Now that we know which team top-seeded Kansas (32-4) will face in this year’s Sweet 16 this week in Louisville, it’s time to take a little closer look at the Maryland Terrapins.
As you all surely know by now, a terrapin is a turtle and this troop of tortoises is coached by [former KU guard Mark Turgeon][1], who hails from Topeka and played at Kansas from 1984-87. Turgeon also served as a team captain.
Maryland, a No. 5 seed in the South region, enters Thursday’s showdown with the Jayhawks — slated for 8:40 p.m. central on CBS — with a 27-8 record and on the heels of first- and second-round victories over South Dakota State and Hawaii.
The Terrapins, who opened the season ranked No. 18 in The Associated Press’ preseason poll, spent all but two weeks after that ranked in the Top 10 before finishing the regular season right where they began the preseason — ranked No. 18.
Maryland reached as high as second in the AP poll for three different weeks — Weeks 3, 4 and 14 — and was in the Top 5 for nine weeks.
After reaching the No. 2 spot in Week 14 back on Feb. 8, Maryland lost five of eight down the stretch and watched a 22-3 mark turn into a 25-8 record heading into the Big Dance.
The losses during that stretch were: vs. Wisconsin (70-57), at Minnesota (68-63), at Purdue (83-79), at Indiana (80-62) and vs. Michigan State (64-61).
Four of those five teams made the tournament and two of them — Indiana and Wisconsin — joined Maryland in reaching the Sweet 16.
Maryland’s other losses during the 2015-16 season were at Michigan State (74-65) on Jan. 23, at Michigan (70-67) on Jan. 12 and at North Carolina (89-81) on Dec. 1.
Despite the impressive sound of those defeats, you should remember that they all *were* losses and kenpom.com ranked Maryland’s schedule as the 47th toughest in college basketball this season.
KenPom.com ranked KU’s schedule as the seventh toughest.
KU and Maryland had two common opponents — Michigan State and UConn — and had similar results against both, with Maryland losing twice to Michigan State in tight games and KU losing to the Spartans 79-73 in the Champions Classic in November, and both beating Connecticut, Maryland 76-66 at home in December and KU 73-61 last week in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament.
Now for a few basic quick facts and stats (KU’s numbers are in parentheses):
**Points per game:** 76.1 — (82)
**Field goal percentage:** .488 — (.496)
**Field goal percentage D:** .405 — (.397)
**Three-point percentage:** .367 — (.423)
**Free throw percentage:** .771 — (.710)
**Rebounds per game:** 35.3 — (38)
**Turnovers per game:** 12.8 — (12.5)
Two players with slick names — 6-3 sophomore guard Melo Trimble and 6-11 freshman center Diamond Stone — lead the Terps in scoring at 14.8 and 12.7 points per game — and three other Maryland players enter Thursday’s game averaging in double figures in scoring.
Maryland starts two seniors, a junior, a sophomore and a freshman, including senior forward Rasheed Sulaimon, a former Duke standout who transferred to Maryland following the 2014-15 season after being kicked off the team by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski following a tumultuous couple of seasons with the Blue Devils.
KU is 0-1 all-time against Maryland in the NCAA Touranment — that loss came in the 2002 Final Four, a game many believed should’ve been the title game that season — but owns a 3-2 overall record against Maryland, with the victories coming in 1964 (63-61 at Maryland), 1965 (71-62 in Lawrence) and 1984 (58-56 in the Great Alaska Shootout). The other loss, an 86-83 setback, came in 1997 in Washington D.C. at the Franklin Bank Classic.
We’ll have much, much more on Maryland and the match-up when we get to Louisville, so be sure to check out Kusports.com throughout the week for all kinds of stories, audio, videos, insight and analysis from KU’s first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 2013.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2016/mar/21/turgeon-ku-bittersweet-16-foe/
