Maryland men’s basketball previously climbed to a five-seed in ESPN’s bracketology after securing wins against Nebraska and Iowa last weekend, but despite a weekend of inaction, they could find themselves climbing once again.
Maryland jumped one spot and is now the 17th overall seed in Joe Lunardi’s updated bracketology, now placing the Terps as the first team outside the top four seeds. Maryland held its position in Lunardi’s seed order even after Arizona’s loss vs. BYU on Saturday, while Purdue’s road loss at Indiana gives hope for another potential climb heading into their next game. Meanwhile, St. John’s, initially the lowest-ranked four-seed heading into Sunday, sent UConn back into a spiral after an 89-75 win to remain a four-seed.
Having already clinched their spot in the conference tournament and a chance to secure a double-bye, Maryland remains in position entering the rest of the week with the Terps now in third in the updated rankings, thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker over Wisconsin, who also sit at 11-5 in conference play. The lone teams ahead of Maryland – Michigan and Michigan State – account for half of Maryland’s remaining regular season schedule with the Spartans first up on Wednesday night in a game that’s shaping up to be arguably the biggest since March 3, 2010. Wednesday also marks one of two remaining games against ranked opponents to close the regular season.
If the season were to end today, Maryland would face the winner of UCLA or Ohio State/Minnesota in the conference tournament.
Elsewhere, ahead of the weekend and one day after singing Maryland’s praises, BTN analyst Rapheal Davis made the early call for Derik Queen to be named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year.
"It's not even his award to lose - it's just Derik Queen's award," Davis said on Friday. "Derik Queen is the Big Ten freshman of the Year. If you look [Thursday] night, he was struggling to score the ball but ended up with 13 points and 17 rebounds. Over the last four games, Derik Queen is averaging 21 points per game and 14 rebounds per contest. He is doing it from the outside, he's doing it from the mid-post, he's driving, pushing the break off the rebound, he's knocking down shots, he's mixing it up inside. And, as a freshman, he can guard. He guards his yard, whether he's guarding a big inside, walling up and being physical, or in that ball screen action. Derik Queen is a big man that's 6-10, 250 pounds, he can jump out there and switch and he can move puppies. And he has that length to where, even if you get past him, he can still contest that shot at the rim. This is Derik Queen's year."
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