Bracketology 2017: ESPN has Maryland basketball as an NCAA Tournament ‘lock’

Hours before Maryland basketball pulled away from Rutgers to improve to 23-7 this season, ESPN’s Eamon Brennan listed the Terps as a “lock” in the latest College Basketball Bubble Watch.

Maryland was on a three-game losing streak prior to Tuesday’s win, so the possibility existed for the Terps to drop their last five regular season contests and last six overall. Brennan argued that even if that happened, they’d still belong.

The fact is, Maryland could lose its last two (at Rutgers, versus Michigan State) and still finish 10-8 in the league with one truly bad loss (see: Knights, Scarlet) plus something like a 14-8 record against the top 100 and a 7-3 record on the road. There's just no way Mark Turgeon's team can damage itself enough to get down in the muck with teams such as Kansas State and Seton Hall.

Fortunately, that’s not a scenario Maryland fans have to worry about anymore.

Maryland is a 6-seed in Jerry Palm’s most recent projection and a 7-seed according to Joe Lunardi. Of course, there’s still room for the Terps to move up or down, but with at most two games to lose or four to win before Selection Sunday, these things are starting to settle in.

In other news

Maryland baseball’s home opener is Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET (weather permitting). Our baseball beat writers discuss what the Terps need to do after a 1-5 start.

(UPDATE: Nope.)

Darryl Morsell was a guest Tuesday on Inside Maryland Sports Radio. The four-star Maryland commit comes in at around the 23:30 mark of the podcast.

Maryland men’s and women’s lacrosse received some good news Tuesday.

And in case you’ve lost track of the date...........IT’S MARCH!!!!!!!!!!!! That means it’s about to be conference tournament time, and then NCAA Tournament time. Get in the spirit by reliving the “One Shining Moment” video from Maryland’s 2002 title.