MIKE BURKE

Allegany Communications Sports

Historically, this hasn’t been the kindest of times for Maryland basketball, as the Terps open play today, 6:30 p.m., as the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals against No. 7 Illinois.

Maryland has won just three of these conference tournaments in its 102-year basketball history, four if you include the Southern Conference tournament the Terps won in 1931, having beaten Kentucky, 29-27, in the title game.

Maryland won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in 1958, beating North Carolina in the final to become the first school outside of North Carolina to win the title, but didn’t win it again until 1984 and 2004, beating Duke both times.

The ACC tournament, played most of the time in Greensboro, North Carolina, was usually riddled with misery for Maryland basketball, highlighted, of course, by the 103-100 overtime loss to eventual national champion NC State in the 1974 title game, with the Terps then suffering the further indignity of not even making the NCAA Tournament, even though Maryland was one of the three best teams in the country along with State and UCLA

(With the memory of Maryland’s sad fate in mind, the NCAA tournament committee voted later that year to expand the field from 25 to 32 teams starting with the 1975 tournament. Expansions to 40, 48 and 64 occurred in ’79, ’80 and ’85, respectively.)

Maryland earned the No. 2 seed this season for the second time since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15, the last time the Terps were the No. 2 seed and their highest seed as league members. In the 2015 tournament, Maryland defeated sixth-seeded Indiana before falling in the semifinals to No. 3 seed Michigan State.

Overall, Maryland is 2-3 in the quarterfinal stage and has reached the semifinals twice during its Big Ten tenure – in 2015 and 2016.

In 2020, of course, Maryland shared the Big Ten regular-season title and would have certainly been a top-three seed not only in the Big Ten, but the NCAA tournament as well, but COVID squelched all of that, as life as we knew it stopped the weekend the conference tournaments were just getting underway.

Such has been much of the story in the history of Maryland’s March Maddening.

These Terps, however, could be a difference-maker, as they enter the postseason ranked 11th in the country with a 24-7 record and have been playing as well as anyone in the Big Ten for the past two months, winning 13 of their past 16 games, with all three losses coming on buzzer beaters – at Northwestern and Ohio State, and at home on a 60-footer by Michigan State.

Before that, their four losses came by a combined 19 points against Marquette, Purdue, Washington and Oregon, with all but Washington being projected as no worse than sixth seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

But here’s the rub, as though Maryland ever needs a rub in March, the Terps haven’t played since last Saturday – that’s five days, which has not played well this season for this fine Maryland team.

“We have not been good coming off byes,” head coach Kevin Willard said after his team’s 74-61 home win against Northwestern. “Going out West was, we had four days off because of the New York trip … I thought we played pretty good going into Ohio State (after seven days off). We just missed our free throws. We would have won at Ohio State if we made our free throws. So, I think we’re going to take technically two days off, but it won’t be a full two days. It’ll be like a day and a half.”

This will be the first and likely last conference tournament for Maryland freshman Derik Queen, who this week was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Big Ten coaches, and second team media, and Maryland would love nothing more than for him to make it one in the traditions of Bias and Gilchrist.

Surprisingly, given the team’s second-place finish in the standings, none of Maryland’s other players were named first or second team by the coaches or media. Ja’Kobi Gillespie was named to the third team by the coaches and media. Senior big Julian Reese was named honorable mention for the third straight year and was snubbed on the all-defensive team, which is utterly ridiculous. Meanwhile Rodney Rice and Selton Miguel were not chosen at all.

The Terps can only hope that all four take it personally.

Currently, the three hottest teams in the Big Ten are MIchigan State and Oregon, who meet in today’s noon quarterfinal, and Maryland, who won at Illinois in January, 91-70, as Reese was unstoppable with 27 points and 17 rebounds. Keep in mind, though, Illinois played that night without starting center Tomislav Ivisic, so today’s game will surely play much differently, as this time around, the Fighting Illini is a deep, battled-tested and talented team.

Maryland takes its first stab today at making this March play differently. Until the offense might have to catch up, the Terps certainly have the defense and the team capable of making it happen.

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