Maryland fans aren't pleased with the Terps' placement in the NCAA Tournament, but the team's head coach doesn't seem all too preoccupied with it. In a conference call with reporters Sunday night, Mark Turgeon said Maryland wasn't especially focused on its seed placement – but on No. 13 seed Valparaiso, its first-round opponent on Friday.
"The number in front of your name is just a number," Turgeon said. "It's who you're playing is what's really important. We're playing a good Valpo team, but the seeding didn't really affect our reaction."
A few other highlights from Turgeon's call:
On his reaction upon hearing Maryland's placement, when players seemed miffed:
"I was just so darned excited to be in the tournament."
On how Maryland felt about being a No. 4 seed:
"It is what it is. Every year, I think the seeding's the hardest part for the committee to do."
On being shipped to the Midwest Region and first-round site Columbus, rather than playing games in Pittsburgh:
"I haven't done the mileage. I think it's four hours to Pittsburgh and like six to Columbus, so it's just a couple of extra hours for our fans to drive. We had a great showing in Chicago. We had 3- or 4,000 people in Chicago ... It beats the heck out of Seattle. We should be able to have a lot of fans come to the game in Columbus."
On Valparaiso:
I don't know much. I know Bryce is the one who made the shot to beat Mississippi way back when. I watched a little bit of [the Horizon League championship game] ... I watched like 10 minutes of that game. They looked really good defensively. They have a big guy that can shoot it. They're 28-5, 13-3 in the league. That's hard to do in any league, so obviously they're a heck of a basketball team."