Analysis: Here's 2 up-and-coming teams of the Big Ten who both are coming off losing campaigns last season. HC Chris Collins & his 21st-ranked Wildcats come in 20-8 overall & 11-6 in conference play while HC Kevin Willard's (a very successful coach both @ Seton Hall & Iona) Terrapins have an overall 19-9 record while going 10-7 in conference. I'm impressed with Maryland whose really taken care of business playing Big Ten games @ home going 9-0 this season & 15-1 overall on home hardwood. They've handily beaten Purdue, Indiana & Wisconsin there by an average of over 14 PPG. The Terps will NOT be facing a balanced attack since Northwestern relies heavily on a veteran backcourt of Chase Audige (13 PPG) & leading-scorer Boo Buie (21.8 PPG) whose coming off a season-high 35 in a 66-62 road loss @ the Fighting Illini Thursday. I believe they'll have a hangover effect here as the Wildcats blew a 37-19 halftime lead to Illinois. On the flip side, we have a Terrapins' scoring attack led by Charlotte grad transfer Jahmir Young with 16.6 PPG along with Baltimore standout center Julian "JuJu" Reese pitching in 13.6 PPG. Longarm swingman/point guard Hakim Hart averages a solid 13 PPG while power forward & leading rebounder Donta Scott has an output of 11 PPG rounding a very well balanced scoring attack. My bottom line looks @ a Maryland squad that's rising to the occasion versus +.600 winning road teams (NW is 6-3 SU in that role) going a perfect 5-0 ATS @ home. The series has gone the Turtles' way winning 7 of the last 10 SU while also winning the last meeting last January 94-87 in OT @ Welsh-Ryan Arena. Look for Willard's squad to play a faster tempo & press more frequently here which should be problematic for the Wildcats @ this venue. Maryland, who was projected to finish 10th, is far from it in a 4-way tie with Indiana, Illinois & Michigan. Here's where we'll play it! The Terps are out to punch a post-season ticket so we'll go to 18,000-seat Xfinity Center in College Park to play the MARYLAND TERRAPINS (trim it down buying to -1) as my 10 Star Big Ten Post-Season Ticket-Pincher Play! NOTES: All subscribers got a real treat with this rare 10 Star in CBB with conference tournaments right around the corner. I felt this was a very key game for the Terps who really needed this game to force a tie with Northwestern for 2nd & thus punching their ticket to the post-season. The 1st half was a highly contested & back/forth affair (9 ties & 9 lead-changes) that wound up with Maryland grabbing a slim 41-39 lead riding the heals of Jahmir Young who hit on 16 of his 18 game points. However, the 2nd half saw pure turtle power as they hit a season-high 14 treys (22 attempts) as all 5 starters scored in double-digits. They hit on 53.8% from the field overall & held Northwestern to just 20 second-half markers as the Terrapins won going away 75-59 (now 10-0 SU @ home in Big ten play) for an excellent 10 Star winner! Don't miss CBB as I'll back again this coming week for possible isolated plays such as this one. Mike Handzelek's 2022-23 CBB Overall Record: 3-0 for 100%
 

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