Mount St. Mary's vs. Maryland Prediction: Can the Terps Roll in First Contest of Season?
The Maryland Terrapins host Mount St. Mary's in their first non-conference home game of the season. Can Jahmir Young and the Terps start hot to begin their 2023-24 campaign? Ben Rajavuori answers with his pick against the spread in MSM vs. Maryland.
Ben Rajavuori - November 7, 2023, 5:15 PM EST
5 minMount St. Mary's vs. Maryland Prediction: Can the Terps Roll in First Contest of Season?
The 2023-2024 college basketball season is here, and per usual, there are plenty of new faces who hit the transfer portal in the offseason and new faces fresh out of high school. One team that was busy in the offseason was the Maryland Terrapins. Can they start off the 2024 season hot?
Mount St. Mary's vs. Maryland Prediction Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: November 7, 2023
- Game Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Where to Watch: BTN Plus
Mount St. Mary's vs. Maryland Prediction
After a one-and-done year with Danny Manning as coach, Kevin Willard took over last season at the helm. Willard turned around a tumultuous 2022 with a 22-13 record in 2023, including an 11-9 conference record. The Terps were an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, and beat West Virginia in the first round before losing to Alabama in the round of 32.
Maryland is returning a lot of talent from last year's team, including the two leading scorers from last season, Jahmir Young and Julian Reese. Hakim Hart left for Villanova, but Donta Scott is also back as the fourth leading scorer. Along with top returning talent and offense, Maryland is adding two top-100 recruits in DeShawn Harris-Smith (number 40 in the top 100) and Jaime Kaiser (number 69 in the top 100). The Terps also hit the portal and acquired top defensive talents Chance Stephens from Loyola Marymount and Jordan Geronimo from Indiana. This Maryland team is deep, experienced, and easily one of the most athletically built teams in the Big 10 this season. Outside of Purdue, I have Maryland as the second-best team in the conference.
There's only so much you can go on in the first game of the college basketball season. There are new pieces to almost every team, and the new teams have to mesh together, some teams do it better than others. It's always harder when replacing top scorers, though, as someone needs to fill in the role, and that can usually take a few games to happen. One team in that position is Mount St. Mary's.
Mount St. Mary's lost three of their top four scorers this offseason. Jalen Benjamin is now at Santa Clara, and he led the Mountaineers with 16 points per game last season. Malik Jefferson and Deandre Thomas, the third and fourth leading scorers, are also gone. Dakota Leffew remains, and he will likely be the leading scorer for the Mountaineers this season, but they are going through some tremendous turnover offensively.
That turnover is not easy to overcome in the first game of the season, especially against a good team like Maryland. Maryland is returning all of their top scorers and added some defense in the portal, making this good team from last year even better this season. All the top players for Maryland have chemistry from the past season, while Mount St. Mary's has to mesh on offense to begin the season. This is a prime blowout spot for Maryland to start their season. Maryland is a team to watch out for this year.
Mount St. Mary's vs. Maryland Pick
Pick: Maryland -20.5 -110 Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds
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