Road games: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, & Virginia Tech

Home games: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, & Wake Forest

Of course the big story is the fact that the Terps have road-only games against the likes of Duke and North Carolina. Both of those contests will be played down on Tobacco Road. Obviously that doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Maryland will be taking their talents to the Big 10 after this season. The ACC wasn’t going to let the Terps go out in style with games against their two biggest rivals.

As for the rest of the road schedule, it’s the usual suspects. You have the home-and-home games against Florida State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. The only game out of that group that is of serious is newcomer Pittsburgh. The Panthers come to the ACC with a very strong pedigree and are coming off a season in which they finished 24-9 and appeared in the NCAA tournament (lost in the second round to Wichita State). It’s a good away game to schedule since many Terp fans can travel to western Pennsylvania for the game. It will also draw a packed house when the Panthers come to College Park.

North Carolina State doesn’t come as a surprise as an away game because the Wolfpack were the visiting team this year. This isn’t going to be quite the same team N.C. State that we saw last season. C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown are heading to the NBA and Rodney Purvis transferred to Connecticut. Not to mention that seniors Richard Howell and Scott Wood will be graduating. Virginia will be an interesting series once again as the Cavaliers are only losing guard Jontel Evans. Freshmen Justin Anderson and Mikey Tobey have a year under their belt and could have their squad competing once again in the ACC.

Flip the script to the home games and the story is pretty much the same. However it’s a little more interesting with the teams that will be coming to the Comcast Center. As was the case this year, the Terps only face Miami once but the battle will be played at home this season. The Hurricanes are a team that could look very different next season. Sophomore guard Shane Larkin is still undecided on whether or not he will enter the NBA Draft. If Larkins returns, Miami is still losing two of their top three guards in Durand Scott and Trey McKinney-Jones.

It’s somewhat of a surprise that the Terps will host newcomers Syracuse and Notre Dame. I figured that with Maryland leaving the ACC that they wouldn’t be lucky enough to host both teams, especially Syracuse. The Orange should be a good opportunity for the Terps to see just how good they are. They will be losing sensational guard Michael Carter-Williams but will be reloaded as they are every year.

It’s pretty much what we expected. It comes as no surprise that Maryland gets the shaft when it comes to the Duke and North Carolina games. All I can say is that the Terps only have one season left in the ACC before heading off to greener pastures. The lack of respect should be nothing new to Maryland and it’s just another chance to prove everybody wrong. With guys like Roddy Peters and a possible transfer guard coming in, the Terps could be very good next year. Yes this will be a tough schedule but it’s going to truly show what this team is made of.

Feb 16, 2013; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins center Alex Len (25) shoots a free throw against the Duke Blue Devils at the Comcast Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

With their NCAA tournament hopes on the line, Dez Wells turned in another magnificent performance as he led the University of Maryland men’s basketball team to a 83-74 upset win over the #2 ranked Duke Blue Devils. It marks the second time that the Terrapins have beaten the Blue Devils this season.

The Terrapins played arguably their most complete game of the season as they shot 51 percent (26-of-51) against Duke tonight. Despite a few surges from the Blue Devils, Maryland never trailed throughout the entire game.The start of the game couldn’t have been scripted much better for the Terrapins. They jumped out to a 12-7 lead and Wells seemed to be in one of his zones. Wells made three of his first four shots and scored seven of Maryland’s first 12 points. Wells was absolutely on fire in the first half as he was 7-of-9 from the floor and netted 16 points to account for nearly half of Maryland’s first half point total. He got any shot he wanted and made life difficult for every Blue Devil. He was even able to get Ryan Kelly completely turned around on one of his jump shots. 

Things did get tense in the second half. With 13:02 remaining, Charles Mitchell fouled Mason Plumlee and Plumlee connected on both free throws to cut the lead to 47-46. However, the Terrapins outscored Duke 12-6 over the next five minutes to extend their lead to a more comfortable score of 59-52. The run was highlighted by a pretty jumper by Shaquille Cleare who played angry tonight and was effective against Plumlee in the post. Nick Faust also hit a big three-point jumper that was made possible by good court vision from Alex Len. The closest that the Blue Devils would get from this point on was six points. Maryland continued to shoot the ball well late in the game and took care of the basketball for the most part.

Another outstanding performance that can’t be overlooked is that of Pe’Shon Howard. On a night when all the credit goes to Dez Wells and it definitely should, Howard turned in a phenomenal game for Maryland. The junior guard came up huge at the free-throw line as he scored all seven of his points at the line. Howard also played an integral role on the defensive end to propel the Terrapins to victory. He also dished out five assists and grabbed three rebounds in a winning effort. This is the play that Mark Turgeon has wanted Howard to be all season. He doesn’t have to put up gaudy numbers on the offensive end. He just has to run the offense and find his teammates..

