On the eve of their Sweet 16 matchup with Florida Basketball, one would think that Maryland would be riding high. The Terrapins are in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for just the second time since 2003 and are coming off a dramatic buzzer-beater to beat Colorado State.
But if one is looking for a potential advantage for the Gators beyond the stats on the court, Maryland has a massive headache that has reached the public eye off the court.
Florida Basketball: Crab People
Kevin Willard made headlines last week when he openly mused about a lack of NIL support, among other things, with Maryland. Willard told one anecdotal story about how he wanted to stay an extra night when the team was in New York but was turned down by the university.
Then, this week, rumors and rumblings have started to surface that Willard is a prime candidate for the Villanova. The Wildcats had been linked with Richard Pitino, but he just signed on to Xavier, leaving Willard as the only coach linked to Villanova.
Unlike Will Wade, being completely open and transparent that he would be gone once their tournament run ends, Willard seems to be doing the classic song and dance of pretending nothing is happening.
When asked on Wednesday about the whole situation, Willard promptly pivoted to needing to stop Walter Clayton and avoided the question altogether.
It's all a fascinating backdrop that Gator fans hope will work in their favor. Willard knows that Clayton is good, but has he actually come up with a game plan to stop him, or is he more concerned with finding transfer portal players to follow him to Villanova?
Florida takes on Maryland tonight at 7:39 PM in San Francisco, where the winner will move on to take on the winner of Texas Tech versus Arkansas.