The Big Ten basketball season enters its final month this Saturday. February 15 puts the Big Ten season a month away from March 15, which happens to be Selection Sunday. If we haven’t arrived at the home stretch, I’d say we’re no more than 10 days away from it. Every game becomes magnified, every result becomes a big discussion point. How will it all unfold?
In the midst of this large-scale drama, the Big Ten’s biggest story over the next few weeks will focus on the race involving Maryland, Michigan State, and Penn State for the conference’s regular-season title. Maryland and Michigan State play twice in these upcoming weeks, something we noted in another recent article here at Badgers Wire. That is one story. A story connected to that reality is that Maryland is now entering the teeth of the Big Ten schedule.
Maryland was roughed up at Iowa and then beaten by the Wisconsin Badgers in the first half of January. The Terrapins have regrouped quite well, winning their next seven games. Yet, let’s not throw a parade for the Terps just yet. They played four home games in that seven-game stretch. One of their three road games was at Northwestern. Being brutally honest, Maryland should have won all five of those games, and it did. The two especially impressive wins for Maryland in its 7-0 run were at Indiana and Illinois. Yet, even then, the Hoosiers and Illini have fallen on very hard times of late. Maryland did a great job to win in the two Assembly Halls — one in Bloomington, one in Champaign — but it cannot be completely ignored that the Terps caught both opponents in the midst of bad downturns.
The next few weeks figure to be a lot more challenging for Mark Turgeon’s team.
Look at the next six games for Maryland: Four are on the road. None of those road trips are to Nebraska or Northwestern. Maryland gets two games at home, with Michigan State being one of the two. Only Northwestern at home in the next six games is a layup for Maryland. The other five games figure to be dogfights.
Here is the bind for the Terps: A 4-2 record in these next six games would be a very solid result for Turgeon. Yet, at the top of the Big Ten standings, losing twice would open the door for Penn State or Michigan State to move up the board, especially if Michigan State can at least split those two games with Maryland and handle its business in other games. Penn State already beat Maryland and, with two losses from the Terrapins, move closer to the No. 1 seed at the Big Ten Tournament.
If Maryland can go 5-1 in these next six games, it will probably win the Big Ten. If it goes 4-2, it’s anybody’s ballgame. In many ways, the Terps need to avoid going 3-3. If they can merely do that, they will exhibit staying power… and increase the odds they can do something in the NCAA Tournament.