12:15 PM EST, CBS – Line: West Virginia -2.0, Over/Under: 137.5
Finally, the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tournament begins this afternoon, as the ninth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers face off against the eighth-seeded Maryland Terrapins in a south regional first-round matchup from Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. This showdown features quite the contrast between the programs, and we’ll begin with West Virginia (19-14, 7-11, in Big XII), who in many respects were thankful to even receive an invite to this year’s incarnation of the big dance. Why the pessimism, you ask? Well, out of the sixty-four teams comprising this tournament, the Mountaineers are the only one participating despite a losing conference record. Granted, that’s because the Big XII has earned plenty of acclaim as the strongest conference in the country, with seven of their number littering the field, including four that have been seeded four or higher, including Kansas who headlines the west region as the number one seed. Furthermore, let’s not focus so much on how many games that (Head Coach) Bob Huggins’ troops have lost in league play, but rather WHO they have beaten, which is a considerable list; after enduring five consecutive losses at the beginning of the new year, WVU earned strong victories over several of their ranked Big XII neighbors, besting TCU, Iowa State (twice), and Kansas State in the regular season finale, while also toppling Auburn to boot, all of which share a place in the tournament field. One of the most experienced teams in the dance, the rotation is comprised of six seniors, all of which took part in the school’s second-round ousting two years ago. Like many of Huggins’ teams, this group makes their money on pressuring their opponents in an attempt to create easy opportunities for themselves in transition. Sure, West Virginia doesn’t shoot the ball well (42.9% from the field, 32.8% from three), but they do get to the charity stripe A LOT, averaging the most free-throws made (17.9) and attempted (24.4) in the conference. This is by far and away the most important part of their game, for you can only set up a press following a made basket, whether it be a single, a deuce, or a trey. Unfortunately, a byproduct of this strategy is that their aggressive nature results in putting the other team on the line frequently, for no team in the Big XII has committed more fouls than the Mountaineers at 21.9 per game. Needless to say, this can lead to some rather unappealing basketball, but that’s never been something that Huggins (pictured above) has cared much about, for he has achieved plenty of success during his venerable career employing this style; after enjoying a very successful run at Cincinnati, the 69-year-old Morgantown native returned to his hometown back in 2007 and has 345 games in sixteen seasons, taking WVU to eleven NCAA Tournaments, including a trip to the Final Four in 2010, while posting a respectable .631 win percentage along the way. However, there are growing rumors that his time in Morgantown is indeed coming to an end, what with amassing a middling 90-72 record over the last five seasons and two trips to the tourney to show for it. In some respects, this could be Huggins’ last dance, but there is reason to believe that his charges could make this a sweet sendoff in a matchup in which they won’t be underdogs. In fact, the Mountaineers are favored in this particular affair, which has been a spot that has been good to them, as they’ve outright won and covered the spread in each of their last three games in which they’ve laid points to their opponents. When we last saw them, WVU crashed out of the Big XII Tournament in a 61-78 loss to top-seeded Kansas, in which they utterly failed to get their signature press working as the Jayhawks met very little resistance in shooting 52.4% from the field. West Virginia forced just eleven turnovers and attempted only eleven free-throws, while getting outrebounded 29-34. (Senior Forward) Erik Stevenson scored a team-high thirteen points on 6-of-14 shooting (42.9%), though missed all but one of his seven attempts from beyond the arc (14.3%), along with three rebounds and a pair of assists. Today’s contest marks the thirty-first tournament that the program has participated in, with a 32-30 record and a pair of trips to the Final Four to their credit. Looking to today’s meeting with Maryland, the two schools have met thirty times, with the Mountaineers owning a narrow 17-13 advantage, as their last meeting also came in the NCAA Tournament, a 69-59 victory in the 2015 second round.
Meanwhile, as one team potentially bids farewell to their longtime Head Coach, Maryland (21-12, 11-9 in Big Ten) is beginning what they hope will be a lengthy tenure for their own leading man, as Kevin Willard is set to conclude his first campaign at College Park. For all intents and purposes, the 47-year-old has done a solid job in his first season with the Terrapins, winning twenty games for the first time in three years and has taken them back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out on the big dance altogether last Spring. Following a successful 12-year run at Seton Hall, in which he took the Pirates dancing in six of his final seven seasons, Willard (pictured above) was indeed primed for a bigger job, which came in the form of the Terps, who have yet to really break through since making the transition from the ACC to the Big Ten nearly a decade ago. The program initially started strong, winning 24+ games in each of their first three years in their new neighborhood, but since then have fallen back to the middle of the pack, with a .612-win percentage from 2017 to 2022, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament with each trek ending in the second round. In fact, Maryland hasn’t advanced past the opening weekend since 2016. In his first season on the job, Willard’s troops have earned several key victories to book passage to the big dance, besting seven different schools that currently comprise the tournament field, most notably a decisive 68-54 upset of the East Region’s top seed, Purdue. However, there is one peculiar knock on the Terrapins this season, and that is the stark contrast between their performance at home and on the road, which quite frankly is night and day. The Terps are a sensational 16-1 at home in 2022-2023, but away from the friendly confines of Xfinity Center they are a miserable 5-11, including 2-10 against Big Ten opponents. Granted, the more appropriate way to view this particular matchup is as a neutral site affair, and are 3-2 in that case, splitting their last two games in the Big Ten Tournament, a 70-54 romp over Minnesota before falling to Indiana, 60-70. When we last saw them, Maryland fell apart in the second half of that meeting with the Hoosiers, shooting a dreadful 32.3% from the field, including a stunningly poor 11-of-38 from within the arc (28.9%), while dishing out only twelve assists in comparison to committing eight turnovers. However, Willard’s charges managed to keep things respectable from downtown, where they knocked down 9-of-24 threes (37.5%), outscoring IU by fifteen points along the way. With that said, for a team that was one of the best in the conference on the defensive end of the hardwood, the Terps left A LOT to be desired in this regard, as the Hoosiers torched them on a scintillating 52.9% shooting. (Senior Guard) Hakim Hart led the team with sixteen points on 6-of-14 shooting (42.9%) and 3-of-7 from three (42.9%), along with two rebounds and four assists, while (fellow Senior) Jahmir Young struggled mightily to finish with twelve points on 3-of-15 shooting (20.0%). They’ll need a much stronger from performance from Young in this one, who was Willard’s marquee addition via the Transfer Portal after spending the last three years plying his trade at Charlotte. The Hyattsville native and Dematha Catholic graduate returned home to lead the Terps in scoring (16.1), assists (3.2), and steals (1.3), and figures to play a major role in any potential tourney run. Historically, this is a school making their thirtieth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, owning a stellar 43-28 record, including a pair of Final Fours and a National Championship in 2002. Indeed, payback will be on the mind of the faithful at College Park, who will be looking for revenge for that aforementioned second-round loss at the hands of West Virginia eight years ago, which stands as the only encounter between these schools since 2004. From a betting perspective, Maryland has covered the spread in five of their last ten games overall, though are just 3-9 against the spread in their last ten outings away from College Park. However, the Terrapins have responded well following a straight-up loss, covering the line in all but one of their last seven such games, while posting a 5-1 record in their last six affairs immediately after a loss against the spread, which is also the case today.