The Terps ended the season ranked No. 9 in the country.
Maryland men’s basketball was ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press’ final top-25 poll of the season Tuesday, the program’s first top-10 finish since 2002, when it won the national championship.
Only team’s who made the Elite Eight finished above Maryland.
The Terps earned their first ranking of the season (No. 18) on Feb. 3, and remained in the top 25 throughout the rest of the year. This week’s ranking was the team’s highest of the season.
Maryland entered postseason play as the No. 11-ranked team in the country, and met those expectations for the most part. The Terps lost on a buzzer-beating layup in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals to Michigan, 81-80, and then were blown out by eventual national champion Florida, 87-71, in the Sweet 16 as a No. 4 seed.
While the season came to a deflating end — especially given the departure of former head coach Kevin Willard — it was an overall pleasant surprise. The Terps were predicted to finish 10th in the Big Ten and only received a point in the Associated Press’ preseason poll — outside the top 50.
Maryland welcomed four new starters to the team in the offseason after finishing below .500 the previous year. Star freshman Derik Queen was the centerpiece behind the Terps’ resurgence, averaging a team-high 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game en route to an All-Big Ten first-team selection by the conference’s coaches and a Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.
Transfer guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice and Selton Miguel provided scoring and shooting the program struggled to find in recent years. Gillespie earned an All-Big Ten third-team nod after averaging 14.7 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game. Rice averaged 13.8 points per game, while Miguel posted 11.6 points per game on a team-high 42.6% shooting from three.
Senior Julian Reese rounded out starting five — also known as ‘The Crab Five’ — and provided a consistent presence for coaches, players and fans alike during his four years with the program. He garnered his third consecutive All-Big Ten honorable mention with 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game this season.
Reese and Miguel are set to graduate, Queen declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, Gillespie transferred to Tennessee and Rice entered the transfer portal. Next season will look different for the Terps under new head coach Buzz Williams, but that should not take away from a special year in College Park.