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Now Or Never Part II

Home series against top team in the B1G.

There are only 9 games left in B1G season for us and, at 6-9 in conf, we are two losses out of even making the B1G tourney....WTF


Only 8 teams make the tourney and we currently in 9th

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MLAX: Zappitello Named Big Ten Defensive Player Of The Year, Two More Terps Named All-Big Ten

COLLEGE PARK, MD -- Several Terps received Big Ten yearly honors on Wednesday, April 24, headlined by Ajax Zappitello being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

In addition to Zappitello, midfielder Eric Spanos and faceoff specialist Luke Wierman each earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors.

Zappitello, who also earned All-Big Ten First Team honors, has led a unit allowing under 10 goals a game. He has a team-high 18 caused turnovers this season, including causing one in each of the first 10 games of the season. He frequently covers and shuts down the opposing team's top attackman and also has 24 groundballs and a goal on the season.

Zappitello is the fifth Terp to be named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year following Casey Ikeda (2015), Tim Muller (2017), Nick Grill (2021), and Brett Makar (2022 & 2023), making it four straight years the Terps have taken home the award. This also marks the second consecutive year Zappitello has been named First Team All-Big Ten.

Wierman, the program's all-time leader in faceoff wins, earns his third consecutive All-Big Ten honor. The graduate student ranks 13th in the nation in faceoff winning percentage at 59.1 percent (153/259) and is 10th in the nation in groundballs per game at 7.91 (87 total).

Spanos earns All-Big Ten honors for the first time in his career thanks to a 17-goal and 11-assist (28 points) regular season total. Spanos won Big Ten Offensive Player of Week twice this season and had five games where he totaled at least three points.

Additionally, senior midfielder Gabe Goforth is Maryland's 2024 Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree.

The No. 7 Terps are back in action on Thursday, May 2 in the Big Ten Semifinals against the winner of Penn State/Rutgers. The game will air live from Columbus, OH on Big Ten Network at 8:30 pm.
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Queen at the Jordan Brand Classic

Derik Queen had another standout performance at the Jordan Classic last night, going for 20 points in a winning effort. Dylan Harper was the top dog, going for 30 points, including the game winner. His Montverde teammate Liam McNeeley added 23 points in a losing effort. But again, I think it is safe to expect solid production from Queen next season. The question is how many minutes he'll play as he continues to shape his body. But again, sooooo skilled and his IQ is through the roof. Just a rare talent.

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Big week on tap for hoops recruiting

The weekend has come and passed with former Wisconsin sharp shooter Connor Essegian on campus but no commitment.

Unbeknownst to me, Essegian quickly departed College Park and made a trip down to Columbia, South Carolina where he visited the Gamecocks. Current Cocks head coach Lamont Paris was a long-time assistant at Wisconsin and also did a good job of helping former (now current, again) Ohio State point guard Meechie Johnson resurrect his career.

Here's the bottom line with Essegian from what I have been able to gather, he grew up a Michigan fan and had early interest in playing for the Wolverines. But at this time, Dusty May is in excellent shape with a number of top guards in the portal, including the top overall player and his former star at FAU, Johnell Davis. May has reached out to Essegian, but I dont' think the interest is as strong on Michigan's end as it was on his. As for the South Carolina visit, it makes sense given Paris' ties to Wisconsin and the fact it is an Under Armour school.

Moving forward, Michigan could still bring him in for a visit at some point and I am also hearing there are plans to possibly visit Indiana at some point this week. Beyond that, I don't know of any other schools he has interest in or is planning on visiting. I did like Maryland's chances as from what I could gather Maryland took the place of Michigan, but I was also unaware of the Carolina visit. I still think this could be an instance where we see a commitment in the coming few days, but I don't know this to be certain.

Looking ahead, the Terps will host South Florida guard Selton Miguel beginning today. Miguel was a major reason for South Florida winning their first conference regular-season title this year and was 2nd team All-AAC as well as 6th man of the year. He began his career at Kansas State before transferring to South Florida, so he has P6 experience. His three-point shooting percentage has increased every year and he shot 39% from beyond the arc this past season. He's got good size for a guard and is a solid perimeter defender. The connection here is fellow Angolan and former Terp Bruno Fernando who is close to Miguel.

Tomorrow the Terps will host UC San Diego guard Bryce Pope, who is coming off of an unofficial visit to USC last Friday. The Terps were one of the first schools to get heavily involved with Pope and will have a chance to roll out the red carpet this week. But unfortunately, while the Terps were able to make quick work of Gillespie and Rice, it seems the rest of these visitors are likely going to finish out their visits before making a decision. Pope is scheduled to visit Stanford and Florida State following this week's visit to Maryland and more schools continue to reach out. Obviously they will look to blow him away and close the deal on campus, but it seems very possible it could be a week or two before a decision comes.

The thing that makes all of this tricky is that many of these players have agents urging them to take visits and pick the best offer and many are hearing from and high on the same group of schools. So it could be that one school is higher on a player than another or that the player might be higher on a school than the coaches recruiting them. And for some it might simply be a matter of first to commit gets the spot. With Selton Miguel, he's been in talks with Michigan and USC, Pope has been in talks with USC, Essegian has been in talks with Michigan and Indiana and then all of these schools have guys high on their boards they hope to land that might take away a spot for one of these players visiting Maryland. It is basically like free agency now. This is also why landing Gillespie and Rice early on was so huge.

