The University of Maryland Terrapins are 11-1 as Big Ten play begins tomorrow at home vs. Penn State. To help us review what we’ve seen so far from the Terps, and to preview what awaits; Baltimore Sports and Life (BSL) has reached out to Michael DeCourcy from The Sporting News & The Big Ten Network, along with Scott Phillips from NBC Sports’ College Basketball Talk.

BSL thanks both analysts for their thoughts.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Baltimore Sports and Life: Maryland has been successful with their out-of-conference schedule – the only blemish coming against fellow National power North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Still, with Georgetown being down, and the competition in the Cancun Challenge being mediocre; the highlight for MD is their neutral court win vs. UConn. Thoughts on what you have seen from MD so far? Do you think it’s fair to say that MD will need 15 Big Ten regular season schedule to be in good position for a 1 or 2 seed in the NCAAT (obviously what happens in the Big Ten Tournament, and other tournaments nationally will also factor)?

DeCourcy: I think it’s hard to say what any team will need to gain a No. 1 seed or No. 2 seed in this particular season, but certainly it’s fair to suggest it will be tough to get either without a Big Ten title, preferably the regular season because it means more and the tournament ends so close to the selection deadline. I’ve never believed there was much use in worrying about non-league opponents inflating or deflating the value of one’s achievements. You build your schedule, play it, do your best and move on to try to do something important in the league. How did Maryland do in November and December? It did just fine.

Phillips: I think there has been an adjustment period for Maryland integrating the new pieces into the rotation and also dealing with the expectations of being a Final Four contender. They’re not flying under the radar like last season anymore. And I think given those factors, they’ve played pretty well and had some promising comebacks early in the year. The North Carolina game, although a loss, showed that the Terps can hang with the most talented teams in the country on the road and proved they were for real this season. Given how wide open college basketball is entering conference play, it’s tough to say what would garner a 1 or 2 seed, but it’s not out of the question for this team with a strong Big Ten season.

Baltimore Sports and Life: Despite potentially having the best starting backcourt (Melo Trimble, and Rasheed Sulaimon) in the country, MD’s guard play has been a bit thin at times. Dion Wiley’s preseason injury was a blow to the depth. Jaylen Brantley has been a bit slow transitioning to the D1 level, though there have been promising signs of late (including a breakout game vs. Princeton in Baltimore). Jared Nickens is a tremendous shooter, who is still needs more versatility to his game, and a more consistent defensive effort. Should MD commit to playing Brantley 10-15 minutes a night in conference play, to develop him further throughout this regular season? Does the reserve guard play concern you when you compare MD to other Top 10 teams? Where do you have Trimble, and Sulaimon among starting guard combos Nationally?

DeCourcy: The conference season is not for development. It’s for achievement. Brantley should play the least amount that can be afforded while still keeping Trimble fresh enough to close games and be prepared for March. I liked what I saw from Brantley in the Princeton game — a lot. He was terrific. But every minute he plays is likely to be a minute Melo is off the floor. So unless the game is a blowout, Maryland should prefer that Brantley not play a ton. Ten minutes, maybe? A dozen? I think Nickens has been exactly what you need him to be.  Could he defend better? Probably. But this is not exactly built to be a defensive force. He’s hitting 40-plus percent from 3-point range on a fair number of makes. You know how much Kentucky, for instance, would love to have such a player coming off its bench? Sulaimon and Trimble are a formidable tandem. I’ll be curious to see how their chemistry holds together through a challenging Big Ten season. That’s always been my one concern. But Melo has played at an All-America level and Sulaimon has done everything the coaching staff could have asked.

Phillips: I think Maryland should commit to whichever rotation is going to win them games. If Jaylen Brantley isn’t contributing to that equation, then leave him on the bench and go with what you’ve got. The duo of Trimble and Sulaimon certainly has the upside to be among the nation’s best backcourts, especially as they develop more chemistry as  the season progresses. I think Nickens hitting shots and being more consistent defensively is more important than Brantley being developed.

Baltimore Sports and Life: Conversely, the front-court depth is outstanding.  Robert Carter has a smooth game, and is a real weapon at the PF position when he stays inside. Diamond Stone needs to get stronger, but he has good feet, good touch, and exceptional hands. Damonte Dodd has plus athleticism, and disrupts defensively. Michal Cekovsky is much more physical this year, making a nice leap overall from his Freshman year. It will be hard for Ivan Bender to find time, but the Freshman has good size and moves very well.

If there is a weakness inside, it’s that Carter and Stone working together have had moments where they’ve been exposed defensively. How do you rate MD’s front-court against the rest of the Big Ten?

DeCourcy: As I said earlier, I don’t think this team is built to defend at an elite level. The important elements of its development are finding how to rotate such a rich, deep collection of players — who fits with whom? — and to figure out which combination is best suited to get big end-game stops and whether that group also can produce the right mix on offense in those situations. The good news is the key players in your rotation don’t have to be removed to avoid putting them on the line so you’ve got all your options available. That’s the one downside to not playing more high-level games in the non-league, not getting the best read on who should protect small, late leads. But games against Michigan State and Purdue and some others will provide those sorts of challenges.

Phillips: Maryland’s front-court depth is something to be envied and not many teams have one, let alone two, post players who can take a post feed and create a bucket. Among the Big Ten, only Purdue can match Maryland on both ends of the floor in the front-court and have the depth to match as well. This gives the Terps a distinct advantage over much of the conference, specifically since the Boilers don’t have a take-over guard like Melo Trimble.

