Maryland’s ACC Basketball Schedule Released

With one final season remaining in the ACC, Maryland found out its fate on Tuesday afternoon when the ACC portion of the men’s basketball schedule was released. Now it’s mostly what we expected from the conference and there are very few surprises in terms of sites. The Terps have home-and-home games with Florida State, Pittsburgh, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

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.