Back home for the early rounds, Maryland hopes to move past Alabama, Green Bay and Norfolk State

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Maryland and coach Brenda Frese were among the big winners on Selection Sunday, even if the Terrapins’ good fortune remained a bit under the radar.

As the No. 4 seed in their region, the Terps are hosting the first two rounds — and although that’s become the norm in College Park, it’s not something they can take for granted anymore.

“I don’t know that we would get too comfortable. I think it should give a great confidence level that you know the facility and have practiced all year in it,” Frese said. “You get to sleep in your own beds and you’re not in a hotel room and traveling. You have your ice baths and the resources that you need to be comfortable. We want to use it as an advantage. Doesn’t guarantee you a win, but we want to take advantage.”

A season ago, Maryland made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed and had to travel, losing in the first round. It was only the third time in the last 13 tournaments that the Terps didn’t began at home — and one of those was played in Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Terrapins (23-7) received home court this year, but barely. They were expected to be on the borderline between a No. 4 and a No. 5 seed. Now they’ll face 13th-seeded Norfolk State on Saturday. Fifth-seeded Alabama takes on 12th-seeded Green Bay in the other first-round game in College Park.

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The Crimson Tide (23-8) narrowly missed hosting, but this is still Alabama’s highest seed since 1999.

“Our motto — grit, love, and gratitude — that’s what we’re about,” Crimson Tide guard Sarah Ashlee Barker said. “You want to be the grittiest player on the floor, be tough, you want to love one another with everything you have. And then you want to be grateful. You want to have so much gratitude for the game of basketball and how lucky we are to be able to play Division I basketball.”

Green Bay (29-5) comes into the tournament with a 22-game winning streak and Norfolk State (30-4) has won 19 in a row.

Plenty of support

On Thursday, Maryland men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard said — a day before his team’s NCAA Tournament opener — that athletic director Damon Evans was probably leaving for SMU. Willard also expressed concerns with the level of support for his program, saying he wanted to spend an extra night in New York with his team to celebrate Christmas, but was told that was too expensive.

Frese was asked about the situation with Willard and Evans on Thursday.

“For Damon, for Coach Willard, those are their own individual things. If they’re evaluating their situations, that’s on them,” Frese said. “I will say that I’ve been here 23 years and the amount of support that I’ve been given from Damon Evans and the whole administration is nothing less than superior. It hasn’t changed the way I’ve been able to do my job in 23 years.”

Green Bay coach Kayla Karius had similar compliments for her school’s commitment to women’s basketball. The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported recently that Karius’ base salary of $265,000 is higher than that of Doug Gottlieb, the school’s men’s coach.

“I think it goes back to our university, our chancellor, our athletic director, and our whole community really prioritizing our women’s basketball program. I don’t really necessarily look at it like myself versus Coach Gottlieb. I have great respect for him and the up and coming coach that he is,” said Karius, who also played at Green Bay. “I think it’s a lot more to be said about women’s basketball and the rise of it and in most recent years how much popularity it’s gained and how it’s on a bigger stage.”

Solidarity

Norfolk State will try to add to the victories two other HBCUs — Southern’s women and Alabama State’s men — have already earned in the NCAA Tournament this year. Those two teams were No. 16 seeds that won games in the First Four.

“It was just really exciting to see. Those were tough games for them too,” Norfolk State forward Kierra Wheeler said. “HBCUs proved that they deserve to be there, and hopefully next year they don’t have to be in the play-in game.”

Maintaining the standard

Karius is in her first season as Green Bay’s coach. Kevin Borseth took the Phoenix to 13 NCAA Tournaments before retiring last year. After Green Bay won 27 games in 2023-24, Karius has surpassed that.

“She knew we all came back after Coach Borseth left and she was really willing to work with us and meet us halfway on a lot of things,” senior Maddy Schreiber said. “It proved to work out and be very successful for us.”

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This version has been corrected to show Willard’s comments were Thursday.