NCAA Basketball: Takeaways from Maryland’s dominant Hall of Fame Tip Off title

The Hall of Fame Tip Off event is an underrated four-team NCAA Basketball Tournament that occurs early among the multi-team events. They usually have either four solid power conference programs or three and a quality mid-major.

This year’s group fit that mold. It included two teams that made runs in the NCAA Tournament last season (Miami and Providence), along with a mid-major program that received preseason top-25 votes in Saint Louis. Maryland was the fourth team, who had an interesting storyline of its own with new head coach Kevin Willard, coming over from Seton Hall.

In the first matchup, the Terrapins got everyone’s attention by racing out to a big lead on Saint Louis, beating them by 28 points. It was much closer in the other semifinal matchup, with the Friars staying within range of Miami but the Hurricanes were able to hold on and win by 10.

In the 3rd place game, the Billikens were able to salvage the trip with a three-point win over Providence, making the Big East program the big loser from the Hall of Fame Tip Off. But on the opposite, Maryland got out to another big early lead on Miami and while they didn’t win by 30, still have another impressive showing to take home the title with an 88-70 victory.

On paper, it looked as if the Terrapins were the worst team so their performance was a big overall takeaway from the event. But what else could we get from the past couple of days? Here’s a closer look at my thoughts on each team.