Football

2024 record: 4-8, 1-8 Big Ten
Coach: Mike Locksley
Player to watch: Malik Washington

In its Big Ten debut, Oregon was a force to be reckoned with – going undefeated in conference play and winning the 2024 conference championship against Penn State.

Last year’s West Coast expansion of the oldest collegiate football conference has been largely successful, even if UCLA and USC did not pull the same weight as their northern neighbor.

The East Coast expansion of the Big Ten, on the other hand, is yet to garner the same results, despite coming ten years prior.

Maryland football – which entered the Big Ten in 2014 alongside Rutgers – has not finished in the top three in the Big Ten East Division, barring its inaugural year. The Terrapins’ challenges in conference play have made it difficult to make a name for themselves in an arena of heavy hitters, such as Michigan and Ohio State, the 2024 and 2025 national champions, respectively.

But after three consecutive winning seasons with bowl victories from 2021 to 2023, Maryland’s future was looking bright. That was until the team’s signal caller and Big Ten all-time passing leader, Taulia Tagovailoa, declared for the 2024 NFL Draft.

That forced Coach Mike Locksley to go back to the drawing board, where he came up with quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., who in his one year starting under center led the Terrapins to a 4-8 finish, earning just one conference victory.

Following the transfer of Edwards Jr. to Wisconsin, Locksley will once again be forced to reshape his offense ahead of the 2025 season. This time, he has brought in former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton to help him do it.

Enter true freshman Malik Washington.

The former four-star recruit was the No. 5-ranked quarterback in the class of 2025 per 247Sports. Washington recorded 22 passing touchdowns during his senior year of high school and added eight on the ground at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Maryland.

UCLA transfer Justyn Martin is also in contention to become Maryland’s lead play caller. Martin’s experience as the Bruins’ backup – during which he made one start in 2024 against Penn State – could give him an edge.

Regardless of who opens the season on Aug. 30, the Terrapins have explosive downfield players in their offensive arsenal, including transfer wide receiver Jalil Farooq and tight end Dorian Fleming.

While Farooq was sidelined most of last year with a broken foot, he averaged 15.4 yards per reception in 2023 at Oklahoma, starting in all 13 games. Fleming started all of last season for Georgia State, recording 558 yards on 49 receptions.

How Fleming’s skills will transfer against more competitive defenses than he faced in the Sun Belt conference is yet to be seen, though.

Luckily, three non-Power Four opponents to open the season could provide Maryland’s largely new offense the opportunity to gain confidence before tackling Big Ten play.

Women’s Basketball
2024 record: 25-8, 13-5, Sweet 16 appearance
Coach: Brenda Frese
Player to watch: Kaylene Smikle

It’s hard to forget a 111-108 double overtime thriller.

And Maryland women’s basketball is unlikely to overlook its 2024 NCAA tournament second round performance – the second-highest scoring game in tournament history – anytime soon.

Other than serving up one of the most exciting games of 2025’s March Madness, coach Brenda Frese also extended her NCAA Tournament record to 43-18 and led the Terrapins to their 12th Sweet 16 appearance in her 23-year tenure.

The two-time National Coach of the Year has helped establish Maryland as not only a nationally reputed program but a conference stalwart, winning five Big Ten tournaments in the past 10 years, the most of any school.

Guard Kaylene Smikle returns to College Park after leading the team in scoring last season with 17.9 points per game – including a 20.7 point average across the NCAA Tournament.

Following the graduation of assists leader Shyanne Sellers and rebounds leader Christina Dalce, Freese picked up some transfers alongside two four-star freshman recruits – guards Addison Mack and Rainey Welson – to fill out the roster.

Former Indiana guard Yarden Garzon earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors while shooting 40.7% from the 3-point line, making her a valuable addition to the backcourt. Additionally, former Duke guard Oluchi Okananwa was the 2024 ACC Sixth Player of the Year as a freshman and garnered a 2025 ACC Tournament Most Outstanding Player award the following year.

A team with as much consistency across the years as Maryland is hard to shake, and Freese’s squad has given no reason they’re willing to budge.

Men’s Basketball
2024 record: 27-9, 14-6 Big Ten, Sweet 16 appearance
Coach: Buzz Williams
Players to watch: Pharrel Payne and Solomon Washington

After the Terrapins’ starting five scored the entirety of the team’s points in a victory over Nebraska last season, a fan on the social media platform X dubbed the lineup “The Crab Five.”

The nickname, which parodies Michigan basketball’s famous “Fab Five,” rightfully caught on – the starting unit’s 83 points were the second-most in a single game for a Power Four starting lineup ever.

“I’ll be honest, it took me a little while to get it,” former Terrapin coach Kevin Willard said to Maryland Athletics. “And then I realized Maryland, and crabs, and all that.”

Former five-star recruit and 2025 NBA lottery pick center Derik Queen headlined the lineup, leading the team with 16.5 points per game. Forward Rodney Rice tied Queen for a team-high nine rebounds per contest, and guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced the team with 4.8 assists.

Guard Selton Miguel and forward Julian Reese rounded out the group, both of whom averaged double-digit points last season.

The Crab Five led the Terrapins to a 14-6 Big Ten record and a second-place finish in the regular season rankings. Maryland sat on the precipice of topping the leaderboard, losing its last four conference losses by just a combined nine points.

And a breakout 2024-25 campaign that ended in a Sweet Sixteen appearance – falling only to eventual national champions Florida – deserved headlines in its own right. But much of the news coverage around the Terrapins during March Madness centered on the speculated – and ultimately finalized – departure of Willard to Villanova.

Willard’s complaints of Maryland’s large allocation of funding to football, leaving little for the men’s basketball program, during a post-game press conference, went viral, and his status as the leading candidate for the Wildcats’ head coach position was well known.

In the wake of Willard’s departure, every single member of the Crab Five left Maryland.

In response, Maryland turned to former Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams, who is bringing over his entourage of forwards in Pharrel Payne and Solomon Washington from the Aggies to fill out a gutted roster.

Payne has averaged 9.6 points and 5.4 rebounds across three collegiate seasons, while Washington led the Aggies with 1.2 blocks per contest last year. Former Aggie underclassmen guards Andre Mills and George Turkson, Jr. will also join the seniors in College Park after redshirting their first years.

Transfer guards Myles Rice of Indiana – named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award watchlist last season – and Isaiah Watts of Washington State – who averaged 11.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists last year – have the potential to anchor the backcourt after strong seasons at their respective schools.

And so a program that was on its way to establishing a national reputation will largely be left to start from the ground up, joining a list of collegiate teams grappling with the effects of a new NIL era.