On Sunday night, University of Maryland men’s basketball center Derik Queen secured a spot for the Terrapins in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 in dramatic fashion—going viral with a last-second shot that beat the traveling allegations and gave Maryland a 72-71 victory over Colorado State.
For DC-area fans, the men’s victory is hopefully a good omen for Monday night, when Maryland women’s basketball will face the University of Alabama (5 PM, ESPN2) with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.
Here are five things to know about the Terps and their March Madness 2025 state of play:
1. Derik Queen is a rising star—and NBA bound
Queen, a 20-year-old Baltimore native who stands 6-foot-10, averaged 15.7 points per game and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. A top high school recruit nationally and prep school teammate of superstar Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, Queen is projected by basketball knowers to be a mid-lottery pick in this summer’s NBA Draft; his passing and playmaking are considered elite, while his defense is a work-in-progress.
Queen’s hometown pride is a calling card: When asked where his confidence came from during a postgame interview following the Colorado State game, he replied, “I’m from Baltimore. That’s why.”
2. It’s been a record-breaking season for both coaches
Women’s head coach Brenda Frese earned her 600th career win with the Terps last month—her 606-168 record makes her the winningest coach in Maryland basketball history. Under her leadership, the team has reached 11 Sweet Sixteens, seven Elite Eights, and three Final Fours. The Terps also won a national championship in 2006.
Men’s head coach Kevin Willard isn’t half bad, either—with 27 victories this year, he’s surpassed his own total for most wins in a single season (previously set in 2015-16 while coaching Seton Hall), and his 65 wins over his first three seasons at Maryland are the best start of any coach in school history.
3. Fans are reviving a very Maryland nickname
Maryland men’s starting players—Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel, Julian Reese, Rodney Rice, and Queen—and their double-figure scoring averages have inspired fans to resurrect a long-dead nickname, the Diamondback reports. An Old Bay-dusted homage to the University of Michigan’s iconic 1990s “Fab Five” lineup, Terps tried to get the “Crab Five” moniker to stick to former coach Mark Turgeon’s 2012 roster. Sadly, the group didn’t turn out to be as “crab” as anticipated, and the term of endearment fizzled.
Until this season, that is. Members of the “Maryland Burner Community”—a cohort of extremely online fans—reassigned the “Crab Five” designation to the current starters, and the trend has taken off. The Diamondback adds that Harry Geller, who heads up Maryland’s NIL collectives, has filed to trademark on the nickname and got approval from the university and the players to use their image and likeness.
4. Yes, that Reese
Speaking of the “Crab Five,” forward Julian Reese has been a major player in the men’s tournament success thus far—and it seems to run in the family. Reese is the younger brother of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky power forward Angel Reese, a former Maryland superstar who played the second half of her college career at Louisiana State. Both Baltimore natives, the siblings are Maryland basketball legacies: Their mom, Angel Webb Reese, played for the Terps before taking on a professional career in Luxembourg, and their dad, Michael, started at Boston College before transferring to Maryland’s Loyola University.
5. All in all, the odds are … OK
ESPN betting experts give both Maryland teams a decent shot at making it to the Final Four; the men are looking at about 20-to-1 odds, while the women are at 25-to-1. Not terrible! Keep the faith, Terps.
