Maryland men’s basketball misses NCAA Tournament for second time in three years
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In Kevin Willard’s second season as head coach, the Terps weren’t included in the 68-team field following a disappointing campaign.
For the second time in three seasons, the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament will not feature the Maryland Terrapins. The selection committee’s 68-team field was revealed Sunday evening, and Maryland — as was expected — did not hear its name called.
The decision was no surprise, with Maryland’s season defined by offensive struggles and unmet expectations. It finished Kevin Willard’s second campaign as head coach with a record of 16-17, marking the program’s second time having more losses than wins in the last three seasons. Holding a regular-season conference record of 7-13, the Terps finished 12th in the Big Ten — their worst finish since joining the conference in 2014 and lowest conference winning percentage (.350) since going 2-14 in the ACC in 1992-93.
Six Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament this year, tied with the Mountain West for the third-most of any conference behind the Big 12 and SEC, both of which received eight bids.
Willard’s first season at Maryland ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after an opening-round victory over West Virginia. Heading into the 2023-24 season, expectations were high in College Park, with a handful of key returners and a highly-touted freshman class coming in. The Terps received the fifth-most points among teams receiving votes in the preseason AP poll and were picked third in the Big Ten preseason media poll.
But it became clear early that Willard’s second team was lacking in ways his first wasn’t. The Terps lost early-season games to UAB and Davidson and followed that up by scoring just 40 points in an abysmal offensive performance at Villanova — a harbinger of things to come.
Maryland was elite on the defensive end, with KenPom.com ranking it as the 14th-best team in the nation in terms of defensive efficiency. That unit allowed the second-fewest points per game in the Big Ten and allowed the Terps to stay in games.
But those successes were left to waste by similarly remarkable offensive difficulties, contributing to a record of 1-10 in games decided by five points or fewer. KenPom ranks Maryland’s offense as the 159th-most efficient in the country, held back by the 13th-worst 3-point shooting percentage in Division I (28.9%). The Terps’ offense scored the second-fewest points per game in the Big Ten (69).
Maryland finished the season No. 82 in the NET rankings. The Terps went just 3-4 in Quad 3 contests and squandered nearly all of their opportunities to make up for it, going just 2-9 in Quad 1 games. Maryland’s most valuable win of the season was a road victory at Illinois on Jan. 14, but the Fighting Illini — who eventually won the Big Ten Tournament and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament — were without star forward Terrence Shannon Jr. at the time.
The Terps’ season came to a definitive end in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament when they were throttled by Wisconsin to the tune of a 31-point loss.
Despite the team’s lackluster résumé, Maryland’s roster was not without ability. Point guard Jahmir Young was a first-team all-conference selection after posting impressive averages of 20.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, and forward Julian Reese was an All-Big Ten honorable mention after averaging 13.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest. Donta Scott was also an all-league honorable mention.
Both Young and Scott are out of eligibility, and with the transfer portal officially opening on Monday — although Maryland has already had one player declare their intention to enter — the Terps project to undergo a makeover this offseason. They’ll be aided by the addition of five-star recruit Derik Queen, but will need to look elsewhere to remedy their shooting struggles.
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