Despite not having a great first half, Alex Len rebounded in the second half and ended up having a very nice game. The Ukrainian big man ended up scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds against Duke tonight. Len didn’t have a stellar first half but showed up in the second half. He stepped out and made a few jumpers away from the basket. When Len can step out and bury shots, Maryland is a very tough team to beat. It was a far cry from the disappointing performance that Len turned it in against Wake Forest on Thursday night.

Maryland will now face the winner of the Florida State/North Carolina game which is currently being played. If the Terrapins can advance to the finals, their ticket to the NCAA tournament may be punched. No matter which team they face, Wells will have to keep up his high level of play and carry this team to the promised land.

The Time: 7:00 PM

The Place: Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, N.C.

TV/Radio: ESPN2 and 105.7 FM/980 AM

The Line: Duke -11

Who doesn’t love a rubber match? That is precisely what we will have this evening when the #7 seed Maryland Terrapins face off against the #2 seed Duke Blue Devils for the third time in the last seven weeks.

The Blue Devils took the first round of this years series by whalloping the Terrapins at Cameron Indoor 84-64 on January 26th on a day where Rasheed Sulaimon made sure all Maryland fans knew the freshman’s name after pouring in 25 points and hitting 6/8 attempts from beyond the arc. The Terps trailed Duke by 8 at the half on that afternoon and never got back in it as Duke ran away from them on their home floor outscoring them 41-29 in the final 20 minutes of action.

The Blue Devils traveled to College Park, MD on February 16th for round II and, not shockingly, the Terrapins proved to play much better on their home floor at a raucous Comcast Center. Alex Len was a different player on this date than he was a few weeks prior when the same two teams met in Durham (8 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes) as he dominated Mason Plumlee the entire evening finishing with 19 points and 9 rebounds while shooting 6/8 from the field.

Even though the Terrapins were able to come away with a memorable 83-81 victory over their rival, in what could have been the last meeting between the two in College Park, Maryland did not make it easy on themselves. As a team, the Terps shot 60% from the field but had to sweat out a Quinn Cook runner from just inside of half court before they could exhale and enjoy the victory as Maryland turned the ball over an astonishing 26 times on their way to the upset win.

Heading into tonight’s match up Maryland will be facing the Blue Devils at full strength for the first time this season as Duke F Ryan Kelly, who averages 14.6 PPG and 5.6 RPG, missed both meetings in the regular season due to injury. As you have read here, or any other website mentioning Duke for that matter, the Blue Devils have yet to lose this season when Kelly is in the line up so the Terps will be facing an uphill battle tonight as they look to be the first team to knock off Duke with their roster intact.  Coming into this evening the Blue Devils are looked at as a fairly heavy favorite as they should have the majority of the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum behind them in this match up.

The Terrapins have shown they are capable of besting the Blue Devils when they aren’t at the top of their game, it still boggles my mind how they were able to beat Duke after committing 26 turnovers in a single game, but tonight they will need to bring their best effort if they want to survive and advance. Alex Len needs to be the player he was the second time around against Plumlee and Co., while the guards have to take care of the basketball better for Maryland to have a chance to win the season series with Duke. If Seth Allen, Dez Wells and Nick Faust combine for 18 turnovers again it won’t matter how well they are shooting it on the evening they will be hard pressed to walk off the floor tonight with a win under their belts.

Like I stated last night in my recap of the win over Wake Forest the Terrapins will be a team fighting for their postseason lives tonight while Duke is all but locked into being a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Terps need a win tonight and, more than likely, another win tomorrow if they even want to have a shot at punching a ticket to the Big Dance. If Maryland comes out hungrier for a victory than the Blue Devils are they will be a dangerous team to face, we’ll see who wants the win worse in just under 7 hours time when these two rivals take the floor to stake claim on the season series.

Feb 27, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard/forward Jake Layman (10) drives to the basket against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Brandon Reed (23) in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

1.) Realistically, how far will there Terrapins go in the ACC Tournament?

Michael Willis: There are definite drawbacks to storming the court when you pull off an upset against a team you’re going to be facing later on in the year, the biggest being that it pisses them off. So even if the Terrapins abuse Wake Forest in the first round, they are going to storm the court into a buzz-saw in the second round against a healthy, well rested Duke team.

