Can you believe it? Almost 24 hours away from the start of basketball season! Fittingly, a few major outlets/people have put out their preseason top 25 lists, and, surprisingly, none of them have Maryland on them.
Not Luke Winn of SI.com, who quotes none other than yours truly (about Tennessee, no less). Not Jeff Goodman, one of my favorite national writers, of FOX Sports. And not Gary Parrish, of CBS. All mention the Terps as on the fringe, but none actually rank them.
Needless to say, I was a bit surprised. I was pretty confident Maryland would be a top 25 team; basically the entire team returning, went to the second round last year, and the biggest weakness of last year's team improved with incoming recruits generally equates to a top 25 team. Apparently not this year.
Of course, Maryland isn't in a bubble, but you'd think Maryland should at the very least be pushing Cal, who they handled last year in the NCAA tournament, Georgetown, who self-destructed at the end of last season, Xavier, who lost three starters and their coach, and UCLA, who lost four starters. Alas, they are not.
This might not be a bad thing, though. We all know what happens when Gary's coaching against a slight. Still, this does seem like a healthy dose of disrespect.
What do you think? Should Maryland be in the top 25? If so, whereabouts?