MIKE BURKE

Allegany Communications Sports

That I, as have many others, picked Florida to win it all in my obligatory NCAA bracket, it stands to reason I picked the Gators to beat Maryland in a potential Sweet 16 matchup, yes? Yes.

This season will be a good one for the Terps if they make the Sweet 16, because the Southeastern Conference is just so darn deep and strong. The top four SEC teams alone consist of men. They’re ridiculously large, talented and versatile, as they have bigs who guard guards and guards who post up.

It seems unlikely that Maryland can match up with that, but a Sweet 16 matchup with anyone is still too far down the road to think about. At least that’s how Maryland should be approaching it.

The No. 4 Terps have been 10.5-point favorites all week, but that number just feels too high, because the No. 13 Grand Canyon Antelopes of the Western Athletic Conference, coached by Bryce Drew, have been here before, have won here before and can flat-out play.

Frankly, the Antelopes of Phoenix, as well as having to play on the absolute other side of the country in Seattle, makes this a very difficult draw for the Terps, who, mainly because of their guards, are said to be a Final Four dark-horse pick for some. Okay …

Grand Canyon, though, has a roster of high-major players, and while Maryland seems to be the more talented team, Grand Canyon’s best player is wing Tyon Grant-Foster, who is capable of scoring 30 and drawing a lot of fouls, which could present problems for a thin Maryland roster.

The Antelopes also rotate three bigs who can physically match up with Derik Queen and Julian Reese. To say the least, Maryland has its work cut out for itself.

Maryland is said to be the best No. 4 seed in the tournament, yet opening the tournament 2,759 miles from College Park represents the longest trip of any school in the men’s tournament.

As West Virginia knows, the NCAA has its favorites and it has its not-so-favorites. Of course, Maryland has known this for some time, dating back to even before Coach Kry’s bracket shenanigans to avoid the traitor Terps.

And speaking of West Virginia’s two-part odyssey of hell, word has it Villanova is hot and heavy for Maryland head coach Kevin Willard to become its next head coach, and is making some serious offers to him as he tries to prepare his team for the NCAA Tournament.

Word leaked last week that Villanova had reached out to Willard, but that Maryland was set to counter with an eight-year extension that would make Willard one of the top 10 highest paid coaches in the country.

Yet Willard said on Thursday he wants more NIL money and revenue sharing for the program.

When asked about the extension, which Inside Maryland Sports reported athletic director Damon Evans leaked to the media, Willard said, “Damon and I talked on Sunday night right before Selection Sunday. He gave me a term sheet right before Selection Sunday. I really wasn’t focused on it. The focus is on this team. Damon’s been talking to my agent. I talked to Damon this morning at length about where we are. Obviously, it’s difficult right now, because I think we know his situation.”

Which is … “He’s probably going to SMU,” Willard said. “So it’s kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that’s maybe not here, but I need to make fundamental changes to the program. That’s what I’m focused on right now. That’s why, probably, a deal hasn’t got done. Because I want to see, I need to see fundamental changes. I want this program to be great. I want to be the best in the country. I want to win a national championship.”

Neither Evans nor SMU (the school in Texas with all the money?) have made any kind of announcement, so for the Maryland basketball coach to announce his school’s athletic director is probably leaving for another school kind of tells us that Willard doesn’t want Evans to change his mind and stay at Maryland.

In other words (as Gary Williams likes to say), it was public leveraging and negotiating by Willard for what he says he wants for his program, which is a pretty big risk to take, particularly less than 24 hours before the most important game of a season that is just approaching its potential promise.

“You know,” Willard said in pointing out Maryland basketball has been “one of the worst, if not lowest, in NIL in the last two years” … “I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team, and I was told that we can’t do that because it’s too expensive. So I don’t know how we can be a top-tier program, and I can’t spend one extra night in New York because it’s too expensive. So there’s fundamental things I’m fighting for, for my team and my program.

“I’ve addressed it with them directly. You know, I’ll say this. This is not so much about me. It seems I want to make sure that whatever we do going forward, we’re successful, and we’re successful at the highest rate. So I’m confident that we’ll get things done. It’s a little difficult right now. I’m not going to lie, but I’m confident that no matter who we’re negotiating with at the end of the day, this program is going to be in a great spot. And that’s really my focus, is this tournament, this team and this program.”

Yet another Maryland Moment at the most inopportune time.

Still … Gotta like Kevin Willard’s candor. Gotta like his grit.

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