MIKE BURKE

Allegany Communications Sports

If XFINITY Center is not sold out and absolutely rocking on Wednesday night, then the University of Maryland basketball fanbase is in line for a collective lobotomy, or at least should be forced to watch an entire episode of “Get Up!” on ESPN. Trust me, the lobotomy would be far more interesting …

The red-hot Terps, who are in sole possession of third place in the Big Ten, rose four spots in this week’s AP Top 25 to No. 16 and play host to the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans for what is likely to be the biggest home game in College Park since the Terps beat then-No. 2 Purdue two seasons ago.

Maryland (21-6 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) has won four in a row, eight of the last nine and 10 of the last 12, and rely on one of the nation’s best starting fives in Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice, Selton Miguel, Julian Reese and Derik Queen, known now in College Park as the Crab Five (Get it? Rhymes with Fab Five).

All five starters average in double figures and most college basketball analysts and so-called experts have declared the Terps as one of the most dangerous teams in the country.

The way they’re playing now, there can be no denying the potential is there for this team to make a deep run into March Madness, but the Terps need to take one step at a time, because this week’s schedule is both demanding and tricky.

Yes, Maryland should be ready to go against MIchigan State (22-5, 13-3), because, well, they’re Michigan State and every team that plays MIchigan State better be ready to go or they’ll be in for a very long night. Regardless of what happens Wednesday, Maryland must then regather an edge on Saturday for a noon game at Penn State (15-13, 5-12), where the Terps have lost their last seven games.

Don’t laugh, because as good as things are going, this Maryland team still has some lapses, which are evident in most games when they build a big lead and almost immediately see it at least halved thanks to sloppy turnovers and poor shot selection.

Also, of the six Maryland losses this season, three of them have come to teams with losing records in conference: at Ohio State (7-10), at Northwestern (5-11) and at last-place Washington (4-12). On top of that, even the sorriest Penn State teams have long given Maryland fits.

As any Maryland team learns the hard way, there is no such thing as a sure thing, not in the Big Ten anyway. Then again, the first order of business will be Michigan State, and that will be the furthest thing from being a sure thing.

Don’t misunderstand, this Maryland team has been so much fun to watch, despite some of its frustrating moments. The starting five is as good as most you’ll see outside of the SEC, and not only can they score in the paint and rebound with Reese and Queen, all three of the guards can hit from anywhere on the perimeter, because, A.) they’re just good shooters (a stark contrast from last year) and B.) they all are great penetrators and get to the paint, forcing defenses to respect both, as one complements the other one quite well.

Despite the great seasons by Reese and Queen, it feels like Michigan State will have an edge inside because of their depth, which is something Maryland needs to better develop from this point on. While the Terps bench players provide good minutes, they don’t provide enough of them because they don’t score enough. Leads tend to shrink when Coach Kevin Willard gives his starters breaks with big leads.

Wednesday would be the perfect time for 6-9 forward Tafara Gapare to return to the explosive form he played with in midseason before missing time to an illness.

Some have begun to compare this team to a pair of teams coached by Mark Turgeon, still the sixth-highest paid state employee in Maryland, the 2015-16 Melo Trimble team and the 2019-20 Anthony Cowan team that had to settle for a share of the Big Ten regular-season title with two other teams.

The 2015-16 team was highly-regarded nationally, but ran into a great Kansas team in the NCAA Tournament. The 2019-20 Terps obviously had a terrific season but were flawed and simply ran out of gas as they entered the final five games with a three-game lead in the Big Ten, before hanging on for dear life to gain part of a three-way tie. Then COVID shut everything down, so there was never a chance for anyone to see how good Cowan, Jaylen Smith or Kevin Hueter could have been on college basketball’s biggest stage.

A week short of March, it’s still too early to determine how good this Maryland team will be. Granted, they look pretty darn good right now, but Wednesday’s game against Michigan State will provide a legit tell on how seriously these Terps should be taken, or even what other teams they should be compared to.

That said, there are experts out there who feel those other Maryland teams could eventually end up being compared to this Maryland team.

Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT