The Terps’ NCAA Tournament fate was sealed heading into Sunday. The only question was their seeding — a No. 4, No. 5 or even No. 6 spot after Friday’s early exit from the ACC Tournament seemed possible.

They got the No. 4 seed, which is good because it means the selection committee thought the Terps were one of the top 16 teams in the country.

The Terps’ draw? Not so good.

If they get past first-round opponent Houston, the Terps could potentially face No. 5 Michigan State in the second round and No. 1 overall seed Kansas in the Sweet 16 in St. Louis. It’s definitely not a dream draw. Our guys discuss:

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – As long as Jordan Williams sticks around, the Terrapin men’s basketball forward will play in three more ACC Tournaments.

But he’d probably rather forget his first experience here.

Going up against Georgia Tech’s potent front court in Friday’s quarterfinal loss, Williams struggled with foul problems throughout the night, ultimately fouling out for the first time in his career. The freshman finished with seven points and seven rebounds in just 21 minutes, his fewest in ACC play since the Jan. 10 conference opener.

Williams picked up his fourth foul with 15:33 left in the game trying to draw a charge on Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert’s transition lay-up attempt. He sat for more than eight minutes before returning with 7:08 left and fouled out when he grabbed Derrick Favors with three seconds left and the outcome all but decided.

While Williams, who picked up his second foul with 9:46 left in the first half, avoided disqualification until the final seconds, he acknowledged it effected him from getting comfortable in his ACC Tournament debut.

“It was tough for me not to be able to get to my rhythm playing aggressive,” Williams said. “I like to bump. I like to get into the mix. It was tough for me not to be able to do that tonight.”

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — It’s the same story every year at the ACC Tournament. If Duke’s playing – and they’ve been playing a lot on this stage as winners of eight of the last 11 ACC Championships – the fans from the 11 other conference teams in the arena rabidly root against them.

In his team’s 77-74 win against Miami on Saturday, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski gave those people reason to erupt when he picked up a technical foul with 2:07 left in the first half for arguing a carrying call on guard Nolan Smith.

Miami was in the middle of a 17-2 run to close the half, and as the Hurricanes picked up their play, the intensity grew. Any remaining Terp fans in the upper deck behind Duke’s bench stood and applauded the whole situation, along with any other non-Duke supporters.

Krzyzewski tossed his suit jacket to the bench. Hurricanes’ coach Frank Haith did the same.

But while the technical wasn’t some intentional “motivational ploy,” as Krzyzewski called it, the sequence helped to energize the Blue Devils after a lethargic end to the first half.

The result: A 9-2 Duke run to start the second half. Forward Kyle Singler, a key part of that run who finished with 27 points, cited the fans as motivation.

Sunday, as much as the majority of people in the building won’t want to see it, the Blue Devils will play for another conference tournament title.

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — This is probably a whole lot less meaningful than it would have been a year ago, but in other ways, it’s a lot more intriguing.

Last season, the Terps were squarely on the bubble at this point in the game–though looking good after knocking off the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament.

This year, the Terps, despite yesterday’s early exit from the ACC Tournament, are in much better shape. Instead of debating the Terps’ viability as a tournament squad, the major question heading into Selection Sunday is how the draw might set up for the Terps to take a run deep into March.

Bracketology is hard and inexact, so we at The Diamondback won’t try to do this ourselves.

After the jump, here’s a look at what where some national pundits see the Terps and what that could mean:

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Coach Gary Williams at Friday's postgame press conference. Photo by Allison Akers/The Diamondback

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Terps trailed Georgia Tech by 16 points at halftime here Friday night.

Just more than six minutes into the second half, the Terps trailed by two, 46-44, after a flurry of forced turnovers and momentum building moments. The 19-5 run over the first 6:22 of the half made it seem as if coach Gary Williams’ team was on its way to another comeback win.

But the Terps couldn’t get over the hump. There weren’t any late-game heroics left, at least not Friday. The Terps had nine shot attempts with an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the final 12:29 of the game. None of them went down. A couple rimmed out.

“We had a bunch of chances,” guard Eric Hayes said. “A bunch of other guys missed some shots that we usually make and it’s a little frustrating when you use that much energy to get back in the game, within two points, and you just can’t get over the top.”

In a season in which so many of those game-defining moments went their way – from Cliff Tucker’s buzzer beater against the Yellow Jackets back in February to their manic 12-0 second-half run against Clemson – the Terps might have been due for a letdown.

Now they’ll have some extra time off to try to recapture the magic.

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

Photo by Steven Overly/The Diamondback

Before starting a new Diamondback beat, I like to get a handle on the players I will be covering. Scouring www.umterps.com is always a good place to start.

This October, examining the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s individual player profiles yielded minimal interesting information.

Dino Gregory likes chess. Jordan Williams wishes the basketball season was longer. Sean Mosley would have Chris Rock play him in a movie. Standard stuff.

But Landon Milbourne’s profile contained perhaps the most interesting nugget: “enjoys making hip-hop beats in his free time.” When the Cameron Crazies’ cheer sheets for the Terps’ Feb. 13 trip to Duke mentioned Milbourne’s lack of Myspace Music fans, I was definitely interested.

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