Maryland Terrapins: Brace for a big drop in the rankings
After winning 18 out of their first 20 games, the Maryland Terrapins have lost two out of three. And they haven’t just lost those games, they took a bullet to the heart in both contests. Nine days ago in Indiana, they suffered an 89-70 loss to the Hoosiers. A week later, they traveled to Ohio, and lost by 24 points to the Buckeyes.
In between those two games, they hosted Northwestern in the Xfinity Center and nearly fell short to the 10-10 Boilermakers. Maryland trailed by 11 with about five minutes to go against a Northwestern team that was coming off of five straight losses, but a furious comeback and a tip-in by Dez Wells with 1.4 seconds left saved the Terps from dropping far down the rankings.
They won the game by a score of 68-67, and dropped just three spots to No. 16 in the nation. However, after suffering a beating to an unranked Ohio St. team, that 16 ranking will not be existent for long.
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The Buckeyes do have a good club. They hold a record of 17-5 (6-3 in the Big Ten), are ranked 16th in the nation in points, 14th in assists, and third in field goal percentage. They were also coming off a 12-point victory over the No. 23 ranked Indiana Hoosiers. However, losing to any unranked team by a 24-point margin is an occurrence that will dearly hurt your spot in the rankings.
The only question becomes how far exactly will the Terps drop. Considering they are ranked 16th at the moment and don’t have another game until after the rankings come out on Monday, I’m thinking that they will drop five or six spots. They will probably find themselves inserted back into the 20s.
The Terps have a relatively easy schedule remaining with only two ranked teams upcoming. Their only really tough opponent will come on February 24th against the Wisconsin Badgers, who are ranked fifth in the country. Other than that, the 23rd ranked Hoosiers pose as the only other team that even scares you a bit.
Time will tell as to how far down the Terps will drop, but one thing is definitive: They will suffer some sort of a hit in the rankings on Monday, and it will be well deserved.