Maryland basketball continues to climb in the rankings

Maryland basketball continued its surprising climb in the national rankings Monday, moving up nine spots to No. 13 in this week's AP poll.

The jump in the rankings comes on the heels of the Terps' 71-66 win over then-No. 16 Illinois last Friday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Maryland remained undefeated with the win, moving to 8-0 on the season.

"I didn't envision this, I'm not going to lie. I didn't think we'd get off to an 8-0 start," Maryland head coach Kevin Willard said following the Terps' win over Illinois. "I thought we'd get off to a good start. I think it's important, my main goal was to get everyone to understand in this area, what this program is going to be all about. And I think these guys have really proven to everybody what this program is. We still have a long way to go, obviously, but I think everyone got a glimpse of how hard these guys have worked, the attitude they've had and what this program is not only about right now, but what it's going to be about in the future. So it's really cool to be undefeated."

The Terps' current AP ranking marks the program's highest since the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season, when Maryland finished No. 12 after winning a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.

The initial NCAA NET rankings were also released on Monday, with the Terps coming in at No. 6 in the nation. The NCAA NET rankings are a computer-driven analytics tool which is used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee in picking at-large teams and seeding the tournament.

The Terps will have a chance to continue their climb in the AP rankings, with games versus Wisconsin, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 19 UCLA over the next 10 days, beginning with the Badgers in Madison on Tuesday night.