Maryland men’s basketball has found itself climbing in bracketology through February after winning eight of their last nine games, climbing to as high as a four-seed in various bracketology updates this week. FOX Sports was one of those outlets, projecting the Terps as a four-seed against Lipscomb with a possible Round of 32 matchup against St. John’s, who rose to seventh in the updated AP poll. But FOX Sports analyst Mike DeCourcy said the Terps could climb higher heading into March.
“They have and what they’ve started to do is win those games down the stretch. They’ve become so much better at that and that has reflected in the quality of their resume,” DeCoursy said on BTN. “You’ve seen them start to escalate. I mean, I think I had them in an 8/9 neighborhood a month ago, now all the way up to here. It’s a great situation for the Terps. I obviously really think they’re a terrific team but the resume has gotten stronger and stronger and if they’re able to get that Michigan State game, it changes the math for them entirely. At that point, there maybe start to talk even as high as a number three seed, which would be a remarkable drive from where they were a month ago.”
Head coach Kevin Willard made it clear what the emphasis was to stopping Michigan State on Wednesday: “rebounding, transition and not turning the basketball over – probably in that order against Michigan State.”
BTN analyst Rapheal Davis has been increasingly bullish on Maryland in year three of the Willard era, and in a game that will determine the regular season champion, he looks ahead to what Michigan State needs to do to counter the Terps’ at home.
“I think you have four bigs - you have [Szymon] Zapala, you have Carson Cooper, got Jaxon Kohler, Xavier Booker,” Davis said on GCR. “So with those four bigs, you have 20 fouls. So I say, use all 20 fouls and that's the way you can wear Derik Queen and Julian Reese down. You can wear those dudes out in the frontcourt by just hitting them with different bodies, bigger bodies, giving them different looks. I mean, you put in Jaxon Kohler, that's a completely different guard than Carson Cooper. So I think you've got to attack them that way, make those guys guard. But then your guards have to guard. You got to make this a game where, if I'm Michigan State, I don't want this to get up and down. I don't want to get Rodney Rice and Ja’Kobi Gillespie in a transition battle. Although that Michigan State’s field, I would want this to be a half-court grind-it-out game, possession to possession. So I would say Michigan State's keys, always rebounds, take care of the basketball, but it's going to be a thing where they're going to really have to guard the perimeter. The bigs, they're going to get what they get. But you cannot let Selton Miguel, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice have their way. If they go for 20, you got to tell your guards they got to take upwards 17, 18 shots to get that 20. So it's a tough task. It's a tall task, especially going on the road. But if I’m Michigan State, I'm getting to the free throw line a bunch. I'm putting Julian Reese and Derik Queen in a lot of ball screen action. I'm making those dudes guard and then I'm attacking. I'm attacking defensively, Maryland’s perimeter.
Related Links
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube