Terps get No. 2 seed, will face Mount St. Mary’s
Big Ten champ Maryland optimistic about its bracket
When the Maryland women’s basketball team rolls into San Antonio seeking its second NCAA tournament crown, it’ll do so with something to prove.
No. 2 seed or not, the Terps are aiming for the trophy.
The NCAA named Maryland (24-2) the No. 2 seed in the “Hemisfair” region for the San Antonio “bubble” tournament set to begin Sunday. This is the eighth time the Terps have earned a No. 2 seed — the first since 2016 — and the 13th time they’ve been
NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND NO. 2 SEED MARYLAND VS.
NO. 1 5 SEED MOUNT ST. MARY’S Monday, 4 p.m.
ESPN LOCATION: San Antonio
TV:
seeded No. 2 or higher.
“We like our bracket,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We’re ready for anyone we face.”
Though she feels humble to be selected and to have the opportunity to play in the tournament, redshirt freshman Mimi Collins said she knew there was some conversation
The Baltimore Sun | Tuesday, March 16, 2021 about Maryland being named a No. 1 seed, and there was: both from the fingertips of Twitter users and from the mouths of experts such as ESPN analyst LaChina Robinson, who said “this is a No. 1 seed” during Maryland’s play in the Big Ten tournament this past week.
“You can sleep on us all day, but numbers don’t lie. Stats don’t lie. When you watch us on TV, film doesn’t lie,” Collins said. “We’re just going to continue to be humble and hungry. As the future goes, as everybody watches the tournament — don’t sleep on Maryland.”
Maryland, which defended its Big Ten tournament title Saturday against Iowa, 104-84, will take on No. 15 seed Mount St. Mary’s in a true intrastate battle on Monday at 4 p.m. on ESPN.
This is the first NCAA tournament berth for the Mountaineers since 1995. Mount St. Mary’s (17-6) routed Wagner, 70-38, on Sunday in the conference title game to secure its fourth overall tournament championship. Led by redshirt senior guard Kendall Bresee, the conference’s Player and Defensive Player of the Year, and senior center Rebecca Lee, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, the Mountaineers overcame two coronavirus-related pauses and the departures of two key players to end a 26-year NCAA tournament drought.
Maryland initially planned to play Mount St. Mary’s during its nonconference schedule, until coronavirus issues among the Mountaineers spoiled that.
“It’s amazing how it’s worked out, to be able to now see them all the way in San Antonio,” Frese said.
Beginning Monday, the Terps, who enter the tournament on a 13-game winning streak, hope to resurrect what they never even got to begin in 2020. Though experts regarded last year’s Maryland squad as a serious tournament contender, too, the burgeoning pandemic forced the 2020 NCAA tournament’s cancellation before anyone even learned their seed selection.
The Big Ten royals have earned 27 bids to the NCAA tournament in their history, including each of the past 16, with a 46-26 (63.9%) success rate. Under Frese’s hand, that number improves: the Terps won 70.8% of those March and April games (34-14).
This year’s Maryland team padded its resume this past weekend to be considered one of the greatest Terps squads to ever roam Xfinity Center; its record-breaking total of 104 points secured Maryland’s fifth Big Ten tournament crown since joining the conference for the 2014-15 season and comes just a week after cutting the nets down for their sixth regular season title in seven years.
Arguments could be easily made to have named Maryland as a No. 1 seed, which were doled out to UConn (24-1), Stanford (25-2), NC State (23-3) and South Carolina (22-4). The Terps led the nation in scoring all year long, and are currently averaging 91.3 points per game. Though preseason polls marked Maryland as an upper-middle program in
the Big Ten, National Coach of the Year Frese took two transfers — Katie Benzan and Chloe Bibby — and an influx of first-year players — Angel Reese and Mimi Collins — and married their talents with sophomores Ashley Owusu and Diamond Miller to create one of the most dangerous teams on any court at any time.
Owusu and Miller themselves built tremendously upon their freshman performances. No one exemplified Frese’s assessment of her consistently unselfish squad more than Owusu, who tallied 151 assists. She perhaps single-handedly saved Maryland’s quarterfinal win against No. 8 seed Nebraska by scoring 22 points and converting 10 of 11 free throws. She leads the squad in scoring too, with 18.3 points a game.
