Terps season over: No NIT bid even with 19 victories
Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011 9:18 am | Updated: 9:37 am, Mon Mar 14, 2011.
By Josh Land, Times Staff Writer | 0 comments
For the first time since 1993, the Maryland men's basketball team won't be participating in the postseason.
The Terrapins had a streak of 17 consecutive years in either the NCAA tournament or NIT ended Sunday night when they weren't selected for either. It marks just the fourth time in coach Gary Williams' 22 seasons at his alma mater that Maryland didn't play in the postseason.
The Terps went 19-14 this year and tied for seventh in the ACC at 7-9, one year after sharing the conference's regular-season championship. Maryland has won at least 19 games in 15 straight seasons.
Four ACC teams earned NCAA tournament bids - Duke, North Carolina, Clemson and Florida State. Three others were selected to play in the NIT - Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami.
"After 19 wins and beating Penn State, Florida State and Clemson, it's disappointing that we're not at least in the NIT," Williams said in a statement. "We played right with Duke for 35 minutes and got a win in the ACC tournament. It's kind of surprising we weren't selected.
"We worked very hard to get to where we were with 19 wins this year. We're looking forward to the start of next season."