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NCAA Tournament 2016: Maryland vs. South Dakota State GameThread

Everybody, stay calm. Maryland's March is underway.

Melo Trimble and Mark Turgeon at Maryland's practice in Spokane, Wash., on Thursday.
Melo Trimble and Mark Turgeon at Maryland's practice in Spokane, Wash., on Thursday.
Sung Min Kim/Testudo Times

Well, here goes something. The Maryland men's basketball team starts its journey at the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon in Spokane, Wash., with a tip against South Dakota State around 4:30 p.m. ET. The Terps are the No. 5 seed in the South Region and enter as roughly 10-point favorites against the No. 12 Jackrabbits.

The Terps have a challenging road ahead in this tournament. They're more than 2,000 miles from College Park, and even if they can emerge from a four-team pod that also includes talented No. 4 seed Cal, they're nearly certain to meet top overall seed and probable buzzsaw Kansas in the Sweet 16. This is not an easy event to win for anybody, and it's particularly not an easy event to win in a region that includes not only the Jayhawks, but also an excellent Villanova team.

So, enjoy this moment. Enjoy watching your basketball team play in the most enjoyable tournament American sports has to offer, and remember that these are supposed to be the good times. Have fun with it.

Our Sung Min Kim is with the team this weekend, telling the Terps' stories in both photo and text form. Follow him on Twitter here, and stick around these parts for updates throughout the weekend, whether Maryland wins or loses.

How do you think this goes? Vote in our poll below, and feel free to use this thread as a discussion point for all of Friday's March Madness games.