Miller also proved herself as a veritable defense threat, often tasked with marking opponents’ star players, such as Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, and more than doubled her scoring average this winter (17.2) as she took on more of a leadership role.
Frese believes her Terps are playing their best basketball right now and peaking at the right time.
Reese, the star freshman from St. Frances, shared the same feelings as her coach: the team that battled through the fires of pandemic, serious injuries and roster turnover together and emerged like phoenixes, ready to take on the tournament.
“That was super fun,” said the Baltimore native, who experienced the selection show for the first time after missing several weeks with a foot injury. “I’m really happy, especially with the group we’re with. I wouldn’t rather be with anybody else.”
Pac-12 teams have spoiled the Terps’ dreams like Trojan Horses, sliding in to knock them out of three of the past four NCAA tournaments. Frese doesn’t believe in what some call the “Pac-12 curse,” though, no matter how good she knows No. 3 seed UCLA is. If both the Bruins (16-5) and Terps win their first two games, they’ll meet.
“It’s matchups. Every team is different, personnel-based. The team we have this season is different than any other team we’ve had,” Frese said. “It doesn’t come down to a conference or what that looks like. It comes
down to each individual team and what that looks like season to season. I know where our strengths lie.”
They’ve been battle-tested this season, Frese said. The NCAA also placed six other Big Ten teams in the tournament, the coach noted, which “speaks volumes” of the vitality of their own conference.
“This competition [got] us ready for NCAAs,” the coach said.
Many have noted, and often celebrated, the youth of Maryland’s roster this season; other than Benzan, Bibby and Styles, the floor is ruled by freshmen and sophomores.
But Frese remembers a similar squad, 15 years ago, in which a freshman named Kristi Toliver landed a 3-pointer to win that year’s national campionship.
“They just play the right way. Basketball is basketball. We found that in ‘06, when age was just a number,” Frese said, calling back to the phrase she gave the night Maryland won in 2006. “If you know how to play this game, which this team does, great things are in store for them.”
While every NCAA men’s basketball tournament game will be played in Indiana, with attendance sharply limited, a similar arrangement is in place for the women’s tournament in and around San Antonio in South Texas. The regions are named after San Antonio landmarks — Mercado, Hemisfair, River Walk and Alamo.
On the women’s side, the NCAA will allow a capacity of up to 17% at each venue from the Sweet Sixteen to the Final Four. Games taking place for the first two rounds will limit attendance to team guests.
In each case, attendees must wear face coverings, while cleaning and disinfecting efforts will be emphasized at venues in keeping with COVID-19 safety protocols. The NCAA said it acted in conjunction with local health officials for each tournament.
The 64-team tournament will hold firstround games beginning March 21. The Final Four will be held in the Alamodome in San Antonio on April 2, followed by the national championship game on April 4.
March Madness is finally here.
A year after the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was canceled as the COVID-19 virus was mushrooming into a pandemic, all 68 teams will gather in Indiana for all 67 games beginning Thursday and ending April 5.
Here’s what you need to know before filling out your brackets this week:
When does the tournament start?
The “First Four’’ play-in games begin Thursday. Instead of their usual home in Dayton, Ohio, the play-in games will be held in Indiana, where the entire tournament will be played this year to limit travel during the pandemic. Indianapolis, Bloomington (home of Indiana University) and West Lafayette (home of Purdue University) will be the major hubs. Here’s the “First Four”:
No. 16 seed Texas Southern (SWAC) vs. No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary’s (NEC), 5:10 p.m., truTV
No. 11 seed Drake (MVC) vs. No. 11 seed Wichita State (American), 6:27 p.m., TBS
No. 16 seed Appalachian State (Sun Belt) vs. No. 16 seed Norfolk State (MEAC), 8:40 p.m., truTV
No. 11 seed UCLA (Pac-12) vs. No. 11 seed Michigan State (Big Ten), 9:57 p.m., TBS
The first round — or Round of 64 — will be held Friday and Saturday, with the second round Sunday and Monday.
Here’s the full schedule:
First Four: Thursday, March 18
First round: Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20
Second round: Sunday, March 21, and Monday, March 22
Sweet 16: Saturday, March 27, and Sunday, March 28
Elite Eight: Monday, March 29, and Tuesday, March 30
Final Four: Saturday, April 3 NCAAchampionshipgame:Monday,April 5
Where can I watch the games?
CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV will broadcast the games on television. Games will also be streamed on the March Madness Live app.
Who are the top seeds?
Gonzaga earned the No. 1 overall seed after a dominant season, becoming the fifth team to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated since 1975-76. The West Coast Conference champion Bulldogs (26-0) — No. 1 in Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings — lead the West Region.
Michigan, led by coach Juwan Howard, one of the members of the school’s famous “Fab Five” of the 1990s, sits atop the East Region. The Wolverines (20-4) earned their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament since 1993.
Illinois, which won the Big Ten tournament Sunday after being denied the regular-season title, leads the Midwest Region. The Fighting Illini (23-6) tied a conference record with six wins over top-10 opponents this season.
Baylor, the top seed in the South, lost just one regular-season game before being eliminated by Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament semifinals. The Bears (22-2) rank third in the country in scoring at 84.4 points per game.
Which teams should be on upset alert?
No. 5 seed Villanova (16-6), which faces No. 12 seed Winthrop (23-1) on Friday, lost starting point guard Collin Gillespie to a knee injury last week and is riding a two-game losing streak after being eliminated by Providence in the Big East tournament. Gillespie, who shared conference Player of the Year honors with teammate Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, was averaging 14.0 points and 4.6 assists per game. The Eagles are no pushover, having cruised to the Big South title with just one loss.
No. 5 seed Colorado (22-8) faces No. 12 seed Georgetown (13-12), which might be the hottest team in the nation after its stunning run to the Big East tournament title. Coach Patrick Ewing’s squad is 10-4 since a midseason coronavirus shutdown, having outscored opponents by 14.3 points per game during its conference tournament run.
No. 5 seed Tennessee (18-8) is in a similar situation. Oregon State (17-12) made a surprise run to the Pac-12 tournament title to earn a No. 12 seed, upsetting UCLA, Oregon and Colorado. The Volunteers have lost three of their past six, including a 15-point setback to a disappointing Kentucky team.
No. 3 seed Arkansas (22-6) enters the tournament as one of the nation’s top-scoring teams, but will face a stiff test from No. 14 seed Colgate (14-1), which beat Loyola Maryland for the Patriot League title. The Raiders trail only top seed Gonzaga in scoring at 86.3 points per game and have a NET rating of ninth.
Also keep an eye on No. 3 seed Texas (vs. 14 seed Abilene Christian), No. 4 seed Purdue (vs. No. 13 seed North Texas), No. 4 seed Virginia (vs. No. 13 seed Ohio), No. 4 seed Oklahoma State (vs. No. 13 seed Liberty), No. 5 seed Creighton (vs. No. 12 seed UC Santa Barbara), No. 6 seed Texas Tech (vs. No. 11 seed Utah State) and No. 6 seed San Diego State (vs. No. 11 seed Syracuse), who are all just single-digit favorites heading into the first round.
What happens if a team has COVID problems?
Four teams that didn’t make it — Louisville (13-8), Colorado State (18-6), Saint Louis (14-6) and Mississippi (16-11) — have been put on standby. They could find their way into the bracket if a team in the field notifies the NCAA by Tuesday night that it must withdraw because of health concerns. After that, if a team pulls out, its opponent will advance via what is essentially a forfeit.
Players will get their own rooms and teams will have their own floors in a cluster of hotels around the Indianapolis downtown convention center. That facility, usually a magnet for fan fests and coaching conferences, will turn into the practice and meeting area for all the teams. Players will have to produce negative tests for seven days before arriving in Indianapolis to be eligible to play.
In one of its most eye-grabbing tidbits, the NCAA announced that if a team is hit with the virus but still has five players who can pass the protocol, that’s enough to get on the floor for tipoff.
The Ravens have money to spend in free agency, but not a lot. They also have two high-value players headed to free agency, which might be even more valuable.
With Pro Bowl outside linebacker Matthew Judon and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue leaving Baltimore this offseason for rich deals elsewhere, the Ravens could earn a pair of compensatory third-round draft picks in the 2022 NFL draft. They already have one compensatory third-round pick lined up next year courtesy of the NFL’s minority-hiring initiative, which awarded them a pair of selections for the Houston Texans’ hire of former Ravens assistant coach David Culley.
