Maryland men's and women's lacrosse look to sweep Big Ten Tournament titles

Testudo Times Roundtable

Week of 5/2

Q: Men and women's lacrosse head to the Big Ten Tournament after winning outright Big Ten titles last week. What is your level of confidence -- on a scale of 1-10 -- that the Terps will sweep the Big Ten Tournament titles?

Brian: 8. I am pretty confident in the women's ability to get things done. The men's road to the Big Ten Tournament title will certainly be a little tougher, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them win it all.

Andrew K.: 8.5. Both teams are favored and playing well right now. The women's chances are solid. I'd feel better about the men's chances if their face-off situation got sorted out, but I still think they'll come out on top.

Thomas: I give the women a 4.59 (they were challenged by Penn State but are still undefeated) and the men a 4.22 (they're playing as well as anyone anywhere), so that's an 8.81 in the aggregate. We'll round up to 9 for blogger simplicity purposes.

Noah: 9. The men's tournament is going to be an absolute slugfest if the regular season was any indication. The Terps will have to be on their game for a full 60 minutes. The women's team has a little more margin for error, but they'll need to be sharp if they play Penn State again. I've seen enough of these two teams to know they're good enough and consistent enough to pull it off.

Todd: Both teams are playing very well. As someone recently wrote, the women's team has, with the exception of Penn State, used the rest of the conference as a chew toy. However, Northwestern just eviscerated Ohio State in what was pretty much a must-win game. So any team is capable of jumping up and biting someone in the fanny. The men's team has looked like a smart, well-oiled machine lately, but you'll get no predictions out of me.

Q: Three Maryland football players were taken in the first five rounds of the NFL Draft last week. Is that something or nothing?

Brian B: They all went a little earlier than I expected them to, so that could be something. There are definitely a significant amount of schools that had less than three players drafted but, overall I would say it is nothing to be overjoyed about.

Andrew K.: Kind of "meh." I'm always glad to see Terps selected in the draft, but I'd like to see more victories in games the previous fall than players drafted in the spring.

Thomas: To my knowledge, it doesn't really help either the 2015 Terps or the 2016 Terps, so I have to say it means nothing for Maryland. But all three landed in great situations for them, and are, you know, paid professional football players now. So I'm happy for them.

Noah: I didn't think all three would be taken in the first five rounds. I think it's something because it was one of Maryland's best draft classes in recent years. There is even more talent heading to College Park now, meaning we'll probably see more Terps taken in the early stages of the draft in the years to come.

Todd: I'll go with something because it shows recruits that players can be drafted even after a 3-9 season. I think it just lifts the energy surrounding the program.

Q: Linebacker Abner Logan announced that he is transferring. What kind of impact do you think that will have on this team next season?

Brian B: I don't think this move will have much of an impact. Logan struggled to live up to his high recruitment status, and it is always difficult to tell how an athlete will bounce back from an ACL injury.

Andrew K.: It's hard to ascertain as Logan's career was punctuated with injuries and "issues." But given the above and the fact that he elected to transfer leads me to believe that he wouldn't have had a major role on the team.

Thomas: It hurts the short-term linebacker depth for sure, but college football teams are huge, rosters are fluid, and losing a member of the linebacker rotation is probably the 25th-worst thing that could happen at this point in the year.

Noah: From what I heard, he was expected to start this season. I think Maryland might struggle replacing his athleticism in the middle, but I agree with Thomas that losing a potential starting linebacker isn't the team's biggest problem heading into the season. However, it is still a significant loss.

Todd: It's always tough to lose a player at a position of need and from some of the things I've heard, linebacker will be a position of need for the 2016 Terps. So I'd say it can't be a good thing.

Q: Which one of these two events is cooler to you: Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley doing the Running Man challenge on Ellen OR 5-star DE Josh Kaindoh verbally committing to Maryland?

Brian B: If we're going to strictly define which event is ‘cooler,' then I would have to give the nod to Nickens and Brantley appearing on Ellen. I am sure that was a pretty cool experience for Jaylen and Jared, and something fun for us fans to enjoy as well. Which one is ultimately more important to most Maryland fans...probably the second thing.

Andrew K.: Kaindoh. That's a huge catch for Durkin and his staff (if Kaindoh keeps his commitment). Let's hope he and other highly touted recruits actually perform as well as advertised.

Thomas: To me, it's Kaindoh by a mile. He moved his announcement up to Maryland Day, became the Terps' highest-profile commit since at least Stefon Diggs, and trolled three division rivals in the process. I was more excited seeing his tweet than I was seeing Nickens and Brantley receive underwear emblazoned with their names and numbers while the high schoolers sharing their couch get $10,000 apiece.

Noah: Both are great. Kaindoh's commitment signals a bright future for Maryland football, but if he ends up going somewhere else, it becomes moot. That's why I'm taking Nickens and Brantley going on Ellen and straight-up representing.

Todd: I'm siding with Brian on this one if we're talking strictly about the "cool" factor. The guys got personalized underwear from Ellen on national television. What could be "cooler" for Maryland's image than that?

Q: Maryland softball set a new single-season record for losses after getting swept by ranked Minnesota last week. If the Terps manage to qualify for the Big Ten tournament, should we view their season differently?

Brian B: Maryland trails the 12th seeded Spartans by three games and only has three games remaining. The Terps are not qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament.

Thomas: If, by a miracle from the heavens, Maryland softball reaches the conference tournament, then we'll have to view the season in a slightly more positive light. But nothing short of winning said tournament (lol) would actually change the "bad season" narrative.

Noah: Maybe, but only a little. Thomas is right to laugh. The idea of the Terps winning the Big Ten Tournament in softball is laughable and would require divine aid the likes of which we haven't seen since Angels in the Outfield.

Todd: I think it would basically take divine intervention just to get them to the B1G Tournament. I think they'd need to sweep Indiana while Ohio State sweeps Michigan State just to get the 12th and final spot. I feel sad for Coach Wright and the players for being in a nearly impossible situation for everyone involved.