It is here, it is time for the Madness to begin for the Terps! The border battle finds its way into the opening round of the tournament, as the 8 seed Maryland Terrapins face off against the 9 seed West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Terps are looking to refocus themselves as they won one game in Illinois before being bounced out by Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. They look to grab their first NCAA Tournament Win under Willard this afternoon, as they face off against WVU for the first tournament game of the year!
For the Terps, they come into this game with a lot of expectations from a fans’ perspective. At the end of the day, these Terps were projected to finish 10th in the Big Ten, not have a winning record, and have rough sailing under Willard for his first year. It has thankfully not been the case this season. Finishing in the mix in the Big Ten with a chance for the 2 seed up until the last game of the season, the Terps have exceeded their expectations from an expert point of view.
The Terps will look to prove the experts wrong once again, as 25 out of 26 tournament experts have the Mountaineers escaping past Maryland here shortly. Transfer Guard Jahmir Young has been nothing short of great this season for Maryland. He has led the team, with 16.1 points per game. Julian Reese continues to be an X factor as of late for the Terps, and to get past West Virginia today, they need to see a promising performance from him.
The Mountaineers finished 8th in the Big Twelve this season. They sit behind Guard Erik Stevenson who averaged just over 15 points per game this season, and has shown he can shoot the 3 pretty well when it matters. They are coming off of a 1 win tournament session as well, taking down Texas Tech, before they were eliminated by Kansas.
The lights are on at the big stage, all of this talk about Maryland being a terrible road team, it is all put to the test today. The Terps have a chance to shut down some haters and attempt to move onto the round of 32. The Terps have the privilege of starting the Madness off at 12:15. Go Terps!
The post The Terps start off March Madness with a Border Battle against West Virginia. appeared first on Marylandsportsblog.com.