The Maryland women’s basketball team will enter the 2017-18 season ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and No. 13 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, both released on Thursday.
The Terps began last season as the No. 6 and No. 5 team in each poll, respectively. They went 32-3 en route to a Big Ten championship.
Maryland earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to 10-seed Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen.
This season, the Terps are without star forward Brionna Jones and star guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, both of whom graduated. Starting point guard and National Freshman of the Year, Destiny Slocum, transferred to Oregon State.
The trio combined for more than half of the Terps’ points last season.
Despite those losses, Maryland was picked as the No. 2 team in the Big Ten by the conference’s coaches, behind only Ohio State, who is No. 5 in the preseason AP Top 25 this season. Maryland, at No. 15, is the second-highest ranked Big Ten team in the AP poll.
The Terps defeated Glenville State, 130-61, in an exhibition on Oct. 29. They’ll face Bowie State on Friday in another warm-up contest before opening the season against Albany on Nov. 10.