Given the manner in which the Terps lost their last game against Virginia (blowing a 19 point lead and Len scoring a game winning basket for the other team), and how badly they play on the road (2-7 ACC record away from Comcast), momentum and odds clearly aren’t in their favor at the moment. A win against Wake Forest isn’t going to change the fact that they have to play a terrifying Duke team, and it’s not going to make them any better on the road. For that reason alone, I have a very sour feeling in my stomach thinking about how far Maryland can go in the ACC tournament and, by extension, the NCAA tournament.

I mean let’s just say they do beat Wake Forest, then they do beat Duke because they’d done it once before. They’ll then have to play either North Carolina or Florida State, and have an 0-4 record against those two. If they can manage to beat Wake, and manage to finally beat North Carolina and/or Florida State, then I’ll give them decent odds to beat someone from the upper half of the bracket like Miami/N.C. State. Unfortunately, it’s just highly unlikely they go that far, and as a result won’t be sniffing the tourney.

Michael Bohlin: In order for the Terrapins to go to the big dance later this month they will more than likely have to win four games in four days as the 7 seed in the ACC Tournament, which kicks off tomorrow in Greensboro, NC. By finishing the season with losses against UNC and UVA the Terrapins locked themselves into the seventh seed and, as a result, drew an opening round match up against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. In both of their regular season meetings the Terps beat Wake Forest by double digits, 86-60 in College Park and 67-57 in Winston-Salem. While the old addage is that it’s tough to beat a team three times in the same season as long as Maryland sticks to what worked for them in their prior meetings with the Deacons, getting points in the paint by pounding the ball inside to the big men and attacking the basket off the dribble from the perimeter.

Now comes the question of how far these Terps can realistically go? Should they get past Wake Forest tomorrow night they will have a rematch with the Duke Blue Devils, at full strength this time now that Ryan Kelly has returned, in what should be a pro-Duke crowd in Greensboro. This will be a very tough test for Maryland as the Terps haven’t had to face Duke at full strength as of yet, a group that has yet to lose on the season. Mark Turgeon’s bunch have already proven they can beat the Blue Devils on their home floor but they will face a tough test should they get by Wake Forest tomorrow evening.

Should Maryland upset Duke again the next step in the gauntlet would be a third game versus the North Carolina Tar Heels who have proved to be an extremely tough match up for this team. So I would have to say that the furthest I could see the Terrapins getting in this tournament is the semi-finals but it would be an uphill battle to make it there by having to go through Duke for a second time this year.
2.) What’s the biggest storyline heading into the ACC tournament?

MW: Obviously Miami losing three of their last five heading into the ACC tournament is big, and North Carolina’s relatively solid play (save for their game against Duke) is also interesting. Still, the Ryan Kelly-led Dukies have to be the biggest storyline heading into the tournament. Like them or not, Duke has yet to lose a game this season when Ryan Kelly has suited up for them. His importance to their team cannot be overstated.

In his first game back, Kelly didn’t look like he had any lingering effects from his injury, dropping 36 points and seven three-pointers against the #5 team in the country (at the time it was Miami). Everyone in the ACC, and the nation as a whole, let out a collective shudder thinking about what this team is capable of with Kelly back in action. The ACC tournament should make for a great primer heading into NCAA tourney play, and I know I’d personally like to see what this team is capable of. If they win the entire tournament handily at full strength, it’s safe to say they’ll be one of the hottest teams in the country.

MB: The biggest storyline heading into tomorrow is that this will be the last ACC Tournament as we know it. Starting next season, with the addition of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, the tournament will include 15 teams forcing some interesting scheduling decisions that will have to be made by the league office between now and next year’s conference tournament. While the lone season of playing Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame will be exciting for Terrapins fans, as they ready themselves for the move to the Big 10 in 2014, for many this week’s tournament will truly signify the end of an era. With Gary Williams set to be honored as an ACC Legend in Greensboro this weekend wouldn’t it add to the nostalgia of the event were the Terrapins to pull off the unthinkable and win the ACC?

3.) Who is the darkhorse team in the ACC tournament this year?

MW: The darkhorse team could theoretically be Duke, since they aren’t the top seed, but I’m going to go with another squad that seems to give really good team fits: Virginia. When you talk about the best teams in the ACC, you speak of Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, and Florida State. Which team has beaten all of them? You guessed it.

I don’t know what it is about them, but when Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell are playing sound basketball, the Cavaliers usually win. They play a stingy brand of defense, and are versatile enough on offense that they can score with anyone. Can they put together a four game winning streak to take the ACC crown? Well, eight of their ten losses have come on the road so my guess is definitely not. However, considering how they match up with anyone I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say yes.

