For any Maryland fans hoping to not pass football season and proceed directly to basketball, there's now a date to look forward to.
That would be Nov. 8, when the Terrapins open play in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic regional round against Seattle.
Two days later, Maryland plays host to College of Charleston.
Maryland has never played Seattle, which is transitioning into Division I under coach Cameron Dollar (yep, that Cameron Dollar). It will be the Terps' second meeting with College of Charleston; the Cougars upended Maryland in the 1997 NCAA tournament the first time around.
Oh, and Charleston's coach is Bobby Cremins, so that will be a reunion of sorts for his old ACC colleague Gary Williams.
Seattle had an RPI of 192 last year and beat Oregon State, Utah and Weber State. Granted, it wasn't the greatest season for Oregon State and Utah, but both were solid victories for the Redhawks. Charleston was 21-11 and beat North Carolina, George Mason, Winthrop and Wofford. Again, not a bad set of victories.
In short, those aren't automatic victories. But the good thing for the Terps in this event if they're guaranteed to move on to Madison Square Garden anyway to play two of Illinois, Pittsburgh and Texas (the latter will play Navy in its opener on Nov. 8).
Assuming this is the first tournament of the year (it usually is), it's now safe to say 152 days until college basketball season begins.
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