Story By Sol Tucker and Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Seattle WA and College Park MD-
When it comes to March for the Terps, it’s a great time to watch basketball and for both the mens and womens teams, this year has some high expectations from both and each team has their teams tuned up to make a run.
While the women’s team have had a bit of time off to rest up for their match-up against Norfolk State on Saturday, the mens team has traveled over 2,700 miles here to Seattle and has a first round match-up against Grand Canyon.
Willard who seemed slightly dejected after the loss to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament, isn’t worried and neither are many of the Terp faithful. Just like Willard said, we have had a quite a few of these close heartbreaking games this season, but I have a ton of confidence in this team. With that, he is likely to put a lot on the backs of Julian Reese and Derik Queen, who together had one of the best combined games of the season against Michigan.
To move to the second round, the Terps will have to face off against a very good Grand Canyon team. This is the first time GCU and Maryland have ever played each other. This is the second NCAA Tournament appearance for the Terps under coach Kevin Willard, who led them to the second round in 2023.
What we see here is two teams with very similar records coming into the Friday afternoon game. GCU sits at 26-7 on the season and the Terps at 25-8. What the Terps have going for them is that they are 15 out of 16 in their first-round matchups dating back to 1997. Could this team be just like the 2002 Champs? They have the grit and several shooters just like that team, but they are going to need them to all chip in when in counts just like they did against Michigan. No driving the lenght of the court to take home another walk off loss. Just play solid defense in the final 5 minutes and they win 5 more games this season.
GCU guards Tyon Grant-Foster, Ray Harrison and Collin Moore all have tournament experience, along with Brennan, Wur and Coles. Coles, the WAC Tournament MVP, played in the last three NCAA Tournaments with TCU. They will have a tough time matching up against the size of Queen and Reese and this is likely to be a big problem if the game is close in final minutes.
The only real advantage is that GCU has played every year in Climate Pledge Arena against Seattle U and last winning there in 2018.
Moving over to the women’s side against Norfolk State in College Park on Saturday. The first clear advantage here is that the Terps are playing on their home court and will have that advantage. They also have the Brenda Freese tournament experience. She finds ways to get it done come March and perhaps she should have left ” I wouldn’t want to play us” part of her speech for March, because that game against Michigan wasn’t one that the Terps would want to remember.
“Thrilled to be hosting. I think our body of work has definitely shown throughout this season,” head coach Frese said. “Really happy for our seniors to be able to have, hopefully, two games here.”
Her key weapon is going to be the usage of Shayenne Sellers. Can she be that leader she needs to be to take this team all the way to Birmingham next weekend? We can’t forget about the season that Kaylene Smikle has had in quite a few games. Smikle, a transfer from Rutgers, averages 18 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
What Maryland also has going for them is that this will be their 15th straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 16th seed Norfolk State comes into College Park with a perfect 14-0 MEAC record. They are a fast-paced team, something that Frese is used to, but just because they have won the last 3 out of 4 conference tournaments, the MEAC lacks the strength of schedule that the Terps have faced the entire season.
So folks… Hop on the roller coaster, we are going for a ride and let’s hope this isnt one of those short county fair type of rides either. Would be nice to see both teams playing next weekend.
