PREVIEW 2nd Round: LSU vs Maryland Saturday 11:10am CT

Any team in the tournament just wants to survive and advance. You don't care if you win by 100 or by 1. LSU showed how dangerous they can be, but like all season long, also showed why they can give the fans heart attacks.

Alas...WE MOVE ON!!!! For the first time in a decade, LSU will be playing a 2nd round game. Lets dive into Marland.

Maryland finished 13-7 in the Big Ten and 22-10 overall (6-8 vs Quad 1, 6-1 vs Quad 2). They are more of a defensive minded team, but do have some athletes. They played Virginia very close, but have wins against Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota, multiple against Ohio State. They have played in a tough conference so they know how to play big time basketball. Personally, I think the Big Ten is a bit overrated so their Quad 1 and Quad 2 W/L record is very high. They have lost to Illinois, Nebraska, and Penn State, but overall they don't have any "bad" losses. They're the epitome of a solid team.

Maryland Lineup:

F Bruno Fernando 6'10 240 SO- 13.7ppg, 10.4rpg, 61.4% FG%
F Jalen Smith 6'10 215 FR- 11.4ppg, 6.6rpg,
G Eric Ayala 6'5 205 FR- 8.5ppg, 42% 3P%
G Darryl Morsell 6'5 200 SO- 8.1ppg
G Anthony Cowan Jr 6' 170 JR- 16ppg, 4.3apg

Bench:

G Aaron Wiggins 6'6 200 FR- 8.3ppg, 41% 3P%
G Serrell Smith Jr 6'4 170 FR- 3.1ppg
F RIcky Lindo Jr 6'8 200 FR- 1.7 ppg, 3.7rpg

About Maryland's Players

Bruno Fernando is a BEAST down low. He was 1st team All Big Ten, and is a double double machine. Bruno also made the All-Defensive team in the Big Ten KBW and Naz will have their work cut out for them. Also, Anthony Cowan has a lot of Tremont in him. He's a smaller guard but can score lots of points and was 2nd team All Big Ten. Jalen Smith made the All-Freshman team in the conference.

Other than their big 2 (perhaps 3 if you include Smith who went off today), they have many role players.

Maryland Stats:
Maryland
Offensive
PPG: 71.3 (189th nationally)
FG%: 45.4% (90th nationally)
3P%: 35.3% (118th nationally)
2P%: 51.3% (119th nationally)
FT%: 74.8% (43rd nationally)
APG: 13.2 (173rd nationally)
TOPG: 13.1 (190th nationally)
ORPG: 9.4 (95th nationally)
Offensive Efficiency: 1.053 (77th nationally)

Defensive
PPG: 65.1 (35th natinoally)
RPG: 39.1 (16th nationally)
BPG: 4.7 (23rd nationally)
SPG: 4.3 (342nd nationally)
Opponent FG%: 39.7% (13th nationally)
Opponent 2P%: 44.7% (15th nationally)
Opponent 3P%: 31.9% (49th nationally)
Opponent ORPG: 7.9 (124th nationally)
Opponent FTAPG: 15.6 (28th nationally)
Turnovers Forced: 9.5 (352nd nationally)
Defensive Efficiency: .960 (60th nationally)

What The Stats Say:

Well, this is the type of team that gives LSU trouble. They bunker down, play good defense, take ZERO chances. They force you to shoot OVER them. LSU typically has trouble with teams like this because they fall in love with the 3. However, we can be a bit turnover happy at times, and Maryland is not just bad at creating turnovers, they are ATROCIOUSSSSSS. Maryland has run into trouble this season because when they play teams with better talent and creators they struggle

PREDICTION:

LSU showed what they are able to do vs Yale. They absolutely demolished Yale in the 1st half, but then in typical LSU fashion, they seemed disinterested and really somewhat collapsed. They of course held on to win the game and really in the tourney that is all that matters.

Maryland was actually outplayed vs Belmont for a while, but in the end they had too many athletes. Belmont is an elite scoring team with many capable scorers, but as they learned, sometimes better athletes win. Maryland really clamped down on Belmont's 3-point shooting and that was ultimately the difference. The rebounding discrepancy wasn't as much as I was expecting, but Maryland did win the rebounding battle.

Anthony Cowan JR for Maryland was absolutely atrocious. He is by far their best scorer and he did not even get into double digits and shot below 20%. If Maryland wants to win, they will have to change.

I think LSU will win this game. I'm a little nervous, much more nervous than the Yale game, because this is the team that gives us FITS. Will Wade said after a loss to Florida that "this" is the type of team we will lose to. The teams aren't all that similar because, but they both like to grind it out.

Maryland is very youthful, much like LSU (Maryland is 350th nationally in experience...LSU is 324th). Maryland actually had the 7th overall recruiting class last season, highlighted by 5-star Jalen Smith. If you look at their lineup, you see they have many Freshman and won't have any Seniors play. This leads to a little bit more volatile play from Maryland, but it also effects their depth. Their bench is not good. They like to play 8-9, but only 6 guys are really capable of contributing.

LSU and Maryland are very similar in size, but it's the aggressiveness I love with LSU this game. LSU is BY FAR the deeper team in this one. LSU can go 1-8 and Days has been known to drop double digits in games. Emmitt Williams has come in and carried our team before. Hell, Smart comes off the bench and would start for 90% of teams in the country. If, huge if but IF, LSU can play even half the game with the intensity they started the Yale game with, they should absolutely win this game.

LSU - 78
Maryland - 72

FYI- Had a few beers because I was so incredibly nervous for the game..any misspellings or screw ups...CUT ME SOME SLACK!