As the Terrapin men’s basketball team prepares to begin ACC play Sunday against Boston College, the Terps find themselves facing an almost wide-open conference field.

The possibilities for success, made even more alluring by the team’s ACC regular season co-championship last season, leave the Terps (7-3) eager to jump into their conference schedule.

“The league is definitely wide open,” forward Jordan Williams said. “I really believe we can beat any team in the country.”

Last year, the Terps exceeded expectations of a middling ACC finish to earn a tie atop the conference with Duke. This year’s team, despite losing three senior starters from last season’s squad, believes it can again compete for the top spot. And the Terps want to set the tone for league play against the Eagles (7-2) at Comcast Center.

“The first ACC game is what we look forward to all season,” Williams said. “There is nothing like playing in the toughest conference in the country.”

While the conference may regularly rate as one of the top basketball powerhouses in the country, its strength this year is in doubt.

Duke was the unanimous choice for the nation’s No. 1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls.

So far, however, few but the Blue Devils have met expectations. North Carolina and Virginia Tech quickly dropped out of the nation’s Top 25 polls, throwing into doubt the makeup of the ACC’s second tier.

A glimpse at early-season results offers little clarity. In their conference opener earlier this week, the Hokies lost to an upstart Virginia team that beat No. 22 Minnesota last week. Those same Gophers earlier beat the then-No. 8 Tar Heels, who rebounded this week with a win against No. 17 Kentucky.

A weaker conference affords the Terps an unusual opening in conference play. After Duke, which seems set to remain firmly entrenched at the top of not only the league but also the country, the ACC’s runner-up spots are ripe for the taking.

Terp players said they believe the team is ready to come into its own at just the right time. Despite losses in three big nonconference contests, the Terps have yet to appear overmatched against teams as highly rated as No. 3 Pittsburgh. And Wednesday, in the lead-up to their first conference game, the Terps crushed UNC-Greensboro.

Though the Spartans left College Park 0-8, the Terps still saw the win as a critical step in preparing for stiffer competition.

“Believe it or not, you take a lot out of it,” Jordan Williams said. “You could call it what you want — an easy win, or whatever you want to call it — but on the other hand, it’s definitely a confidence booster for us.”

The game provided a lift for a starting lineup that largely struggled against Temple in the BB&T Classic. Senior guards Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker, who scored just two points apiece against the Owls, excelled, scoring 16 and 13 points, respectively.

“With the ACC starting on Sunday, it’s very important that they play well because they have the most experience on the team,” coach Gary Williams said. “And sometimes it’s different when you get into conference play in terms of how everything is, and they’ve been through it before, so it’s important that they did play well tonight.”

“I can’t wait to play Boston College,” Bowie said. “We are definitely ready. We always have things to improve on, but at this point in the season, we are ready.”

Boston College serves as a warm-up in itself, with the Eagles the last major obstacle before the Terps’ trip to Durham, N.C., in early January to play the No. 1 Blue Devils.

“We know it’s crunch time now,” Jordan Williams said. “Now it’s time to get real. It’s definitely time for us to step our games up. We can’t start games how we’ve started in the past and start slowly. It’s a whole new ball game now, a whole new level of play, and we’re definitely looking forward to that challenge.”

kyanchulis@umdbk.com