Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

The Terrapin men's basketball team is not oblivious to its surroundings.

The Terps watch TV; they surf the web; they read the newspapers. They know they're one of a few bubble teams on the verge of popping.

"You're watching all those people on TV talk about RPIs, who's in, who's out," senior center Bambale Osby said. "You can't help but to think about it and help to think if you're in or out."

Sunday night, the Terps will be in Charlottesville, Va., for the regular-season finale. It's still unknown exactly how many more wins the Terps need, but one thing is for sure: A win against Virginia would make life a lot easier.

If the Terps lose Sunday night, they'd have to win at least three games in the ACC Tournament to make the Big Dance. But if the Terps beat the Cavaliers, one victory in the ACC Tournament would give them 20 wins with a 9-7 ACC record - a benchmark that the selection committee has rewarded teams for in the past.

"It's just a matter of if everybody wants to come together and do that," senior forward James Gist said. "I think that we definitely have the talent to do it. We've proved it several games this year. It's just a matter of coming out and doing it."

Even after the Terps' epic collapse against Clemson, many of the TV talking heads and online bracketologists had the Terps (18-12, 8-7 ACC) in the field of 65.

ESPN.com, SI.com and CollegeRPI.com all had the Terps as a No. 12 seed and one of the final teams in the Tournament. USAToday.com has the Terps out of the bracket, but it does note a big advantage the Terps have over other bubble teams.

"But keep in mind that the Terps are above .500 in true road games, something not a lot of teams on the bubble have on their resumés," the website says.

With all the talk surrounding the Terps and their NCAA Tournament status, coach Gary Williams said they have to focus on getting wins and not the outside discussion.

"They hear all the stuff about who's in, who's out, who's doing what, but that's not really necessary to think about those things because that doesn't affect anything," Williams said. "If you play well enough, you're gonna get there and that's how you have to look at it."

Virginia (14-14, 4-11), a team the Terps could end up playing in the first round of the ACC Tournament, has had a dreadful season but will have something to celebrate before Sunday night's game: point guard Sean Singletary's career.

The senior star will be honored as part of Virginia's Senior Night.

"Certainly it'll be an emotional night at Virginia because of the great play Singletary's given Virginia over the four years," Williams said. "It can really be a positive - it can really get the team jacked up and ready to play - or you can be a little subdued because of the emotion before the game."

The Terps have seen both sides of Senior Night. After honoring Osby, Gist and Jason McAlpin, they fed off the building's energy to jump out to a big lead but ended up suffering a crushing loss to Clemson.

Now, the Terps are on the other side of the festivities and have to try to find a way to control Virginia's emotion out of the gate.

Either way, though, the Terps need to put all diversions behind them, including bracket talk.

"It's a distraction, and you can't be thinking about that during the game," Osby said. "You really don't think about it during the game, but if you do think about it, then it will distract you."

zuckermandbk@gmail.com

Article Tools