MB: Duke has been considered the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC Tournament by essentially all of the pundits in the college basketball world. Their resume speaks for itself and the Blue Devils have earned the distinction of being the team to beat without a shadow of a doubt from what they have done on the floor as of late. If I had to pick one team as a darkhorse candidate to take the league title away from Coach K it would be the Florida State Seminoles. In any sort of tournament situation you need a closer to be successful and the Noles have, for my money, the best closer in the ACC in Michael Snaer. He has made a name for himself throughout his career by taking, and many times making, the last shot in pressure situations. I am not sold on the fact that the Noles will in fact win the league but were I Roy Williams I would not be looking forward to a potential opening game in Greensboro against Michael Snaer and the Seminoles.

4.) Finally, who wins the entire tournament?

MW: Duke is probably going to come out on top come tourney time. I can’t say it enough: when Ryan Kelly is playing, Duke simply has not lost yet. His leadership, and most importantly, near unguardable three-point shooting makes an already daunting Duke team even better. The way the Blue Devils completely manhandled North Carolina in their season finale is telling, and what Kelly did against a great defensive team like Miami is even more so. I’m not sure any team in the ACC has the firepower to contend with them, and it should show in this tournament.

The Blue Devils certainly have a tough road ahead of them, with a rivalry game against Maryland, then another potential rivalry game against North Carolina, and after that Miami or N.C. State. If any team can do it, though, it’s probably going to be the Blue Devils. So as much as it pains me to say it, they’re the team to beat and it’s not even close.

MB: In the end I believe the Duke Blue Devils will end up winning the ACC Tournament. They are one of the hottest teams in the country right now and no one in the media will let you forget how they are undefeated with Ryan Kelly in the lineup. That is a statistic that is hard to ignore and until someone shows they are capable of beating the Blue Devils when they are at full strength it is difficult to pick against them in a tournament setting where they should have a home court advantage against most of their potential opponents.

Jan 22, 2013; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard Dez Wells (32) is congratulated by guard Nick Faust (5) following his basket in the closing minutes against the Boston College Eagles at Comcast Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

The Teams: #2 Duke Blue Devils 22-2 (9-2) vs. Maryland Terrapins 17-7 (5-6)

The Time: 6:00 pm

The Place: Comcast Center, University of Maryland

Television/Radio: ESPN/ 105.7 FM, 980 AM

This evening the hated rival of the Maryland Terrapins, the Duke Blue Devils, make what could be their last trip to the Comcast Center as the Terps attempt to pull off the upset bid against the #2 Blue Devils.

Duke and Maryland will meet one time next season with the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the ACC and while it won’t be announced for a while the general feeling is that the ACC will not be sending Duke to College Park as Maryland takes their “victory lap” around the league next season. It seems far more likely that the powers that be in North Carolina send the Terps to Cameron Indoor in what could end up being a gauntlet of a regular season schedule.

However, that is another story for another day…The Maryland Terrapins desperately need a win today to help ensure they find themselves with a ticket to the big dance next month. A loss to the Blue Devils wouldn’t necessarily be the nail in the coffin for the Terps with regard to the NCAA’s but its quite clear that a win this evening will go a very long way towards reaching that goal. Duke, like seemingly every other college basketball team this season, has not been as strong on the road as they are within the friendly confines of their own gymnasium as is evidenced by the Blue Devils squeaking by BC and Wake Forest by a combined total of 6 points on the road recently. I have always been a proponent of the fact you only need to win a game by one but the fact of the matter is those games should not have been as close as the score shows due to the distinct difference in talent level between Duke and those other programs.

In the last match up between Duke and Maryland the Blue Devils put on a shooting clinic from the outside converting on 11 of their 22 three point attempts. Rasheed Sulaimon was the Dukie who led that charge by converting on six of his eight attempts from the outside setting the tone early for the Blue Devils on their home floor. Since that game Sulaimon’s best performance from beyond the arc were a pair of 2/4 performances against Florida State and NC State. In the games against Wake Forest and Boston College where the Blue Devils struggled to put their opposition away Sulaimon was a combined 0/4 from three and only 3/10 from the field. While the potential for Sulaimon to go off from the outside is always present he remains a threat but with these recent showings on the road I would expect for Sulaimon to not be quite as hot in a tough environment at Comcast this evening.

