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Maryland Basketball: Associated Press releases All-Time Top 100 rankings

By Chris Bengel

Mar 10, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; The Maryland Terrapins mascot "Testudo" dances on the court during a stoppage in play against the Northwestern Wildcats in the first half during the Big Ten Conference Tournament at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; The Maryland Terrapins mascot "Testudo" dances on the court during a stoppage in play against the Northwestern Wildcats in the first half during the Big Ten Conference Tournament at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Maryland has a long and storied basketball tradition.

The Associated Press recently ranked their “All-Time Top 100” men’s basketball programs and the Terrapins came in at No. 17. Maryland came in sixth among Big Ten teams in terms of making the list.

The Associated Press used a formula to determine the order of their rankings.

"“To determine the all-time Top 100, the AP formula counted poll appearances (one point each) to mark consistency and No. 1 rankings (two points each) to acknowledge elite programs. Keep in mind that AP doesn’t release a poll after the NCAA Tournament, so eventual national champions are not factored into these rankings. Instead, this list focuses more on those programs that consistently appear in the poll and/or at the top during the regular seasons.”"

The top five schools are probably about what many people would expect. Kentucky tops the list and is followed by North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, and Kansas.

There weren’t a ton of surprises ahead of Maryland, but the only one that may come as a shock was Cincinnati at No. 11. However, the Bearcats have seen the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press poll 45 different times.

The Terps have never been ranked as the top team in the nation. They’ve gotten to the No. 2 spot, but just haven’t been able to get over the hump.

The decade of the 1960s certainly didn’t help Maryland’s cause as they only appeared in the poll once. The Terps only had three winning seasons throughout that decade.

The 1970s began a long string of success for the Maryland program. Beginning with the 1970-71 season, the Terps recorded 16 consecutive winning campaigns up until the 1985-86 season.

Lefty Driesell had an overwhelming amount of success during his time in College Park. He went 348-159 (.686) overall and produced a 122-100 (.550) mark during ACC play.

Aside from a three-year stretch under Bob Wade, the Terps continued to win under Gary Williams. In 22 seasons, he put together a 461-252 (.647) overall record and a 192-156 (.552) mark in the ACC.

In 14 of Williams’ seasons, he led Maryland to the NCAA Tournament. The pinnacle of his career was the 2001-02 campaign when the Terps captured a national title by knocking off Indiana.

During the 2000s, Maryland appeared in the poll 75.79 percent of the time.

While it’s still early, Mark Turgeon is on his way to having a similar amount of success. The former Texas A&M coach has led Maryland to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments with the 2015-16 season resulting in a run to the Sweet 16.

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The last five decades of Maryland basketball have been incredibly successful and that’s the majority of the reasoning for the Terps to be ranked in the Top 20 all-time. While there’s several Big Ten schools ahead of them, that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a storied program with a long and impactful history.