Maryland Basketball: Roundup of Terps 2017 NCAA Tournament predictions
Maryland basketball earns a surprising six seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, despite their inability to take advantage of a pro-Maryland crowd at Verizon Center during the Big Ten Tournament.
For Maryland basketball, who ended the regular season with a focal victory over Michigan State after a game-winning three-point basket by no other than junior Melo Trimble (Stay Melo), came up empty handed against Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference Tournament that’s basically in your backyard.
Nonetheless, following a 24-win season with just eight losses, the Maryland Terrapins earn their third straight at-large bid as the 6-seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The Terps will play Thursday, Mar. 16 at 6:50 p.m. ET against 11-seed Xavier at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.
One of the first methods when filling out your March Madness bracket is picking the inevitable first round (now second round) upsets.
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An early upset favorite among college basketball fans is the undervalued Witchita State and the Terps’ second round opponent, the 11-seed Xavier Musketeers.
With that being said, let’s examine some of the most notable 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions involving the Maryland basketball team.
Also, get your printable 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket here.
FiveThirtyEight
Jay Boice and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver has released their 2017 March Madness predictions that include round-by-round probabilities with live updates throughout the tournament.
#MarchMadness predictions are live! https://t.co/01m5kCBygA pic.twitter.com/IMm0kzQCnb
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) March 13, 2017
As of Monday, FiveThirtyEight gives Villanova the best chance of winning the tournament at 15 percent. After Villanova, the top seed in the West region Gonzaga has a 14 percent chance of winning it all.
For Maryland, FiveThirtyEight gives the Terps just a 51 percent odds to advance past Xavier and only a 17 percent chance to make progress to the Sweet Sixteen. Finally, the site presents the Terps with a four percent to reach the Elite Eight, followed by a mere 0.9 percent to reach the Final Four in Pheonix, Arizona.
Bleacher Report
College Basketball National Lead Writer C.J. Moore of Bleacher Report delivered his picks for every first and second round matchups in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.
“A fun and exhausting exercise,” Moore proclaimed Sunday on Twitter as he provides a breakdown of each single game in the March Madness bracket.
In Maryland’s matchup against 11-seed Xavier, Moore takes the Terps over the Musketeers. Moore believes Terps’ junior Melo Trimble will be the difference maker against a Xavier team without their top point guard Edmond Sumner.
Despite the exceptional Xavier coach, Chris Mack’s team has only picked up wins against DePaul and Butler since Sumner’s injury.
Moore left us with this last sentence:
"Maryland has its star point guard (Melo Trimble), and that will be the difference in this one."
CBS Sports
CBS Sports college basketball experts Jerry Palm, Gary Parrish, and Matt Norlander are just some of many college basketball experts from CBS Sports to deliver full NCAA Tournament predictions.
One bracket included in CBS Sports March Madness prediction is a national bracket, generated by you the people.
Here’s the breakdown of picks for 6-seed Maryland vs. 11-seed Xavier from CBS Sports:
| National Bracket: | Maryland |
|---|---|
| Gary Parish: | Maryland |
| Jerry Palm: | Xavier |
| Matt Norlander: | Xavier |
| Chip Patterson: | Maryland |
| Kyle Boone: | Maryland |
| Howard Megdal: | Maryland |
| Dennis Dodd: | Xavier |
Land of 10
Corey Masisak from Land of 10 went the distance, presenting predictions for every matchup in NCAA Tournament.
2017 NCAA Tournament: Picks, predictions for the entire bracket https://t.co/z1vJFFvpBg pic.twitter.com/2uk8tVyGpc
— Saturday Out West (@satoutwest) March 13, 2017
One of the few college basketball writers that I’ve seen so far not joining the Xavier bandwagon and apprehends the team’s ineffective play since losing sophomore Edmond Sumner to season-ending knee injury.
Masisak advances Maryland past Xavier in a third round matchup against arguably the most popular upset pick in this year’s tournament, Florida Gulf Coast Unversity, aka, Dunk City. Masisak elects to launch the Maryland basketball team into the Sweet Sixteen and noted:
"Maryland fans would say something like “it would be so Maryland for the Terps to lose this game.”"
In Maryland basketball’s second-straight Sweet Sixteen appearance, Masisak pairs Maryland against the fourth-ranked Arizona Wildcats. Picking the unquestioned favorite Wildcats, Masisak says:
"Oh boy, this would mean four days of “Hey, remember when everyone thought Sean Miller was taking the Maryland job for like four hours?”"
Sporting News
MLB and college hoops writer Ryan Fagan of Sporting News presents his picks the old-fashioned way, pen, and paper.
My first attempt at filling out the bracket. Pretty sure I hate it. https://t.co/IaXJMML4I7 pic.twitter.com/Zg4TDjWdLP
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) March 13, 2017
In Fagan’s fascinating NCAA Tournament bracket picks piece, he mentioned his history of witnessing a ton of upsets during the opening weekend while covering a set location. He mentions being in person for not one, but two historical 15-over-2 upsets and the double-digit upset frenzy in 2008 in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Fagan goes on to reveal his NCAA Tournament site:
"Anyway, I’m heading to Orlando, where I’ll see two 12-5 matchups — everyone’s favorite upset pick — and two 13-4 games. Yep, I picked a few upsets there."
Coincidentally, the Maryland basketball team will play Xavier in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center. In addition, Fagan states that he only has one Big Ten team winning a game, and it’s certainly not Maryland, as he chooses Xavier to come out victorious.