It’s been a rocky start to the men’s basketball season in College Park. Year 2 of the Kevin Willard era at Maryland has seen its share of highs and lows, leaving the Terrapins on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
With Maryland sitting at 11-7 overall and 3-4 in Big Ten play, it’s worth wondering whether Willard and company are trending in the wrong direction.
The program last advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2016 and has fallen from the lofty heights under head coach Gary Williams between 1993 and 2004. That stretch included Maryland winning a national title in 2002 as well as reaching the Final Four in 2001 and the Sweet 16 seven times.
Since then, the Terps only have reached the second weekend of the Big Dance once, in that 2016 run under then-head coach Mark Turgeon.
With all that in mind, BetMaryland.com – your home base for Maryland sports betting - broke down where the Terps have ranked in the Big Ten to see where the program stands now in comparison to when they moved into their new digs from the ACC way back in 2014.
Maryland Basketball in Big Ten
Using Sports-Reference.com, here is how Maryland has fared year by year since joining the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season.
Analysis of Big Ten Tenure
While the Terps have made the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament six times in the nine seasons there was an event, the program has backslid from its lofty heights during Williams’ watch between 1990 and 2010. Between those 1993-94 and 2003-04 seasons, Maryland was ranked in the Associated Press poll and made the tournament each year, a feat they’ve accomplished in just 11 of the 20 seasons since.
Additionally, Maryland’s average tournament seed (4.7) in the 14 times that Williams led the school to the Big Dance dwarfed the success that Turgeon and Willard have had. The successors to Williams have made the tournament six times between 2011-12 and 2022-23 with an average seed of 6.5.
When it comes to conference play, Maryland’s run of late has hit the skids a bit, with their average Big Ten win total going from 12.2 between 2014-15 and 2019-20 to 7.5 between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
At the moment, Willard and the Terps’ focus is on knocking off Tom Izzo’s Michigan State team Sunday. The Spartans are tied with Maryland back in the pack at 3-4. Oddsmakers from ESPN BET Maryland list the Terps at +25000 to win the Big Ten, tied for Minnesota for eighth place.
After the Michigan State game, Maryland has a chance to further bolster its tournament resume through the rest of the month with games against Iowa (on the road on Jan. 24) and Nebraska (at home on Jan. 27).
FanDuel Maryland lists the Terps way down the board to win the NCAA Tournament at +20000. FanDuel lists another Big Ten team, Purdue, as its favorite at +800, followed by UConn, Arizona and Houston at +1000.
If you do decide to place a wager, make sure you have Maryland sports betting promos at the ready.
