With eight days between games, Maryland fans now anxiously await the program’s likely first AP ranking since Feb. 27, 2023, but they’re already seeing the effects of their second ranked win within seven days.
Maryland drew a six-seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology, one of nine Big Ten teams included in Joe Lunardi’s latest update. ESPN projected the Terps to face the winner of New Mexico/UCF with a potential second-round matchup against Kentucky looming.
Lunardi also slotted Maryland as the highest-ranked six-seed ahead of Michigan, Ole Miss and UCLA with Louisville the lowest-ranked five-seed.
Maryland drew an average seed line of 7.42 across 88 brackets, according to BracketMatrix.com, while Bart Torvik was one of two outlets to list the Terps among the four-seeds.
Plenty can change, of course, with a full month and change still left in conference play, but the Terps’ four-game win streak has bolstered its once lackluster resume. The last three wins pushed Maryland back to .500 in Quad One games before the Dec. 4 win vs. Ohio State, who now ranks 25th in the NET, was elevated to a Quad One win. Maryland also remains inside the top-20 in EvanMiya (13), Bart Torvik (15), NET (18) and KenPom (20) ahead of Saturday’s slate of games. Maryland also enters Saturday fourth in the Big Ten, sandwiched between Michigan and UCLA with the Wolverines in action at Rutgers.
With a chance to move to 6-4 in Quad One games, Maryland will return to action on Feb. 6 in the second matchup against Ohio State, almost three months after the Buckeyes were handed a 24-point loss. After that, the rest of February could set up favorably for head coach Kevin Willard’s team with four of the next five games at Xfinity Center including seventh-ranked Michigan State to wrap up the month.
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