Maryland men’s basketball is set to close out non-conference play this upcoming weekend when they host UMES for a noon tipoff on Saturday, the final tune-up before head coach Kevin Willard and his squad turn their attention to the heart of conference play. Standing at 10-2 heading into the new year, Maryland has found itself consistently included in early postseason predictions, but with the Terps now mere points away from a top-25 ranking, they’ve found themselves as a safer pick inside the updated field of 68. And this week, fans saw a pair of favorable landing spots.
ESPN projected Maryland as a seven-seed, setting up an ‘away’ game against the projected tenth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in Raleigh. In the same region as top- seed Iowa State, Wisconsin (8), UCLA (4) and UConn, the winner between Maryland-North Carolina would likely play the second-seed Crimson Tide, who have ended the Terps’ last two postseason runs.
The attractive postseason projections didn’t end there as Jerry Palm of CBS Sports projected Maryland to land as an eight-seed against ninth-seeded Arkansas, also in Raleigh. While John Calipari hasn’t faced Maryland in over ten years, a potential Maryland win in that postseason pairing could offer a more attractive matchup that fans haven’t seen in ten years with the winner likely facing top-seeded Duke.
The Blue Devils came out on top in the last matchup, albeit a result not without controversy after Duke was awarded an extra possession three minutes into the second half
in the second half after the possession arrow wasn’t flipped properly. The ACC cited a “miscommunication occurred” in the latest chapter of a tabled rivalry. While Maryland fans look to rekindle the rivalry, it would also serve as a matchup between two of the top freshmen in the country as former high school teammates Cooper Flagg and Queen battle head-to-head.
Maryland is looking to get back into postseason play for the second time over the last four seasons with analyst Andy Katz now touting the Terps as a Big Ten title contender, one week after placing the Terps tenth in his weekly Big Ten power rankings.
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