CBS Sports picks between Maryland basketball vs. Florida
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After crushing Grand Canyon and sneaking past Colorado State, Maryland men's basketball will take on Florida on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 matchup. It took a last-second jumper to fall for Maryland to get past the Rams in the Round of 32, but it will likely take a full 40 minutes to beat a Gators team that's seatching for a national title.
Plenty of experts are picking Florida to win the whole thing -- those of them who aren't picking Duke. The Gators are a deep team led by guard Walter Clayton Jr. Maryland will need great guard play and hope its starting five can hold up for the entire game with depth being an issue.
CBS Sports' panel consisting of Matt Norlander, Jerry Palm, Chip Patterson, Kyle Boone, David Cobb, and Cameron Salerno picked the game between the Terps and Gators. Three of them picked Maryland +6.5 points -- via FanDuel -- but only Norlander picked the Terps outright to win the game.
"7:39 p.m. on TBS | March Madness Live: The depth mismatch is impossible to ignore here. Maryland not only leans on its starting five more than anyone else left in the tournament, but Florida has a deeper rotation of bigs that could cause problems if this game gets a tight whistle down low. The Gators can endure a couple of cheap fouls to Alex Condon or Rueben Chinyelu because Thomas Waugh and Micah Handlogten are more than capable of giving you good minutes off the bench. But if Derik Queen and Julian Reese get into foul trouble, Maryland's rebounding efforts take a huge hit in a way that's going to totally change the matchup. Florida gained some real confidence in being able to take the best punch from the back-to-back champs in the win against UConn, and when the money was on the table, Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin and Will Richard showed their collective experience by making the winning plays. Pick: Florida -6.5 "
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Trent began writing and covering Michigan athletics back in 2020. He became a credentialed member of the media in 2021. Trent began writing with Sports Illustrated in 2023 and became the Senior Writer for Michigan Wolverines On SI for the 2024 football season. Trent is also the managing editor for Maryland On SI. Trent’s love of sports and being able to tell stories to fans is what made him get into writing.
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