Final Bracketology: After loss to Michigan, did Maryland basketball's NCAA Tournament seed fall?
The immediate question following Maryland basketball's 82-81 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals was, how can a team this good lose so many games on buzzer-beaters? But once that shock subsided, it was time to move on to another one: what seed will the Terps get in the NCAA Tournament?
The immediate question following Maryland basketball's 82-81 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals was, how can a team this good lose so many games on buzzer-beaters? But once that shock subsided, it was time to move on to another one: what seed will the Terps get in the NCAA Tournament?
Maryland enters Selection Sunday with a strong resume. The Terps are 25-8. They finished tied for second in a difficult Big Ten. Their only four losses in the past couple of months all came on buzzer-beaters. They're ranked 12th nationally by KenPom, with the sixth-best defensive efficiency in the country. What will that earn them?
Most bracketologists have the Terps as a No. 3 or No. 4 seed. That's not bad for a team that was dropped from ESPN's projected field early in the season and was a No. 8 two months ago after their 1-3 Big Ten start. Entering the Big Ten Tournament, many believed they needed to get to the finals to move up to a three, but that was before several teams with similar ratings -- Texas A&M, Iowa State, Kentucky and Texas Tech -- were bounced from their conference tournaments early.
If they're a three-seed, it would be their highest seed since the national championship season of 2002, when they earned their only No. 1 seed in program history. A win against Michigan might've ensured that, but now it appears most likely they'll slide to a four.
Entering the day, ESPN's Joe Lunardi had Maryland as a three seed in the East, facing UNC-Wilmington, a rematch of that Drew Nicholas buzzer-beater in the 2003 NCAAs. But after the loss, he jumped Iowa State ahead of Maryland and dropped them into a far less attractive scenario, to a No. 4 seed playing all the way out in Seattle, two wins away from a possible matchup against No. 1 seed Duke.
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CBSSports' Jerry Palm had them in that exact same spot against the same opponent but hasn't updated his bracket yet.
The website Team Rankings lists their most likely seed as a three, giving them a 12.6 percent chance to make the Final Four. Bracket Matrix, which displays the average seedings from dozens of bracketologists, has them as the second-highest No. 4 seed.
This will be updated as more brackets are updated.
