Is this Maryland basketball team better than those standout Melo Trimble and Anthony Cowan-led Terps squads?
The phrase "Final Four" is being associated with Maryland basketball for the first time in five seasons. Is this Terps team better than the last two that earned that sort of talk?
The phrase "Final Four" is being associated with Maryland basketball for the first time in a while. Advanced metrics argue this is the strongest Terps team since the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and they're becoming a popular pick to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. But
For some, that was the expectation. But few could've projected the sort of dominance from Maryland (21-5 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) has shown the past two months. Experts have declared the Terps as one of the most dangerous teams in the country.
Maryland's had strong regular seasons in the past decade, two of which stand out: the 2019-2020 Big Ten co-championship team, and the Melo Trimble-led 2015-2016 team that
Mark Turgeon's 2019-20 team started red hot at 15-1 on Jan. 9 and faded late but clinched a share of the Big Ten championship. There are better teams in Maryland's illustrious history, but no season is a bigger "What if?" for Terp fans than the 2019-2020 team. The shared Big Ten champion's season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthony Cowan didn't get his crowning March moment, nor did Jalen Smith get to show off his budding stardom. The Terps were the No. 11 team in KenPom at the end of the season.
Looking back after five years, Maryland's legacy would've likely been determined by the draw it received in the NCAA tournament. This was a strong team, but it wasn't a buzzsaw. They had inconsistencies and were a top-heavy group; third-leading scorer (Aaron Wiggins) shot 37% from the field. They shot just 41% from the field and 31% from three-point range in Big Ten play, which both ranked at the bottom of the conference. Maryland finished the season in a slump too, losing three of its final five contests. It dropped a critical home game to Michigan State at the end of February.
But its 24-7 record is also the 13th-highest win percentage in the program's history.
In 2015-2016, Melo Trimble became an undisputed star and Maryland climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll. One of the best guards in program history, Trimble followed up his breakout freshman year with another big one and was surrounded by big-name players like Jake Layman, Robert Carter and Diamond Stone.
Hoops Explorer ranked them as the No. 7 team in the country. That team had ranked wins over No. 3 Iowa and No. 18 Purdue, but went 2-4 against ranked opponents and lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament semifinals. Maryland also won an unusual number of close games, going 7-3 in games decided by two possessions or less. They went 16-1 at Xfinity Center.
I would argue this was Turgeon's best team. They were top five in the Big Ten in points scored and points allowed. The Terps just ran into top overall seed Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen.
The conclusion:
Maryland's winning percentage (77.8) is higher than the 2020 and 2016 teams' percentages. Its plus-16 average win margin is superior to both of those past teams' margins.
They're not flawless, of course. A soft non-conference schedule cost the Terps opportunities for quality wins outside of the Big Ten, which is a small red mark on their resume. Maryland has two ranked wins this season, against a pair of Big Ten teams ranked No. 17 at the time, Illinois and Wisconsin. They'll have multiple chances to add to that in the final four games, beginning next Wednesday against Michigan State ($20 off tickets with code "IMS" at checkout).
The Terps are steamrolling towards March and with a strong NCAA tournament showing, they'd surpass those teams. Each group had a unique profile, but a second weekend or Elite Eight appearance for the current Terps team would earn them the title of the best Maryland team in the past decade-plus.
