With just a couple of weeks left to play, it looks as though the Big 10 Conference is going to go down to the final game of the season. The Maryland Terrapins are in the hunt at the top, but they will tell you that they have bigger fish to fry, as they believe they can win a National Championship. Before Tournament play begins, though, they still have 5 regular season games to play, and that begins with a visit to the Williams Arena in Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday, February 18. Game time for this one is set for 8 PM EST on BTN.You take one look at how both of these teams are playing right now, and you really only see one outcome. The Minnesota Golden Gophers can’t buy a win right now, and you really feel that the best they can hope for in this one is to keep things as respectable as possible. The full odds for this one will be up and available for you to wager on at the NCAA basketball betting page.

Maryland Terrapins Vs Minnesota Golden Gophers NCAAB Pick

When: Thursday, February 18th, 2016, 8:00 PM ET Where: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota TV: BTN Radio: KBEM-FM-88.5 Opening NCAAB Odds: TBA

Why bet on the Maryland Terrapins

The Terrapins (22-4, 10-3) have it all to play for in the final few games of the season, and while they would love to land atop the Big 10 Conference, you can bet that they are more concerned with sticking a good seeding heading into the Tournament. They would get a decent one right now, as they are sitting #6 nationally, but in order to stay there, they need to avoid losses like the one they took against the Wisconsin Badgers in their last game. Those types of losses have been few and far between for the Terrapins this season, and they have not lost back to back games this year. That puts them in good stead for this one, as does that fact that they have won 4 of 6 on the road in conference play this season. Maryland are averaging 76.2 PPG, and are giving up 64.2 PPG.

Why bet on the Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota (6-19, 0-13) are playing for nothing but pride at the moment, but it has to be said that pride seems to be in pretty short supply on that team. The Golden Gophers are winless in their last 14 games, and simply appear to be waiting for the season to come to an end at this point. If they are unable to beat any of the lesser teams in this conference, how are they expected to compete with one of the best? The answer there is that they probably won’t be able to, and this game really is just all about how big the margin of victory will be for Maryland. The Golden Gophers are averaging 69.3 PPG, and are giving up 74.6 PPG.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

The Golden Gophers were able to push Iowa all the way to the end in their last game, but I don’t see them being able to do the same to the Terrapins. A comfortable win for Maryland here, I believe.