washington and 10th-ranked Oregon before hosting 18th-ranked UCLA within the first ten days of 2025. And if the Terps keep playing like they do, it's a when -- not if -- Willard watches his squad ascend back inside the AP rankings.
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