Following Wednesday’s road win vs. 17th-ranked Michigan, Maryland men’s basketball climbed to a four-seed in updated bracketologies by both ESPN and FOX Sports.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Maryland to the 16th overall seed while Mike DeCourcy slotted the Terps one spot higher at 15th overall, but ESPN’s projection favors a potential matchup against a former ACC rival – Duke. A possible Maryland-Duke matchup would mark the first since Feb. 15, 2014 when the Blue Devils secured a two-point win in Cameron Indoor, the Terps’ final matchup in Durham in the ACC. Fast-forward to 2025, a potential matchup wouldn’t just feature a pair of expected lottery picks in April, but a pair of former high school teammates with Montverde Academy stars Derik Queen and Cooper Flagg squaring up.
The Blue Devils drew the one-seed in the East region alongside Maryland with Alabama and Iowa State drawing the two and three-seeds in the same region.
While Maryland looks to close the home portion of the 2024-25 season at 17-2 overall when they host Northwestern for Senior Day on Saturday, head coach Kevin Willard still finds his team in position for a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament beginning next week. While Michigan State clinched the regular season Big Ten championship on Thursday night, Maryland enters Friday in a three-way tie for third in the Big Ten standings, though its Maryland who currently holds the tiebreaker over both teams thanks to their win percentage against the conference's second-ranked team, Michigan. Maryland has a chance to climb to a two-seed in the upcoming conference tournament contingent on a win on Saturday, along with a Spartans' win vs. Michigan on Sunday.
Meanwhile, FOX Sports bracketologist Mike DeCourcy explained why the Terps safely moved up a seed line and whether they can climb to a three-seed.
“I think they're now a four, okay, based on the victory at Maryland, I think they're now a four [seed],” he said on GCR. “They're clinging to the end of that - toward the end of that line anyway. But Mizzou losing [Wednesday] night, and Michigan, of course, [Maryland] taking care of them helped move Maryland up to a four. I'm not sure there's a lot more upside. I guess three is not totally out of reach because Purdue is one of the teams in front of you. Iowa State is one of the teams in front of you. Has not been consistent lately, and not that recency matters, but it you could be. You could continue to be inconsistent and add more losses to your resume and then, as a result, Maryland might pass you. And then on the next line, you have Kentucky, a little bit injured, still [Texas] A&M, again, fairly inconsistent, but has a wonderful resume. It's really going to take a lot to ding that. So it may be hard to get to the three, but it's worth taking a shot and seeing how it goes.”