March 11, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland men's basketball team will make its 22nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament when the Terrapins face Southern Conference champion Davidson on Thursday in a first-round game in Buffalo, N.Y. The Terps earned the fourth seed in the Midwest Regional, while the Wildcats are the 13th seed. Tip-off is set for 12:20 p.m.

The winner of Maryland's first-round matchup will advance Saturday to face the winner of the first-round game between fifth-seeded Butler and 12th-seeded Old Dominion. All of those games will be in Buffalo.

Maryland enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-8, having closed the season with seven wins in its final eight games. The Wildcats, who won both the regular-season and tournament titles in the Southern Conference, are 29-4 overall.

"I've felt good with this team all year in terms of their work ethic, even in January when we did not have a good record," said head coach Gary Williams. "To go from there to the seed we got today is very gratifying for our program and for our guys that have worked hard.

"For the seniors, this is very important for them and I'm very happy for those guys."

Florida earned the top seed in the Midwest Regional, as well as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Other top seeds in the Midwest are second-seeded Wisconsin and third-seeded Oregon.

The Terrapins lead the all-time series with Davidson, 7-3. The last time Maryland met the Wildcats was on March 23, 2005 in the second round of the NIT, when the Terps won 78-63 in Comcast Center. Maryland and Davidson have never met in the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2004, when it also went in as a No. 4 seed. The Terrapins played the first and second rounds in Denver, beating UTEP 86-83 and losing to Syracuse 72-70.

This will be Maryland's third time in the NCAA Tournament as a fourth seed (also 1998 and 2004).

"I think we earned it by our play," Williams said of the seeding. "We won seven of our last eight and our league was rated the best (in the country) all year. I think our 10-6 record in league play is probably the biggest reason we got the fourth seed."

The postseason appearance will be the 13th straight for the Terrapins. Maryland has won seven straight NCAA first-round games, dating back to 1998, and reached at least the Sweet 16 in four of its last seven NCAA appearances.

Maryland won the NCAA Tournament in 2002, defeating Indiana, 64-52, in the 2002 championship game.