I will say this though, based on some things I've heard with regards to where some players stand with some of Maryland's competition for these three, this could be one of those times where the first two to commit are on board and the third is left on the outside looking in.

I hate to handicap at this point, but if I had to, as of right now I actually think Miguel might be the most likely to commit first and a toss up between the other two.

MLAX: Big Ten Announces 2024 Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Bracket

ROSEMONT, lll. – The Big Ten Conference has unveiled the bracket for the 2024 Men’s Lacrosse Tournament, which commences next Saturday. Third-ranked Johns Hopkins will be the No. 1 seed after clinching the Big Ten Championship outright with a 7-5 win over fifth-ranked Maryland on Saturday. The Blue Jays finished 5-0 in conference play.

Johns Hopkins (10-3) and No. 2 seed Maryland (8-4, 3-2 Big Ten) receive first round byes. Tournament action begins April 27 with quarterfinals featuring No. 4 seed Michigan (7-6, 2-3) hosting No. 5 seed Ohio State (6-8, 1-4) in Ann Arbor, Mich., and No. 3 seed Penn State (9-3, 3-2) facing No. 6 seed Rutgers (7-6, 1-4) in University Park, Pa. Game times are to be announced.

Tournament semifinals take place May 2. Johns Hopkins will meet the Michigan-Ohio State winner at 6:30 p.m. ET and Maryland will face the Penn State-Rutgers winner at 8 p.m. ET. The semifinals and championship game, scheduled for May 4 at 8 p.m. ET, will be held at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium in Columbus, Ohio with all three games carried by the Big Ten Network.

The winner of this year’s Big Ten Tournament will earn the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championship, with that bracket being announced at 9:30 p.m. (ET) May 5 on ESPNU.


Saturday, April 27 (Quarterfinals)

Game #1 — #5 seed Ohio State at #4 seed Michigan – Time TBA

Game #2 — #6 seed Rutgers at #3 seed Penn State – Time TBA


Thursday, May 2 (Semifinals)

Game #3 — #1 seed Johns Hopkins vs. Game #1 Winner – 6:30 p.m. ET (BTN)

Game #4 — #2 seed Maryland vs. Game #2 Winner – 8 p.m. p.m. ET (BTN)


Saturday, May 4 (Championship)

Game #5 — Semifinal winners – 8 p.m. ET (BTN)

News, notes from football scrimmage at Ballou

The Terps had an open scrimmage yesterday afternoon at Ballou in DC. It is the final warm up before next Saturday's spring game. Below are some notes and highlights from the day.

- After Cam Edge was the first to roll out with the first-team offense at the open practice up in Baltimore, it was Billy Edwards who started with the first-team offense during yesterday's scrimmage. The rest of the first-team unit was Hemby (RB), Prather (WR), Knotts (WR), Robert Smith (WR), P. Howard (TE), Dumervil (LT), Bunyun (LG), Kaltenberger (C), Bah (RG), Herron (RT). Tai Felton, Octavian Smith, Kyle Long and Conor Fagan were all out yesterday.

Edwards looked decent on the opening drive until he gave up a pick six to Rex Fleming who jumped a route and took it all the way.

- Morris ran with the second-team offense yesterday. Nolan Ray was the second unit's RB. AJ Szymanski was the TE. The second unit WR were Ryan Manning, Zeke Avit and Robert Smith again. Braeden Wisloski played mostly slot with the first unit, although he wasn't technically a starter. Billy Malloy (LT), Isaac Bunyun (LG), Tamarus Walker (C), Deandre Duffus (RG) and Andre Roye (RT) were the second unit o-line.

Morris hit Robert Smith for a touchdown in the back of the end zone on a nice drive by the second unit. Morris seems to be improving and probably has the best overall skillset of all the QBs, but he needs to keep learning the playbook and get more comfortable.

- Edge ran with the first unit and struggled with accuracy. I think it is safe to say Edge has the strongest arm when throwing the deep ball, but he needs to get better with timing and accuracy with shorter routes, especially quick throws to the outside. Long and Sauray both got to run some drills, but they aren't going to be competing for the starting job.

- There was one injury of note, as defensive lineman Lavon Johnson went down with an injury and needed medical help, including an air cast. This will definitely be something to watch going in to the spring game. Hopefully he's alright.

- After the scrimmage, DC Council member Trayon White announced that the weight room at Ballou will be renamed the 'Michael A. Locksley Training Center,' in his honor. Locks is a graduate of Ballou.

“I’m a DC kid and I’m the fabric and the DNA of what this city is all about, runs all through the veins of Mike Locksley," the Terrapin head coach said after being recognized. "To be honored with a proclamation from Trayon White here, who’s the ward eight councilman that represents the area that I spent half of my childhood. I was one of those guys that was on both sides of the bridge with Southwest being what I call home and then moving over to this side for high school. It’s great to be recognized. It’s great to be recognized for something other than just the football piece. It’s about making a difference in the lives of the community that I serve.”
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