Maryland basketball "should be ranked," plus a look at where all voters had the Terps in top 25
Maryland was the unofficial No. 26 team in this week's AP poll.
As we now know, the Maryland men's basketball team fell just one spot short of being ranked in Monday's AP poll.
Plenty of voters had Maryland (10-2, 1-1 Big Ten) in their ballots, including CJ Moore from The Athletic. Moore had the Terps at No. 19 and included a blurb on them in his weekly breakdown.
"In two wins last week, Maryland's opponents shot just five free throws," Moore wrote in an article published Monday. "The Terps do an excellent job of vertical contests at the rim.
"Syracuse made just 13 of its 23 shots at the rim. Maryland is now up to seventh in adjusted defense at KenPom, and what it's best at is keeping opponents off the free throw line and limiting them to just one shot; the Terps rank ninth in defensive rebounding rate. My fellow AP voters need to catch up. This team should be ranked."
The metrics consider the Terps a consensus top 15 team, let alone top 25. Maryland is No. 7 in the NET, No. 11 at both KenPom and BartTorvik, No. 14 in both EvanMiya and the ESPN BPI and No. 4 at Haslametrics.
Only one AP voter, Jeff Neiburg of The Philadelphia Inquirer, had Maryland in the top 15. Neiburg ranked the Terps 13th.
Six other AP voters had Maryland in the top 20. Brian Holland of WVLA-TV/WGMB-TV, Parth Upadhyaya of The Daily Memphian and Victor Flores of Billings Gazette each had Maryland at No. 18. Moore and Dave Preston of local WTOP Radio each had Maryland at No. 19. Donna Ditota of the Syracuse Post-Standard had the Terps ranked 20th.
Three voters had Maryland ranked 21st, four 22nd, four 23rd, eight 24th and three 25th. Thirty-three voters did not rank Maryland.
The Terps should take care of business this Saturday against Maryland Eastern Shore to win their only game this week. The win itself will not do enough to change voters' minds, but other ranked teams could lose, which may propel Maryland into the poll.
A lot of voters are likely waiting to see a signature victory for Maryland as it has just one Quadrant One win and one Quadrant Two win on the season. Those opportunities will be plentiful come Big Ten play. For at least this Saturday, Maryland will continue to play without a number next to its name on the score bug.
