3-0 over Indiana tonight! Huge win. Indiana's first regular-season Big Ten conference loss since 2015.
Thanks.* I just hope we haven't removed our invisibility cloak too soon. * I'm just an alum/fan with no connection to the program.
After an up-and-down season ... "The Terps head to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals as the No. 5 seed where they will face off with fourth-seeded Northwestern in Evanston next Sunday. The game time is to be announced."
I think the NW game is important. It's a chance to reverse the only 'bad' loss of the season. More importantly, it's a chance to extend the season at home, first in the B1G tournament, then with a home game or two in the NCAA tournament. Six losses: Virginia @UCLA v Northwestern v Georgetown @ Penn State v Michigan Not expecting much of a run this year, as we do not resemble last year's team, especially on defense. Would love to be surprised ...
Yes, but that's only a bad loss in retrospect. Edit: per @gauchodan UCLA closed out their season with 5 losses and 2 draws - winless in their final 7 games. At the time UCLA hosted Maryland, UCLA had beaten Northwestern and lost just 1-2 @ Indiana. None of the Marylad losses were good losses. Penn State came from 2 goals down, iirc, and Michigan trailed 2-1 @ HT yesterday and immediately turned game after the break. Thanks for your input, though.
Northwestern 0-1 Maryland in today's B1G tournament QF. Semifinals Friday @ Maryland Indiana (1) v Maryland (5) Penn State (2) v Michigan (3) Winners play in the B1G Final on Sunday afternoon.
The B1G didn't want to give Maryland a greater advantage on Sunday? No, you're correct, and when I originally checked, Indiana v Maryland was the early game. Not sure why they switched, except to play the primo game in prime time. I think Indiana is the stronger team, top to bottom, but of course I thought that last year. And Maryland had their best game of the year v Indiana not so long ago. Anyway, no matter how the rest of the B1G tournament plays out, I expect Maryland will get a home game or two in the NCAA tournament - the key was beating NW yesterday (after an up-and-down regular season). We'll see how the ball bounces from here ...
Host team almost always decides what time that they want to play. From a MD perspective, playing at 7pm on Friday night makes sense for a larger pro-MD crowd which would be an advantage that Sasho would understand. It doesn't mean that the result will be the same from earlier this year.
And Maryland loses to Indiana 1-0, on a late penalty kick. There are some parallels with last year - on to the NCAA tournament.
The NCAA tournament bracket is out. Maryland is unseeded but will host the first game, v Iona. If successful we'll travel to Wake Forest. If we make it past WF, we'll play the winner of Michigan v Notre Dame/Wright State. Better take this one game at a time.
I can't help thinking that if Maryland can get past Iona that Sasho will have a game-plan to get the Terps out of Winston-Salem with a win.
I agree with this. Watching both of these teams play into the postseason, I wouldn't favor Wake at all. Sasho seems to take this team to the next level in the postseason. Should be a fun match if it happens..
"I can't help thinking that if Maryland can get past Iona that Sasho will have a game-plan to get the Terps out of Winston-Salem with a win." I can't help but agree with this after watching MD a good amount this year. Despite their injuries Sasho has a good recipe for tournament play regardless of who MD faces. Low risk, defend your A$$ off, and create a goal/chance on a restart or 2nd ball/knock down. It's no where near pretty but MD is a team that's comfortable without the ball and their back line is very good at not shooting themselves in the foot. Add that all up and you're facing a dangerous tournament team no matter who you are.
Yeah, not much to say. Tough Thursday-Sunday turnaround - if you're seeded that works in your favor, big-time. 13 of 16 well-rested seeds won yesterday. Also undone in significant part by injuries this season, including a couple of season-ending injuries to essential players. In truth, this season was very uneven, with a team that (unlike last year's team, with its sensational defense) never looked capable of of long NCAA tournament run.