The Terps will need Alex Len to be a force in the middle today. Mark Turgeon expressed his desire to have a more motivated  Len for today’s game yesterday when he addressed the media and I would imagine Turgeon’s desire matches that of many a Terps fan. Len will need to be more aggressive today than he was in the meeting between these two in late January. In that game Len played 34 minutes but only attempted a total of six shots on his way to an 8 point and 10 rebound performance which clearly wasn’t enough as Maryland got run off the floor by their rivals from Durham. Len needs to get 12-15 good looks this evening as Maryland’s best chance surely comes by running their offense through the Ukrainian big man.

Who will get Len the ball has become a bit less clear however. With the news that junior point guard Pe’Shon Howard will be suspended for at the very least the game this evening is a big blow to the Terps despite the fact Howard’s role had shrunk as of late. If there is one thing that has plagued the Terps all season long it is their inability to take care of the basketball on offense, more specifically the inability to effectively feed the post. I have seen some bad entry passes in my day, some of which I have been responsible for, and that aspect of the game is something the Terps have yet to master it seems. By relying on combo guards Nick Faust and Seth Allen to run the offense tonight this is a trend that could unfortunately continue as neither Allen or Faust are known as great distributors.

However, anything can happen when it comes to a rivalry game…especially one in which the stakes are as high as they are for this Terrapins team. I expect Maryland to come out with a lot of emotion and a nothing to lose but everything to gain type of attitude in front of a home crowd which will be staunchly behind them and against the visitors from the Research Triangle in N.C. This will be the first Duke vs. Maryland game which I will be in attendance so I am not exactly sure what to expect in terms of the environment at Comcast but when you have students lining up to get into the arena 12 hours before tip off you know you are in for a big game.

The game plan has been laid out, the Terps have been schooled on what they need to do to win tonight and the fans are ready to do their best to help their team to victory…Since this could be the Blue Devils last trip to College Park for quite some time we don’t want to be the best hosts, right?

Mar 9, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Kendall Marshall (5) lays the ball up past Maryland Terrapins forward Ashton Pankey (30) in the first half during the quarter-finals of the 2012 ACC Men

The Maryland men’s basketball schedule for inter-conference play has finally been released, giving us a definitive view of who the Terps will be playing and when. I’ll let you read the schedule rather than break down the obvious.

Jan. 5

Virginia Tech noon on ACCN

Jan. 9

Florida State 8 p.m. on ACCN

Jan. 13

at Miami 8 p.m. on ESPNU

Jan. 16

North Carolina State 7 p.m. on ESPN2

Jan. 19

at North Carolina 12 p.m. on ESPN

Jan. 22

Boston College 9 p.m. on ESPNU

Jan. 26

at Duke 1 p.m. on CBS

Jan. 30

at Florida State 8 p.m. on ACCN

Feb. 2

Wake Forest 2 p.m. on CSNW

Feb. 7

at Virginia Tech 9 p.m. on ACCN

Feb. 10

Virginia 1 p.m. on ACCN

Feb. 16

Duke 6 p.m. on ESPN/2

Feb. 19

at Boston College 9 p.m. on ACCN

Feb. 23

Clemson 12 p.m. on ESPN2

Feb. 27

at Georgia Tech 8 p.m. on ACCN

March 2

at Wake Forest 12 p.m. on ACCN

March 6

North Carolina, 7 p.m. on ESPN/2

March 10

at Virginia, 6 p.m. on ESPNU

March 14-17

ACC tournament, Greensboro, N.C.

Of note is the fact that Maryland gets their always-intriguing home-and-home matchups against North Carolina and Duke. Given that Maryland should be fully loaded with a young, deep, and talented roster this year, these games will provide national entertainment. The home-and-homes might be on the out-and-out however, with Syracuse and Pitt joining the ACC in the next season or two, so enjoy them while you can.

The Terps also have a number of games featured on ESPN or one of its sister networks, 7 to be exact. That kind of exposure is bound to help with recruiting, so long as the Terps perform up to snuff and impress. Hopefully, that Brooklyn, New York game against the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats will prime Maryland for the gauntlet that is the ACC.

Update:

The non-conference portion of the Terrapins schedule has also been released.

Nov. 2
Indiana (Pa.) exhibition TBD

Nov. 9
Kentucky (in Brooklyn) 8:30 p.m.

Nov. 12
Morehead State TBD

Nov. 16
Long Island TBD

Nov. 20
Lafayette TBD

Nov. 24
Georgia Southern TBD

Nov. 27
at Northwestern 9:15 p.m.

Dec. 2
George Mason (Verizon Center) TBD

Dec. 5
Maryland-Eastern Shore TBD

Dec. 8
South Carolina State TBD

Dec. 12
Monmouth TBD

Dec. 21
Stony Brook TBD

Dec. 29
Delaware State TBD

Jan. 1
IUPUI TBD