WASHINGTON — If you’re a D.C.-area basketball fan, you may feel a bit burned out by all the early exits from area teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament. VCU bowed out to a lower-seeded team in the round of 64, while Georgetown, Maryland and Virginia all lost to lower seeds in the next round. But Maryland’s women’s team is still alive and well in their own bracket, and is moving on to the Sweet 16.
After dispatching New Mexico State by 18 points in their opening game on Saturday, the Terrapins took on a 31-0 Princeton team at the Xfinity Center. What we saw Monday night only went to reinforce what coach Brenda Frese and this team have done, and why they’re worthy of our attention as a contender to make their second straight Final Four.
Princeton was no ordinary eight-seed: The Tigers were the lone remaining undefeated team in the country. And while they hung with Maryland for a half, the Terrapins overwhelmed the Ivy Leaguers with a lethal combination of offensive rebounding and pinpoint long range shooting to blow a close game wide open, cruising to an 85-70 victory.
“I do like the fact that we can go a lot of different ways,” Frese said of her team’s versatility after the win. “Within a game, kind of finding out where we can expose different areas, where we can go to our strengths.”
That versatility is a result of Maryland’s balance — they don’t have a single player in the top 250 in the country in scoring, but have four players who averaged between 12.1 and 13.7 points per game this season. They can go small, as they did against New Mexico State, or wear teams down inside, as they did against Princeton in the second half.
“Brenda’s always brought in guards who can rebound and forwards who can pass,” said WTOP’s Dave Preston, who has covered the Maryland women for 10 seasons. “Her players are very complete.”
Preston was in College Park for the team’s national championship in 2006, as well as the heralded 2008 team. Coming off a Final Four appearance last year, but losing their All-American forward, he wasn’t sure what to expect from this year’s team.
“This team is surprisingly good because they lost Alyssa Thomas,” Preston said. “You can make the case for Thomas being their best player ever.”
Maryland is 32-2 on the season and hasn’t lost since the first week of December. They swept the Big 10 regular season and stormed to the conference championship to earn a one-seed in the tournament.
Still need motivation to get behind these Terps? You only need to look as far as their next opponent on Saturday — the Duke Blue Devils. In addition to — well, being Duke, the Terps have some demons to exorcise in that rivalry. Maryland suffered a 19-point loss last year in Durham, in the teams’ only meeting, and was swept by the Blue Devils two years ago.
“That’s going to be a huge test,” Preston said. “It’s one of those things when you make the bracket – who wouldn’t want a Sweet 16 match between Duke and Maryland?”
That game will tip at 4:30 p.m. EDT in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday, with the victor going on to face the winner of 11-seed Gonzaga and 2-seed Tennessee on Monday.