The Ravens have holes at edge rusher, interior offensive line and wide receiver, and general manager Eric DeCosta can’t be cautious as he tries to build a Super Bowl contender around quarterback Lamar Jackson. But the NFL’s compensatory-pick formula could affect where the Ravens look for upgrades and replacements in the open market, especially considering Jackson’s looming megadeal and the importance of cheap rookie contracts.
After losing Judon, for instance, they’d negate a potential third-round selection by signing an unrestricted free agent to a big-money deal. If they sign a free agent who was cut, however, rather than a free agent whose last contract expired, they would still be on track to earn a pick for Judon’s departure.
As teams continue to clear salary cap space ahead of the start of the legal tampering period Monday afternoon, there are already a number of enticing salary cap casualties available. More will likely join them in the coming days. For now, all DeCosta can do is wait and watch how their markets develop.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said Tuesday, when asked about whether he expected to be active in free agency. “It just depends. I can’t give you a definitive answer, because I don’t know who is going to be available, who is going to get cut, who wants to come to Baltimore, which of our players want to do long-term deals. These things are very, very fluid.”
WR Emmanuel Sanders
Sanders, who was set to make $8 million this season, with $2 million guaranteed, is part of the exodus caused by the Saints’ massive cap crunch. New Orleans will save at least $4 million against the salary cap with his release.
Sanders, who turns 34 on Wednesday, caught 61 of his 82 targets for 726 yards and five touchdowns in 14 games last season — his most appearances since 2016. Despite bouncing from the Denver Broncos to the San Francisco 49ers to New Orleans, Sanders has helped quarterbacks post a passer rating over 100 when targeting him each of the past three seasons. His injury history and age will drive down his price somewhat, but he’s still a proven No. 2 receiver.
TE Jesse James
The Detroit Lions’ cap savings will be marginal — just $2.1 million in cap space this year, and another $7.2 million in 2022 — but James’ role had diminished since the arrival of 2019 first-round pick T.J. Hockenson. The 26-year-old was a solid option in Pittsburgh, with three straight seasons of 300-plus receiving yards from 2016 to 2018.
James combined for just 271 receiving yards and two touchdowns over two seasons in Detroit, but at 6 feet 7, 255 pounds, he’s a sound blocker and shouldn’t cost a bundle.
TE Tyler Eifert
The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to decline the team option on Eifert’s contract, sending him to free agency once more. The former first-round pick, limited by injuries to just 14 games from 2016 to 2018, has stayed healthy the past two years, missing just one game.
But Eifert is no longer the weapon he was in his early years with the Bengals. He had 436 receiving yards in 2019, his last year in Cincinnati, and 349 for the Jaguars last season. Eifert’s yards per catch fell to 10.1 and then 9.7 over the past two years, both career lows. Still, he could be a solid secondary receiving option at tight end, and Nick Boyle’s injury left the Ravens thin there in 2020.
TE Kyle Rudolph
After 10 seasons together, the Minnesota Vikings released Rudolph in early March, saving $5.1 million in cap space and parting ways with three years still remaining on the contract extension he signed in 2019.
Rudolph caught 28 of his 35 targets last season and finished with 334 receiving yards, his lowest output since a nine-game 2014 season. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has called the 6-6 Rudolph “the smartest player I’ll ever play with,” and the 31-yearold was a consistent red-zone threat in Minnesota. But Rudolph indicated before his release that he wanted a bigger role in the Vikings’ offense, and playing time could be similarly precious in Baltimore.
OT Rick Wagner
The Packers cut Wagner last month to clear $4.2 million in cap space, even after a solid season in Green Bay. The former Ravens lineman started nine games at right tackle and finished as the NFL’s No. 24 offensive tackle, according to Pro Football Focus.
Wagner, 31, was reportedly considering retirement after his departure from Green Bay, but he’ll likely have strong interest from teams needing a starting right tackle or potential swing tackle. The Ravens, for now, have two high-quality starting tackles on their roster, but if Orlando Brown Jr. is traded during the first wave of free agency, Wagner would be a capable replacement. He grades out well in pass protection and typically avoids mistakes as a run blocker.
