Where Maryland Basketball Stands

Despite how badly things have gone at times this year - you know, the loss to Morgan State, the blown 17 point lead to Miami, losing by 41 to Duke - Maryland is still somehow in a relatively favorable position to make the tournament. With one great non-conference win (Michigan State), one good one (Michigan), and one decent one (American), and only one bad loss (and Morgan's moving up the RPI standings themselves), 8-8 in conference with a tournament win may still get the job done. 

It does depend on what teams make up each 8, however. So, I'm going to categorize the remaining 11 conference games based on conference standings right now. 

The Elite

The Teams: There are clearly four elite teams in the conference - UNC, Duke, Wake and Clemson. Maryland has a total of six games against these opponents. They already played the away game of a home-and-away with Duke, they have two games with UNC, they have a home date with Wake, and an away game at Wake.

Bottom Line: You will have to go 2-4 in these six games (2-3 the rest of the way). 

How to do it: A 41-point loss still only counts as one loss, so you have to go 2-3 the rest of the way out. It obviously didn't look like it last Saturday, but a penchant of teams coached by Gary Williams is the ability to show up for the big game. There has only been one year since the 1999-2000 season when the team didn't win at least one game against Duke or Carolina. I'm calling a home win against Duke on February 25th. The players have heart, and they will be looking toward that game for a long time. All that leaves is to get a home win against Wake or a road win against Clemson. I don't like it either, but it's what you're faced with. 

The Really Good

The Teams: There are four teams besides Maryland that are in the middle of the conference, and will more likely than not be bubble teams at the end of the year - Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College. Maryland has already played Florida State in their only match of the season, and dropped the away part of a home-and-away with Miami. They play a home game against Boston College (tonight), and an away game at Virginia Tech. 

Bottom Line: You will need to go 2-3 against these teams (2-1 the rest of the way). 

How to do it: The silver lining of the Terps' failed trip to Florida was that the games at Miami and Florida State are the two toughest games during this stretch. Away against Virginia Tech will be extremely difficult as well, unless you believe in sayings like "we're due" and the law of averages. So, what that means is that the game tonight against BC is a must-win, which isn't too bad because they typically play BC pretty well. It also means that they will probably need to beat Miami in College Park. They should have beaten Miami in Miami this year, so that is also plausible. 

The Bottom Teams

The Teams: And then, there are the three teams that are still quality opponents, but are definitely the three bottom teams of the ACC - Virginia, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech. The Terps won their home part of home-and-away series with UVA and GT. They face North Carolina State on the road later in the team. 

Bottom Line: You will need to go 4-1 in these games (2-1 the rest of the way). 

How to do it: This is the exact opposite scenario as the category before. The two easiest games of these three were the home dates against Georgia Tech and Virginia, and the Terps took care of business and won both of those games. Now, they need to go 2-1 on the road against these three teams. They should be able to beat GT in Atlanta. NC State might give them trouble because of Brandon Costner inside, so that would leave Virginia at Virginia for the last game of year - again. They may want to beat NC State. 

(Photo Credits: AP)