Focused Terps Have Belief
Maryland set for NCAA Second Round game with No. 1 Alabama
Alex Murphy, umterps.com Contributing Writer
3/17/2023
The NCAA tournament, March Madness, was built on the idea of upsets, shockers, and Cinderella stories.
Maryland men's basketball wants to etch its name in that book on Saturday night and erase the demons of two years previous, as the Terps walked off the floor with heads held low at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 22, 2021, after losing 96-77 to No. 2 seeded Alabama.
With the second round of the 2023 NCAA tournament underway tomorrow, the Terps have a date with the Crimson Tide once again, only this time, they're facing the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance.
"They're a deep team," graduate student Don Carey said. "They play fast. They shoot a lot of threes. Athletic, well coached. They just have that pace. They've been playing at that pace all year long really. But they make a lot of threes, and they're good at that."
Alabama is coming off its best regular season in program history and an SEC tournament championship in Nashville.
Home to the best freshman in college basketball, Brandon Miller, and a cast of players who have run teams out of the gym with their perimeter shooting.
"They have a ton of length one through five," graduate student Patrick Emilien said. "So just being aware of that and knowing they're going to have that extra step, and they're all three-point shooters, too. So really just emphasizing that they're going to be more athletic likely, and they can shoot the ball. So we're just going to have to be gritty and stop them."
While not the best in the country at shooting the three, Alabama is in the top 10 in the country in made three-pointers a game and top-5 in three-point attempts per game.
That formula for success worked wonders against the Terps in Indianapolis, a recipe they look to stop this time.
"The funny thing about this (Alabama) roster is, I think this is the most talented roster I've seen in college basketball since the 92-93 Kentucky team," head coach Kevin Willard said. "I think Coach Pitino's team -- with Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty. This team reminds me of that team with the length, athleticism, how unselfish they play, very similar point guards.
"So it's a talented roster, and I think what I'm really impressed with them -- I've watched their last four games now -- is how unselfish they are. They really pass the basketball. It's not a complicated offense, but it's a good offense because they're unselfish."
Major upsets stories in sports have captivated the nation before, and surprises produce some of the greatest moments in college basketball history.
From Northern Iowa shocking Kansas in the Round of 32 to Wisconsin ending unbeaten Kentucky's run in the 2015 Final Four, they are stories people don't forget.
However, Maryland's focus is less on making history and more on overcoming what's in front of them, which just so happens to be a talented team with a deep roster and a No. 1 next to their name on the bracket.
"They understand the challenge at hand," Willard said. "That's what I've liked about this group. When we had Purdue on the road, Purdue at home, no one picked us. No one's picked us all year. These guys don't look at it that way…You got to focus on trying to stop Alabama. You can't sit there and say, hey, that team beat that team. That's great. No, like our focus is on Alabama. You can't focus on anything else besides trying to stop Alabama. That in itself is a challenge, so that's going to be our sole focus."
One challenge is the team, but the other comes from the environment that will almost certainly be present inside Legacy Arena on Saturday night.
Birmingham is situated not even an hour from Tuscaloosa, a virtual home game for the Crimson Tide, who already had a strong showing in its first-round win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
An expected capacity crowd of over 15,000 will be pro-Alabama. Still, in playing against some of the most challenging road environments in the country already, Maryland is prepared for the task at hand.
"I think we're all aware of that," Carey said. "The biggest step is for us to be mentally aware, mentally prepared for that. We had a lot of road games this year, with sold-out crowds against us. It's nothing we're not used to. We look at it as another road game really. We've got a lot of mentally tough guys, so I believe in these guys to get the job done."
