Maryland Drops Out Of The Top 10 For The First Time This Season, Can Still Win The Big 10
Maryland has not been playing well over the last 2 weeks, to say the least. It started February 14th vs Wisconsin where they lost ugly, 70-57, and they haven’t exactly turned that ship back around. They followed that loss with a losing effort to the worst team in the B1G, Minnesota, before beating Michigan at home by 4. Maryland played well that game, but almost let Michigan back in at the end, which carried over to the road loss on Saturday at Purdue. Despite an awesome 7-0 run in 28 seconds and then tying the game, Maryland couldn’t overcome poor shooting from Sulaimon and Melo, falling to Purdue 83-79.
Melo’s poor shooting has been the story of the year so far. He started off the year looking so good, but has battled a nagging injury and his woeful shooting is the result. He’s the master at getting to the line, where he went 9/10 on free throws, but the Terps are not going to be able to go far with him shooting like this:
On the other hand, Jake Layman who could not buy a shot earlier in the season, has put together a very nice string of games, both offensively and defensively. His defense and rebounding has been Maryland’s bright spot all season, and now it looks like he’s finally getting that touch back that he’s been missing.
Everyone knows individually Maryland perhaps has the best roster in the country. But as a team they have yet to consistently put it all together. There’s no better time than now to get on a roll though, right? Two more regular season games to go, then tournament time. It’ll take a little this and a little that, but Maryland can still be the #1 seed in the B1G tournament, as crazy as that sounds.
Can’t say any Terps fan is pleased with their play as of yet, but the good news is no team in college hoops looks particularly great right now. And that’s the beauty of the tournament, one or two guys get hot, and you can make a run all the way to Houston. If Melo gets his shot back, they could be that team that I thought they would be at the beginning of the year.