Baltimore Sports and Life: Local sentiment is that MD has yet to play their best ball. That it’s been a learning process for everyone having Sulaimon, Carter, and Stone in the starting lineup. (Stone has been coming off the bench recently, roughly 90 seconds into games…but he’s still getting more time than Dodd, or Cekovsky.) The player on the roster that best exemplifies the feeling that there is more there is Jake Layman. Layman’s overall FG% is up, but his attempts are down. His 3 point FG% is down, and attempts up. His FT% is up, but attempts have been reduced. Steals are up. Like Brantley, he had a very strong game vs. Princeton. I think he’s at his best when he attacks the rim, and doesn’t settle for 3’s. The adjustment for him this season been going back to the SF position, after spending last year as mostly a PF (though he did play SF, and his best ball of the year last year when Dez Wells was out with an injury). What do you think is in-store for Layman during the remainder of his Senior year? Overall, do you think the Terps have another gear to reach?

DeCourcy: Every single statistic item you cite is the product of the position change and the personnel additions. Fewer attempts? Of course. He’s playing with Stone, Carter and Sulaimon, all scorers. Long-distance attempts up? Of course; he’s much more a perimeter player now, as opposed to being a stretch-4. Layman is the player whom I worried most about with the new lineup, and he’s actually doing well overall. His shooting percentages are acceptable or better. What’s bothersome is that against UConn and UNC he was barely a factor. So how will he be in the biggest games? His only great performance against a major opponent was the Georgetown game. Maybe he needed some adjustment, and the biggest games came too early in the season. He was outstanding against Princeton and made shots against Marshall. I think we still need to see whether he can impact the biggest games.

Phillips: I think Jake Layman needs to feel comfortable on the wing full time if Maryland is to reach its peak this season. He hasn’t looked particularly comfortable there on offense yet and he was great as a mismatch at the four last season because he could use his athleticism to take guys off the dribble, which created space for his jumper. His length and size defensively certainly helps, but if he figures out how to balance attacking the rim and taking jumpers, Maryland will be even tougher.

Baltimore Sports and Life: The Big Ten entered the season regarded as the 2nd best conference overall by many; but the league currently has just the 6th overall Conference RPI. There are teams which are having success though. As of 12/26, Purdue and Michigan State are both in the Ken Pomeroy Top 5. Maryland, Iowa, and Indiana are each in the Top 25, with Michigan just outside. Ohio State has had their issues, but recently beat Kentucky.  Maryland entered Midnight Madness as the league favorite, but it was Tom Izzo’s Spartans which often looked like the league’s best during November and December. Unfortunately for them, potential All-American Denzel Valentine is out-of-action for a few weeks with a knee injury.

As league play starts, how do you currently view the conference? How many NCAAT bids do you think the league can get? How many teams do you think can win the conference? Who would currently comprise your All-Big Ten starting 5?

DeCourcy: It’s been a disappointing pre-conference for the league, certainly. Some of that is injury. Illinois has been wrecked, Northwestern has a great record but keeps losing key guys and Michigan has been undermined. Even the league’s best team to date, Michigan State, had its best player go down. But some of it is just not performing well enough.

If not for the success of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the Big Ten would be in serious trouble for getting the desired number of NCAA bids. I still think six bids is a near-certainty and seven is possible. I don’t know where an eighth would come from. I think three teams legitimately can win the league. Indiana has a great schedule and an overwhelming offense; I’m just not sure how it would be able to grind out the sort of wins a regular-season champ would need

Phillips: There’s a clear hierarchy in the Big Ten with some combination of Maryland, Purdue and Michigan State being ahead of anyone else. Indiana can’t defend dust in a corner, Iowa is not mentally tough and Michigan has shown no ability to beat high-level teams. I think the Spartans have the highest ceiling in March with the way Denzel Valentine is playing but Maryland is the Big Ten regular season favorite since Valentine will miss a few weeks of action. Purdue is the best team defensively in the Big Ten (and maybe the country) but their perimeter shooting is a concern going forward. I think the conference ultimately gets seven teams into the NCAA tournament as a rough estimate, since the national bubble is quite large this season. My All-Big Ten starting 5 to this point would be Melo Trimble, Denzel Valentine, Caris LeVert, A.J. Hammons and Jarrod Uthoff.

Baltimore Sports and Life: As we get to January, what college basketball stories interest you the most Nationally? Who wins each of the other Power Conferences? Xavier or Butler in the Big East? Which team currently outside of the Top 10 (whichever Top 10 you wish to use) is best poised to do damage in March?

DeCourcy: I’m curious to see if any of teams with high-end talent can find a championship gear or whether we’ll get to March with zero idea of who looks like a winner. I mean, Michigan State certainly has the goods to win a title. And it well might. But how confident would you be in MSU vs. the field? A year ago, we all could have told you one of four teams would win it all: Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, Wisconsin. It wasn’t going to be anyone else. Maybe Carolina looks like that team by March. Maybe Kentucky. Maybe Maryland. Right now, we’ve got a lot of capable teams that either haven’t done a ton or don’t have the sort of individual players who normally compose a championship roster. The next two months will be fascinating.

Phillips: The big national storyline is that there is no clear-cut national title favorite or juggernaut program. It seems like there are about 40 teams who could seriously compete in the NCAA tournament if they get hot and make a run over a few games. That’s the beauty of March Madness. I like Xavier in the Big East, North Carolina in the ACC, Arizona in the Pac-12, Kentucky in the SEC, SMU in the American (with Cincinnati taking the autobid with the Mustangs being postseason ineligible) and Kansas in the Big 12. As for a team outside top 10 I like, Cal really impressed me with the way they played at Virginia last week and they blew out a strong Davidson team on Monday night. Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb are tremendously talented freshmen and Tyrone Wallace is a senior not getting nearly enough national attention. If you need a mid-major to keep an eye on, look no further than Valparaiso, the team that pushed Maryland to the brink last March.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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