Bracketology? Really?
Yeah, really. And it's not just Lunardi - RTC, CBS, The Hoops Report, and College Hoops Net, among others, have their preseason brackets up. Because preseason brackets are just a roundabout way to show rankings, and we cover them, we'll have a quick bracketology roundup as we near basketball season (it's almost Friday).
First up, Joe Lunardi at ESPN has Maryland as a 7 seed, against Missouri. I'm iffy on that matchup, but we couldn't get a better #2 than Purdue, who isn't as tough to beat as UNC or Villanova, in my opinion. Jeff Goodman puts Maryland at an 8 seed against Oregon, meeting Kentucky in the second round. That matchup isn't nearly as favorable, but Goodman is pretty wacky - West Virginia is a #1, and Georgia Tech is in the Final Four. Whatever, Goodman.
The two-headed monster over at CBS, Jerry Palm and Gary Parrish, put out their brackets a few days ago. Parrish has the Terps as a 9 against Syracuse, which would be a battle for Tobias Harris' heart and playing allegiance. Palm might be the worst of the bunch, handing Maryland a ten seed against Tulsa. Ten seems very, very low for this team to me. For some reason, I have an illusion in my head that the Terps are a 6 or 7 seed quality team this year.
Rush the Court, who always seems to favor the Terps, seems to agree. They put Maryland at a 5 seed against Creighton in the first round and Tennessee in the second. I'd very much like our chances to get to the Sweet Sixteen in that scenario. The Bracketeer, however, turns that on its head, putting Maryland as a 12 seed, against the fifth-seeded Louisville.
And that alone should show you how much of an inaccurate science bracketology is. Preseason bracketology is basically medieval alchemy - "Eh, let's throw these 65 names in an Excel spreadsheet, shake, and hope gold comes out."
But some people like them, and they're a good talking point, so if you had to take a guess - with full knowledge that doing so is stupid and pointless - where do you think Maryland will be seeded come March?