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Maryland basketball now staring at sobering postseason stat

Writer's picture: Ahmed GhafirAhmed Ghafir

Saturday marked a potentially big day for Maryland basketball with the men’s team kicking it off with a road game against Michigan State beginning at 5:30 PM followed by the women’s team hosting Caitlin Clark and third-ranked Iowa. By the end of the night, Maryland fans were looking back at the schedules in hopes of both teams getting back in the win column. After a week-long break between games, the men’s team limped through the start of the game after a pair of quick fouls on Julian Reese sent him to the bench, shifting Jordan Geronimo to the five in a problem that persisted through the night. The Spartans took advantage early before Maryland leaned on its Big Ten-leading defense once again before eventually taking its first lead of the game following a Jahmir Young layup with seven minutes remaining. Young took time to get going as Donta Scott scored the team’s first eight points, but Young finished with a game-high 31 points. While Reese’s foul trouble loomed large as just five players scored at least two points in the loss, a late 12-0 proved to be the hill too tall to climb as Maryland fell to Michigan State, 63-54. As for the women, Iowa led by as many as 18 points after a layup from Caitlin Clark, who finished with a game-high 38 points, was part of an 11-2 run that began late in the first half and carried into the opening minutes of the third quarter. Maryland would answer in the second half, though, as Jakai Brown-Turner and Bri McDaniel combined for 29 of the Terps’ 47 second-half points before Shyanne Sellers, who finished with ten points, converted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 76 with just over six minutes remaining. But Clark would answer right back with a three, and Iowa never looked back after that as head coach Brenda Frese and the women were handed a 93-85 loss, dropping to 12-10 (4-7) on the season. After a humbling Saturday for Maryland basketball fans, athletic director Damon Evans is now staring the sobering postseason fates of both programs as both the men’s and women’s teams are now at risk of missing the 2024 NCAA Tournament, marking the first time that happened since 1987 (except for the COVID-shortened 2020 postseason). The women’s team entered the weekend among the ‘Last Four In in ESPN’s latest bracketology, projected as a 12th seed and to face Auburn in the play-in game, with the men’s team still far away from the bubble conversation. Heading into Sunday, the men’s team is projected to have just a 3.1% chance to make the tournament while the women still have chances to get back on the right side of the bubble with a home game against Penn State on Feb. 18 and road games against top-ten opponents, Ohio State and Wisconsin, looming at the end of the regular season. For Brenda Frese, this season would prove to be an outlier in her 21 seasons as head coach considering a missed NCAA Tournament bid would mark the first time that’s happened since her first season as head coach. The same can’t be said for the men’s team as a missed NCAA Tournament berth, which now becomes an overwhelming possibility, would mark the second time in three seasons. While Willard is 2-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, the former Seton Hall head coach guided the Pirates to NCAA Tournament appearances in five of the last six postseasons. Willard led Maryland to the NCAA Tournament in his first season as head coach, a season that’s proven to be the polar opposite of 2023-24 with time no longer in his favor. Evans noted during his weekly interview with 105.7 just weeks ago that, “this is the University of Maryland and the expectations here are high.” “It’s always my goal. The rich history and tradition of basketball at the University of Maryland, my expectations are extremely high. This is a program that when we talked about tournament, this should be something that that’s not the goal because that these should be a foregone conclusion for a program like ours,” Willard said about the men’s team last month. “Our goal should be to get deep into the tournament. And we’ve got to figure out how to do that, guys. We’ve got to figure out how to get past where we are. I still have ultimate confidence in our team. I believe…Willard is doing a really, really good job for us, but I don’t want people to think that I’m just sitting back here content. Willard’s not content. He and I talk and he’s doing his job and he’s going to turn this thing around but make no mistake about it—expectations are high here and we’ve got to perform at a much higher level.” Both teams are set to face Rutgers on Tuesday, with the men hosting the Scarlet Knights at 6:30 PM while the women travel to Piscataway for an 8:30 PM tipoff. Related Links

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