Maryland Terps Earn No. 6 Seed In East Region For NCAA Tournament
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ) — The Maryland Terrapins have earned a No. 6 seed and will travel to Jacksonville, Fl. this week for their opening game of the NCAA tournament.
The Terps will go up against the winner of Belmont-Temple's matchup on Thursday.
Millions watched the CBS Selection Show on Sunday to find out if their college basketball teams were in or out.
The Maryland Terps are in. Now, the real work begins, the team said.
It's the fourth youngest team in America that will travel to Jacksonville, Fl in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"Well, yeah, the Big 10 going to the tournament sometimes is a little bit like going to the dentist's office you've already played them a couple times you gotta play them again, they know every play that type of thing," said Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon.
The sixth-ranked Terps will play the winner of Belmont and Temple on Thursday. They will lean on Junior Point Guard Anthony Cowan Jr. and Sophomore Forward Bruno Fernando.
"It definitely brings you a lot of joy and not to get complacent to know you actually did something to get into the tournament so that's the message I've been trying to display to my teammates," Cowan said.
Not a lot of teams get a chance to play in the tournament so for us to be able to go there and play means a lot for us as a team," Fernando said.
After winning seven straight into the New Year, Maryland has a losing record since January 21. Their play has been heavily criticized, but the Terps are unfazed.
The head coach said the Terps are going into the tournament with a new season mentality.
"This is lose and you go home type of deal so, and you know, we have two opponents right now we don't know who it's going to be, we got a day to prepare, but you know, we'll watch a lot of film on them- both teams- heading into Tuesday night when they play Tuesday night," He went on. "But I can just tell by our team meeting today and our practice today that our guys truly believe this is a new season. We've done some amazing things, and the grind is over and now the fun begins and it showed kind of the way our guys handled it,"
If Maryland advances to the Sweet 16, they will have a chance to be close to home, playing in Washington, D.C.
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