Alabama Basketball Opponent Preview: Maryland Terrapins

Alabama Basketball will take on the no. 8 seed Maryland Terrapins in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 on Saturday night in Birmingham, AL. While Alabama is the top overall seed in the tournament and will be favored, this is no cupcake game for the Crimson Tide.

Maryland is a good basketball team that has gone 22-12 under first-year coach Kevin Willard. The Terrapins are coming off a narrow 67-65 win over West Virginia in the Round of 64. Maryland’s best wins this season include a 14-point win over Purdue and a 16-point win over Northwestern that have both occurred in the last month. The Terps also beat Indiana by 11 and Miami by 18 this season.

In its only game against an SEC opponent, Maryland fell to Tennessee 56-53 back in December. This looks like a typical Tennessee game on paper; ugly and low scoring. The Vols actually established a big first-half lead before staving off a furious second-half comeback from the Terrapins. At the end of the day, Maryland competed well and went toe-to-toe with one of the SEC’s top five teams.

Alabama Basketball vs Maryland Personnel

Maryland is a veteran-laden team, led primarily by seniors. Senior guard Jahmir Young, a Charlotte transfer, makes the Terrapins go. Young has started all 119 of his career games and leads Maryland with 15.9 points and 3.1 assists per game. He is more of a scorer than a shooter, and can help his team in a multitude of different ways.

Fellow senior Hakim Hart joins Young in the Terrapins’ backcourt. He is a big guard at 6’6” and is versatile on both ends of the floor. Hart has started 84 total games for Maryland, and is averaging 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game this season.

Senior Donta Scott and sophomore Julian Reese man the Maryland frontcourt, and are an undersized but effective tandem. Scott stands at just 6’7”, but plays much bigger. Like Young and Hart, he offers extensive experience, having started 113 career games in a Maryland uniform. He gives the Terps 11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, and can also stretch the floor a little bit as a career 33.6 percent three-point shooter.

At 6’9”, Julian Reese has been Maryland’s best big for stretches of the season. He averages 11.4 points per game, adding team-highs of 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Reese has scored in double figures in 16 of his last 19 games, and 12 of his last 13.

Maryland brings some key role players off the bench, but doesn’t have any major contributors outside of its top four scorers.

Alabama Basketball: Questions linger

Some uncertainty still lingers around Alabama Basketball despite being the no. 1 seed in the tournament. First and foremost, Brandon Miller’s status remains in question for this second round matchup. Obviously, his absence would make a difference, but Bama hoops boasts quality depth at every position. It is worth noting that the Crimson Tide has consistently played good basketball even when Miller has had off days.

Bama beat then-top-ranked UNC with Miller going 4-21 from the field. It also beat then-top-ranked Houston when Miller went 0-8 from the field and failed to reach double figures for the only time in the regular season. More recently, Alabama blew out Texas A&M in the SEC Championship game with Miller shooting just 5-20 from the field. It then won its first round NCAA Tournament game handily without its star freshman scoring a single point.

Of course, Alabama has also lost games in which Miller didn’t play well, such as the Oklahoma game. However, it has shown on repeated occasions that it does not need Brandon Miller to beat quality competition. His presence on the court is the most important factor against Maryland. Even if Miller is ineffective, he has the gravity to attract attention and free up his teammates.

There is also the shallow concern that Alabama basketball has had struggles playing in Birmingham. This does not seem to be a valid or meaningful indication of what is to come. Sure, Bama has previously played poorly in Birmingham, but it’s difficult to imagine that those past performances could have any impact on Saturday’s game.

This may be a tough test for Nate Oats’ squad, but Alabama’s fate is in its own hands. Barring an uncharacteristically poor performance, the Crimson Tide should advance, with or without Miller.