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Maryland Basketball: BTN ranks Maryland third in early rankings

By Chris Bengel

Mar 16, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; The Maryland Terrapins warm up for their game against the Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 16, 2017; Orlando, FL, USA; The Maryland Terrapins warm up for their game against the Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Maryland basketball team has a significant amount of talent returning next year.

The Big Ten Network released an early edition of their conference power rankings and had the Terrapins third. Analyst Tom Dienhart rated only Michigan State and Minnesota ahead of Maryland.

Maryland is coming off a season in which they finished with a 24-9 (12-6 Big Ten) record. The Terps were a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament and ended up losing to No. 11 seed Xavier in the First Round of the West Regional.

Here’s what Dienhart had to say about Maryland:

"“The Terps will be loaded for a title run, especially if Melo Trimble returns for his senior season. For sure, Maryland will have back G Anthony Cowan, G Kevin Huerter and F Justin Jackson, all top freshmen last year. Also back will be guards Jaylen Brantley, Dion Wiley and Jared Nickens and bigs Ivan Bender and Michal Cekovsky. Key losses: Damonte Dodd and LG Gill. Two four-star recruits are signed: C Bruno Fernando and G Darryl Morsell.”"

As Dienhart mentions, the Terps are going to have a ton of potential next season. Even if Melo Trimble decides to enter the NBA Draft, the backcourt has plenty of depth and there’s even more on the way in Morsell.

Morsell likely will see a decent amount of playing time if Trimble departs College Park.

The frontcourt is losing a few significant pieces in Damonte Dodd and LG Gill. With that being said, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities to see Mark Turgeon attempt to bring a graduate transfer in the frontcourt once again.

Next: Terps should make a play for Chase Jeter

Maryland had their fair share of issues in terms of getting production from that area of their roster throughout the 2016-17 season. Part of that did have to do with Michal Cekovsky missing nearly half the campaign due to injury.