In their first season in the Big Ten, the Maryland Terrapins have turned out to be the real deal pretty good, I’ve always referred to the Maryland Terrapins as “ACC Illinois Fighting Illini,” in both sports. They even had relatively the same decline at the same time in hoops.
Both Maryland and Illinois had that one exceptional once in a life time season (2002 for the Terps, 2005 for the Illini)
Both fell down from a NCAA Tournament team every year, to now being a bubble team/NIT bound every season or so. And it happened in both Champaign and College Park at the same time.
I discussed the Maryland Terrapins, as well as the state of the Big Ten on The Weekend Sports Report with Packer Dave and Steve Leventhal. You can listen here. I come on around the 24:30 mark.
I picked the Terps to finish third in the Big Ten in October, and I was in a minority with that pick. That prediction is looking good now though! Yes, even in spite of the really bad loss today at Iowa.
I felt the team had a good mix of leadership and youth with their two stars, the senior transfer from Xavier Dez Wells, and the freshman McDonald’s All-American Melo Trimble.
Despite the poor effort, the Maryland Terrapins still have the league’s best signature win (Iowa State). The Maryland Terrapins will host Wisconsin on February 24th for the year’s only meeting between the two teams.
So they can make their move then.
Fear the Turtle! Maybe. Sort of. Probably.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)