COLLEGE PARK, MD. - After picking up a 71-66 win over Illinois to open Big Ten play last Friday night, the Maryland men's basketball team has received early praise in the national media to start a big week on Monday.
The biggest item of the morning was seeing the Terps at No. 6 in the first release of the NCAA NET rankings this season. Maryland (8-0) has a pair of early Quad 1 wins (Miami, Illinois) as well as a Quad 2 win (Saint Louis) to bolster the early resume. In the KenPom analytics, the Terrapins, who were ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll last week, also checked in at No. 19 to start the week.
Among the national media, Maryland was ranked anywhere between No. 6 and No. 11 overall with the official polls set to come out at Noon. In Jeff Goodman's Top 25, he ranked the Terps No. 6 overall, while Jon Rothstein had Maryland at No. 11 in his Monday Top 45. Gary Parrish also had
Kevin Willard's squad among the top 10 at No. 9 in his weekly poll.
Maryland was Andy Katz's NCAA Team of the week after a resounding road win at Louisville before the raucous home win over Illinois to close out the week.
The Terrapins were also Jeff Borzello's Team of the Week on ESPN.com with Borzello writing, "The Terrapins are old, they have size and they're led by a coach who consistently produces some of the best defenses in the country." Borzello also shared one of Coach Willard's now legendary postgame remarks with Andy Katz on the court following the win.
This will be a marquee week for the Terps with a road Big Ten match-up on Tuesday night at Wisconsin before then taking on Tennessee at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on Sunday afternoon. The. Badgers were receiving votes in the AP Top 25 poll last week, while the Volunteers were ranked No. 13 overall.
