Maryland Basketball: Big Ten Tournament staff roundtable

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Feb 13, 2016; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins forward Jake Layman (10) leaps to shoot during the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers at Xfinity Center. Wisconsin Badgers defeated Maryland Terrapins 70-57. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

5.) What do the Terps need to do prior to the NCAA Tournament?

CB: As I said, Maryland is probably a No. 4 or 5 seed right now. At the very least, the Terps need to reach the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. If they’re to do that, they’d have to exercise their demons against Wisconsin in the quarterfinals and face Michigan State on a title game berth on the line. In order to significantly improve their seed, reaching the tournament’s championship game is essential.

WB: Maryland needs to prove their worth. After being such a highly-touted team from the beginning of the year, they need to show that they are back to the well-oiled machine that was dominating the non-conference slate and early Big Ten regular season games. Maryland has the numbers to get into the NCAA Tournament no problem, but they need to boost their eye test results to the selection committee.

RM: The obvious thing for Maryland to do is win the Big Ten Championship. I think by winning the conference championship will give them momentum going into the NCAA Tournament. Besides that, Maryland needs Melo Trimble to get back to his original form. Lately, we haven’t seen the Melo Trimble we are known to see. Another thing Maryland needs to do is get Rasheed Sulaimon going on the offensive end. Sulaimon hasn’t scored in double figures since Feb. 18.

Limiting turnovers is something Maryland needs to do prior to the big dance. In the last game against Indiana, the Terps committed 14 turnovers.

JN: The Terps need to clean up their rebounding and ball security prior to the NCAA Tournament. The Terps possess the talent to make a run to the Final Four. However, if they keep giving their opponents extra possessions they could potentially be upset in the first round. Also, when the Terps secure a defensive rebound it allows them the opportunity to push the ball in transition and get easy fast break buckets as well. Shots are not always going to fall. What I get the most upset about as a fan watching this team is when they turn the ball over and make the mental mistakes and dumb passes leading to easy scores for the other team.

JR: Maryland has about a week and a half from today to completely change their identity. Right now, they’re firmly categorized as “talented underachievers”. The good news about having talent is that on any given night against any given opponent, they could win. But getting far in a single-elimination tournament requires some of that all-important consistency. Or blind luck. Maryland needs to take all those fleeting moments of greatness we’ve seen over the course of the season and actually keep it going for 40 minutes. If Turgeon can just convince them to do that, we’ll be looking at a very different basketball team.