Welcome, Maryland: Evaluating the Terps’ First B1G Schedule
Posted by Deepak Jayanti on November 3rd, 2014When Nebraska moved from the Big 12 to the Big Ten in 2011, its first basketball schedule was no walk in the park, rating as the toughest among the 12 teams according to KenPom. The Big Ten goes through an extensive process to set a roughly equivalent league schedule for its teams, but it would not be hard to believe that the league might haze the newcomers with especially challenging schedules during their first seasons on board. Ongoing debates about which school or league has the best home court advantage is a huge part of college sports and it is likely that the schedule-makers designed a slate of games to see if Nebraska could handle the rigors of the Big Ten season (the answer to that question depends on how you view a 4-14 mark). Big Ten hoops fans will need to get used to playing Maryland in College Park in the same way that the Terps will have to become accustomed to trips to Iowa City, Minneapolis and Lincoln, but let’s take a gander into the Terrapins’ Big Ten schedule to see if the league will be giving them a fair welcome this year.
Mark Turgeon’s Terps could get off to a rocky start in the Big Ten. (Getty)
Mark Turgeon’s squad debuts conference play at Michigan State on December 30. Look no further than the first Big Ten game — the schedulers ask Maryland to venture into the Breslin Center, arguably the toughest building in the entire league! To round up the Terps’ first month of conference play, Maryland must play road games at Illinois, Purdue, Indiana and Ohio State, and Pomeroy projects Maryland to lose every one of those four January road games. The trips to East Lansing and Columbus will certainly be no picnics, as the Spartans and the Buckeyes have more than enough talent on hand to compete for the league title again. A game against a hungry Illinois squad, led by third-year coach John Groce trying to get his program back to the NCAAs, will not be an easy task either. Purdue and Indiana look to be young and inexperienced teams, but they have good talent and will be desperate for early Big Ten wins to build a case for the postseason. If Maryland comes out of the first month of 2015 with more than one road victory among that group, Turgeon should feel pretty good about his team’s performance.
The rest of the conference slate doesn’t seem as daunting, at least on paper, as Maryland has five home games in February with road games including trips to Iowa, Penn State, Rutgers and Nebraska. The Huskers proved last season that they are a defensive force at home and they should only be better this year. Playing at Iowa is of course never easy either, but Maryland has enough talent to compete against the other mid-tier Big Ten teams and maybe steal a road win or two. Where the Terps become fortunate is in late February when they face Michigan and Wisconsin for the only time this season, with both games at home.
Overall, Pomeroy predicts that the Terps will finish 9-9 in the Big Ten race but it really depends on whether they can defend their home court this season. The team took four losses at the Comcast Center last year, and two of those were of the shameful variety against Oregon State and Boston University (somewhat countered by a win over ACC champion Virginia on the last day of the regular season). Maryland will host each of the four preseason favorites in College Park at some point this year, and those are opportunities that Turgeon cannot let slip away. Having said that, returning a healthy Evan Smotrycz along with a more mature Dez Wells could certainly help the team finish strong, especially in time for the Terps’ crucial home stand at the end of February.
Man, I totally forgot about Smotrycz on Maryland. I know the parting from Michigan was just for more playing time – not necessarily anything bad. Will be interesting playing against him.