Maryland Basketball: Terps propel to No. 17 in AP Top 25 poll
Maryland basketball accelerated five spots to No. 17 in Week 13 of the AP Top 25 poll.
The Maryland basketball team elevated five spots to No. 17 in the Week 13 edition of the AP Top 25 poll.
The Terps earned the No. 17 spot after a pair of wins last week against Rutgers and a crucial road victory over Minnesota Saturday afternoon.
The latest rankings mark Maryland’s third straight week in the AP Top 25 after entering the poll two weeks ago at No. 25 for the first time since the preseason rankings were released.
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Maryland’s extraordinary play has caught the attention of many across the country including the AP pollsters. According to CollegePollTracker.com, a site dedicated to indexing each AP ballot per week, not one pollster placed Maryland outside the Top 25 for the first time this season.
In the AP Poll consisting of 65 pollsters, one pollster Doug Doughty from The Roanoke Times placed the Terps at No. 7 in his Week 13 poll submission. WDRB Sports’ Rick Bozich is another pollster impressed by Maryland’s play as his Week 13 rankings featured Maryland as the No. 11 team in the country. Lastly, Maryland native and bestselling author John Feinstein submitted his rankings with Maryland at No. 13.
Last week the college basketball world witnessed 13 of the Top 25 teams lose which helped fuel Maryland’s surge to the No. 17 spot this week. Identical to their AP ranking, the Terps sit at 17 in the RPI with a 3-0 record against top 50 teams.
In the world of bracketology, both ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and Sports Illustrated project the Maryland Terrapins as the No.5 seed in the field of 68.
Sports Illustrated’s Michael Beller summarized Maryland’s season perfectly in his latest Bracket Watch article which he wrote:
"No win really jumps off the page, but the Terrapins have done a great job of taking care of business when they’re supposed to all season. There’s a lot of value in that, especially when you’re in a conference like the Big Ten."
Right now, Maryland shares first place in the Big Ten with Wisconsin at 7-1 with the surging Northwestern Wildcats just a half game behind at 7-2.
A tough February awaits Maryland starting with a home contest Saturday at noon against No. 23 Purdue. However, the Terps most difficult stretch includes back-to-back road games against No. 25 Northwestern on Wed, Feb 15 and No. 10 Wisconsin on Sun, Feb 19.
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The national spotlight is shining brightly on Maryland basketball and it’ll be intriguing to see how Maryland performs in February leading up to March.