Maryland basketball is locked into the Big Ten Tournament’s No. 8 seed

After taking down Northwestern on the road Monday night, Maryland basketball is 8-9 in the Big Ten with one game remaining. That record will be good for exactly eighth place entering next week’s conference tournament.

The Terps host No. 17 Michigan on Saturday afternoon, but even with a win, they won’t be able to overtake either Penn State or Indiana, who each have nine wins already and both hold all two- and three-team tiebreakers over Maryland. Indiana beat the Terps in their lone head-to-head matchup, while Penn State—with whom Maryland split two games—would jump ahead by virtue of its two wins over Ohio State, the teams’ top common opponent (neither squad beat either Purdue or Michigan State, who can also earn the top seed).

Directly behind Maryland in the standings are Northwestern and Wisconsin, both of whom hold 6-10 Big Ten records. The teams will clash on Thursday night; if the Wildcats beat the Badgers for the second time this season, they’ll lock themselves into a third meeting with Maryland in 20 days. Wisconsin needs either two wins or two Northwestern losses to force a rematch from Maryland’s 68-63 win on Feb. 4.

The Big Ten Tournament’s 8-9 matchup will tip off at noon ET on Thursday, March 1, and BTN will have the broadcast.

In other news

The Baltimore Sun has takeaways from Maryland-Northwestern Round 2.

Maryland lacrosse stars Connor Kelly and Megan Whittle were named Big Ten Offensive Players of the Week by the conference yesterday.

Maryland men’s lacrosse is back for its fourth game in 12 days as it hosts Penn at 5 p.m. today. The baseball team, meanwhile, will visit William & Mary at 4.

Lefty Driesell is a finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame, and he’s got Mike Krzyzewski’s support.

“Basically, he was an innovator ... He was one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game, and at a time when only one team could go [to the NCAA Tournament] from a league, he was denied by one game an opportunity to reach a national championship, to reach a Final Four. You take that [N.C.] State-Maryland game, a historical game. That’s a national championship game.”

Need to get hyped about football with spring practice approaching? This should help.