Belmont vs. Maryland Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
Advantage for No. 6 Maryland on Thursday afternoon as the Terps will be well-rested when they take on No. 11 Belmont in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, the Bruins’ second game in less than 48 hours.
Belmont (11) vs. Maryland (6) NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Doesn’t really seem fair to No. 11 Belmont that this East Region game is Thursday afternoon after the Bruins had to play late Tuesday night in Dayton, beating fellow No. 11 Temple 81-70. At a minimum, this should be late-night tipoff.
It’s the 28th NCAA Tournament appearance for Maryland, which memorably stormed to the title in 2002. The Terrapins missed out last year and lost in the first round in 2017 to No. 11 Xavier as a No. 6 seed. Maryland has made one Sweet 16 (2016) under coach Mark Turgeon. This is the Terps’ first time in the East Region since winning that national title. They have won at least one game in 12 of the past 13 NCAA appearances dating to 1998. Maryland is +2800 to win the East Region.
It’s the first-ever meeting between Maryland and Belmont. The winner faces either No. 3 LSU or No. 14 Yale in the second round.
Belmont Bruins
Belmont proved worthy of becoming just the second Ohio Valley Conference team in history to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance by beating Temple on Tuesday in the First Four for the first NCAA Tournament victory in school history. The Bruins’ only loss in the past 16 games was to a very good Murray State team in the OVC Tournament final. On Tuesday, Kevin McCain led Belmont with 29 points. His big night made up for a rough one by star Dylan Windler, who was just 2-for-7 from the field for five points. He did have 14 rebounds. Belmont is one of the best shooting teams in the nation and hit 52.8 per cent against the Owls.
Maryland Terrapins
The Big Ten was the nation’s deepest conference this season and sent a national-high eight teams to the Big Dance. Maryland finished solo fifth in the regular-season standings at 13-7 but was upset in the conference tournament opener by Nebraska – that probably dropped the Terps at least one seed for the NCAAs. They lost three of their final four games overall. Maryland has one of the Big Ten’s best big men in 6-foot-10 sophomore Bruno Fernando, who will be an NBA Draft pick whenever he declares (probably this summer). He did after his freshman season but changed his mind and returned to school. Fernando, who was named All-Big Ten, averaged 13.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks this season but really struggled in the loss to Nebraska. Maryland’s frontcourt is a strength with Fernando and freshman Jalen Smith (11.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and it’s one of the country’s top rebounding teams.
