Maryland Basketball Should Be No. 1 Team in Polls

Maryland basketball is currently ranked No. 2 in the polls, but they should be the top-ranked team in the country.

Count me in as one of the many people who think that the Maryland Terrapins should be ranked No. 1 in the country.

Many wondered where Maryland basketball might stand in this week’s college basketball rankings after previously No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 North Carolina suffered loss last week. What we didn’t expect was the team behind the Terps to leapfrog into the top spot.

Maryland was No. 3 in the Coaches Poll and No. 4 in the AP Poll last week, and many felt would claim the top spot with a road win over Nebraska and a win over a ranked Purdue team on Saturday. Instead, the Villanova Wildcats have been slotted into the No. 1 spot ahead of the Terps. What makes you really scratch your head is that Joe Lunardi does not have the Terps as a projected No. 1 seed in the tornament despite being ranked so highly.

Did I miss something that the rest of the country does not see?

I have the upmost respect for Jay Wright and the Wildcats. I know all about Big 5 basketball and it’s history as a Temple alum. I’ve had to privilege to be at several of Wright’s press conferences and he was always a class act. I just don’t feel they are worthy of holding the No. 1 spot.

The numbers are pretty impressive. Villanova is 20-3 and has a conference record of 10-1. The two out of conference losses were against Oklahoma and Virginia. Both teams are quality opponents this season. The conference loss was at home against Providence, the same team they beat this weekend on the road. They also dismantled Xavier, currently ranked No. 5 in the country, with a 95-64 home win on New Years Eve.

Now let’s compare that to the Terps. Maryland also has three losses on the season, all to quality opponents. Michigan State and North Carolina are each ranked in the top-10 and contenders to win it all. Michigan is always a tough team to beat on the road. Maryland has an absurd advantage at home as they are 31-1 at the XFINITY Center and undefeated in Big Ten Conference play.

The Terps are coming off a 10-day stretch that included home wins against ranked Iowa and Purdue, as well as victories on the road against Ohio State and Nebraska. I might be biased, but think that the competition in the Big Ten is better than that of the Big East – a conference that is easy to forget about with all the new conference alignments.

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Let me say it again: Villanova is a good team. I’m just not buying that what they have done is better than Maryland. Maryland plays against some of the top teams in the country on a nightly basis with their conference. The Big East has some good teams, but the level of competition is not the same as that the Terps play. A team like Wisconsin is having an average season in the Big Ten, but plug them into most conferences, including the Big East, and they are making a run at the regular season conference title.

Maryland is also fielding a better team. Melo Trimble is a finalist for the Naismith College Player of the Year. Diamond Stone has NBA scouts salivating. Rasheed Sulaimon, Robert Carter and Jake Layman are also catching the attention of NBA personnel.

The next three games for the Terps should be wins as they host Division II school Bowie State tomorrow. Wisconsin comes to College Park on Saturday and then the team will travel to Minnesota to take on a Gophers team that has yet to earn a win in conference play. Meanwhile, Nova will play two games against DePaul and St. John’s, the two teams on the bottom of the Big East standings, before a matchup with my alma mater, the Temple Owls.

It’s possible that the Terps find themselves as the No. 1 team or still behind the Wildcats as both teams have a favorable schedule in the upcoming weeks. Anything could happen as it has been a while since a team held down the No. 1 spot for consecutive weeks.

Next: Terps National Signing Day Recap

The No. 1 ranking is something that Maryland basketball would love to earn, but what matters most is how they are playing once March Madness begins. This team has all the pieces to win another national championship. We want the Terps to be No. 1 at the end of March, not in mid-February.

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