G Kevin Zeitler
Zeitler, who agreed to a three-year deal with the Ravens on Monday morning, was released last week by the New York Giants, who cleared $12 million in savings. He graded out as the league’s No. 32 guard overall, according to PFF, higher than the Ravens’ top-rated guard, Bradley Bozeman (No. 40 overall). In 16 games, the 31-year-old gave up two sacks and committed four penalties.
He’s missed just one game since 2015 and has started 134 total over his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Giants.
DE Carlos Dunlap
The Seahawks saved $14.1 million in cap space by cutting Dunlap, who turned 32 in February and had no remaining guaranteed money in the final year of his contract. Seattle’s expected to pursue him again in free agency, where his price tag is expected to drop.
Dunlap had five sacks and 18 quarterback pressures in eight games with Seattle, which acquired him in a midseason trade with the Cincinnati Bengals. But according to ESPN, he ranked just 45th out of 46 qualifying edge rushers in Pass Rush Win Rate last season. Like Yannick Ngakoue, Dunlap also has little experience playing in coverage.
LB Kyle Van Noy
After trying and failing to find a trade partner, Miami released Van Noy on Wednesday, just one year into a four-year, $51 million contract. He was set to make $12.5 million this season, and the Dolphins saved $9.8 million in space with his release.
Van Noy, who turned around his career in New England after a disappointing start with the Detroit Lions, has the mix of coverage skills, positional flexibility and passrush ability that the Ravens covet from their outside linebackers. He had a careerhigh 6 ½ sacks with the Patriots in 2019 and six sacks last season for Miami despite a persistent hip injury. Van Noy turns 30 later this month.
When more than 180 nations agreed last year to place strict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones, the move was seen as a major victory in the fight against plastic pollution.
But new trade data for January, the first month that the agreement took effect, shows that U.S. exports of plastic scrap to poorer countries have barely changed, and overall scrap plastics exports rose, which environmental watchdog groups say is evidence that exporters are ignoring the new rules.
The U.S. companies seem to be relying on a remarkable interpretation of the new rules: Even though it’s now illegal for most countries to accept all but the purest forms of plastic scrap from the United States, there’s nothing that prevents the United States from sending the waste. The main reason: The United States is one of the few countries in the world that didn’t ratify the global ban.
“This is our first hard evidence that nobody seems to be paying attention to the international law,” said Jim Puckett, executive director of Basel Action Network, a nonprofit group that lobbies against the plastic waste trade. “As soon as the shipments get on the high seas, it’s considered illegal trafficking. And the rest of the world has to deal with it.”
The scrap industry says many of the exports are quite likely compliant with the new rules and that the increase in January reflects growing global demand for plastic to recycle and use as inputs for new products.
Recent history, however, has indicated that a large amount of the plastic scrap exported from the United States does not get recycled
but ends up as waste, a reality that was the impetus for the new rules.
The rules were adopted in 2019 by most of the world’s countries, although the United States isn’t among them, under a framework known as the Basel Convention. Underlying the change was the need to stem the flow of waste from America and other wealthier nations to poorer ones.
Though many U.S. communities dutifully collect plastic for recycling, much of the scrap has been sent overseas, where it frequently ends up in landfills, or in rivers, streams and the ocean. China, which once accepted the bulk of that waste, in 2018 banned all plastic scrap shipments, declaring that it no longer wanted to be the “world’s garbage dump.”
Since then, U.S. companies have looked to ship plastic scrap waste to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia instead.
Last year, an industry group representing the world’s largest petrochemical makers lobbied for United States trade negotiators
to press Kenya, one of Africa’s largest economies, to continue importing foreign plastic garbage.
But because Basel rules prohibit member nations from trading waste with countries that have not ratified the convention, the new regulations now effectively ban the trade in most kinds of plastic waste between the United States and the rest of the world.
For now, U.S. companies appear to have opted to continue to put their scrap onto ships out of the country at an even faster pace.
And the scrap industry says that much of the plastic that was being shipped in January is considered legitimate under the Basel rules by the companies around the world that are purchasing it to use in manufacturing.
Data for January showed that exports of scrap plastic from the United States edged upward, to 48 million tons from 45 million tons the previous January. Exports to poorer nations were virtually unchanged from a year ago, totaling 25 million tons.