Maryland men’s basketball’s season ended back in March when the team failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament and the NIT. But the Terps are still picking up accolades, and they reeled in a pretty big one (in our opinion, at least) on Monday night.

Back on Nov. 15, Maryland earned a quality win over Butler, topping the Bulldogs 79-65. That victory looked even better after Dec. 30, when Butler beat then-No. 1 Villanova. At the time, Butler’s win was met with some fanfare for Terps fans — at least from our account.

After Villanova’s 79-62 win over Michigan in the NCAA title game on Monday night, it officially meant that Maryland beat a team that beat the national champions. Thus, by the transitive property, the Terps — not the Wildcats — are in fact the real national champions. You can’t argue with math.

Jokes aside, the fact that a fully healthy Maryland squad was able to beat a team that upset the eventual national champions does make you wonder just how good the Terps would have been if Justin Jackson and Ivan Bender hadn’t gotten hurt.

Maybe with Jalen Smith and company, Mark Turgeon’s team will reach that level next year.