Maryland isn't scared, not one bit. The Terps have been to Durham and beaten Duke. They have no reason to believe they can't do it again on Thursday.
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I want that ACC regular-season and tournament championship before I finish and to get that you have to go through
Duke. ” |
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— Juan Dixon,
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"We're comfortable playing there, we're not intimidated by the fans," Maryland senior guard Juan Dixon said. "It's a great place to play for a college basketball player and we love to play in those atmospheres. They've got great fans that cheer the whole game. Me and Steve (Blake) were just saying how those fans pump us up, too."
Maryland beat Duke 91-80 last season (that's when Carlos Boozer went out during the game with a broken foot), a victory that essentially pushed the Terps toward their Final Four run. The win over Duke was a remarkable turnaround for a team that had been demoralized after blowing a 10-point lead in the final minute of regulation to Duke at home a month earlier and then subsequently lost three of their next four games, including to Florida State at home.
Sure, Duke still beat Maryland in the ACC tournament semifinal and then again in the national semifinal in Minneapolis. But Maryland's psyche was repaired with the win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"I want that ACC regular-season and tournament championship before I finish and to get that you have to go through Duke," Dixon said.
But the Terps have a golden opportunity heading into Thursday's game at Duke. As well as Duke played Sunday night in disposing of N.C. State in Raleigh, the reality is that Duke still lost at bottom-three Florida State last Sunday night. That's a loss that Maryland doesn't have and might not get, which means the Terps could have an edge if the two teams are in a tiebreaker for the league title. Maryland got a scare at a lower-tier Georgia Tech Sunday but averted the upset, which happened to the Terps the past two seasons in Atlanta.
Beat Duke Thursday and Maryland can actually open up a two-game lead on the Blue Devils for the ACC title.
"We have to take care of business but we're in a great situation right now if we get that one Thursday," Dixon said. "We can control our own destiny in the ACC right now. I know any team can lose on a given night like Duke did at Florida State. We've been through that in the past but Sunday (against Georgia Tech) showed we've got a veteran team and we know what it takes to win close games like that."
The way the league races are going across the country, going undefeated is highly unlikely, especially in a high-profile conference like the ACC. Maryland still has to play Virginia and Wake Forest twice, but if the Terps don't slip against one of the bottom dwellers in the league then they've got a shot to win any tiebreaker with Duke.
"We've got a chance to do something good here if we don't lose to one of the lesser opponents and lose to one of the teams we're supposed to beat," Dixon said. "We're definitely one of the top teams in the ACC and teams are going to come at us every night."
Just like Maryland plans on doing to Duke Thursday. That's the only ACC game in which the Terps understand and respect that they are the underdog. But they're not afraid, not at all, not when they've won there last season. And the Duke loss to Florida State opened their eyes that Duke can be beaten this season -- something that Maryland can't wait to get a chance to do Thursday.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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