Davidson at Loyola Maryland

This game comes down to who wants it more, Davidson or Maryland. The Wildcats have already won twice on the road over solid teams SMS and VCU by 11 and 15 points respectively so it’s pretty obvious that Davidson is in it to win this thing. Maryland has played only once, a home win over Oral Roberts that was basically won at the free throw line. The Terps thought they got the shaft from the NCAA committee and it’s quite possible they did. Maryland doesn’t have a whole lot of interest being here and this will be its first game in exactly one week, not a great momentum booster. Home court is huge for Maryland but it won’t be its normal factor tonight. Davidson played in a much weaker conference but the Wildcats have managed 11 road wins, still an impressive amount no matter where they played. An extremely difficult non-conference schedule got them ready for those games as well as these in the tournament and it has showed that it paid off. The Wildcats played Duke and lost by just 13 points. The Wildcats have a legitimate shot at winning this game outright. Davidson has something to prove as going 16-0 in its conference during the regular season must count for something. This will be a very close battle with Maryland sneaking out a close win at the end they'll fail to cover the posted 9 points. Davidson for four stars.