US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason Top 20 on Jan. 8. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com throughout January and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition that mails to US Lacrosse members Feb. 1 — opening day of the 2018 college lacrosse season.

No. 2 Maryland

2017 Record: 16-3 (4-1 Big Ten)
Coach: John Tillman (8th year)

All-Time Record: 808-267-4
NCAA Appearances: 41
Final Fours: 25
Championships: 3

Maryland might have a ton of questions anymore, but the headliner for decades in College Park – “When will the Terrapins end their title drought” – is no more.

“It’s nice to not have to answer that anymore,” said coach John Tillman, whose team won the NCAA tournament for the first time in 42 years last spring. “I was never critical of anyone for asking. It was the elephant in the room. The kids, we certainly tried to shade them and kind of protect them from it, but it was inevitable. People wanted to know. It just meant a lot to so many people.”

With Maryland’s breakthrough triumph on Memorial Day in the books, Terp fans might try to co-opt a slogan from their archrivals. Namely, they want more.

It’s not out of the question one title could lead to a second in the next few years, though for it to happen this year Maryland will need to reconstruct its entire starting attack. Look for Jared Bernhardt, who played attack for most of his life before running in the midfield last season as a freshman, to be a vital part of the Terps’ offense.

Connor Kelly will anchor a midfield that Tillman hopes can be deeper than a season ago, while a lot of familiar faces are back at the defensive end . That, as usual, should be a strength for Maryland as it navigates a slate that includes few breathers – typical considering Tillman’s meticulous study of strength of schedule and its impact with the NCAA tournament committee.

With such a substantial exodus, Maryland will be a less experienced, which in turn means the coaching staff might delegate less responsibility to those on the field, at least initially.

“Candidly, we were a little more predictable last year,” Tillman said. “It just worked. We didn’t run a whole lot of plays. That’s how it was with that group – a little bit of ‘Line up, run the ball off tackle and see if you can stop them.’ Week to week, we were a little more vanilla than we were scripted. This year, we’ll be a little more scripted.”

For Tillman, the greatest challenge might be getting his team to move on from reaching the sport’s summit last spring. Maryland earned the right to savor its championship, but the business of 2018 beckons now.

“To me, we didn’t come here to have one successful year,” Tillman said. “It’s a new year, a new challenge. If we’re going to use the same motto – ‘Be the best’ – we have to work hard to be our best every year.”

The Case For Maryland

Who has a better track record this decade than the Terps, who have reached the semifinals in six of their seven seasons? No one. The defense hummed along when Kevin Conry took over as defensive coordinator for Kevin Warne, and will likely do so again as program alum Jesse Bernhardt arrives to work with a unit that brings back goalie Dan Morris and close defensemen Curtis Corley and Bryce Young. Also worth a thought come May: The Terps are 17-2 in NCAA tournament games under John Tillman when they have more than 48 hours to prepare. The defending champs will be a tough out.

The Case Against Maryland

The Terrapins have played on Memorial Day in five of the last seven seasons, so the natural progression of a college program – namely, players graduation – hasn’t slowed down Maryland anytime recently. Still, there are a lot of contributors to replace, from Tewaaraton winner Matt Rambo, attackman Colin Heacock, defenseman Tim Muller (the NCAA tournament’s most outstanding player) and defensive midfielders Isaiah Davis-Allen and Nick Manis. At the very least, it’s difficult to imagine Maryland being as complete as it was the last two seasons, though that might just mean a bumpier first half of the season as the Terps get their bearings.

Path to the Playoffs

Maryland is the surest thing in the sport. Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 16 teams in 2003, the Terrapins are the only school to earn a place in the field every year. And Tillman constantly tries to tweak his nonconference schedule to maximize his team’s strength of schedule. This year, the Terps will meet Albany, North Carolina and Notre Dame outside of league play, and the improved Big Ten will provide plenty of chances for quality victories as well. For a program as steady as Maryland, the question isn’t whether it will play in May, it’s how long it can stick around.

Players To Watch

Connor Kelly, M, Sr.
46 G, 11 A

Kelly changed jersey numbers in the offseason, switching from his familiar No. 40 to the No. 1 vacated by the graduated Matt Rambo. It’s apropos. In addition to being the most established player on the Terrapins’ offense, he’s also one of the program’s hardest workers.

Dan Morris, G, Sr.
8.75 GAA, .548 SV%

There were some hiccups along the way in Morris’ first year as a starter, but he proved perfectly solid in the postseason. Coach John Tillman said Morris has become more assertive, and that will prove valuable with the Maryland defense losing Isaiah Davis-Allen and Tim Muller to graduation. Still, Morris will get plenty of help from defensemen Curtis Corley and Bryce Young.

Tim Rotanz, M, Sr.
33 G, 11 A

Rotanz scored at least one goal in each of the Terps’ last 14 games last season and owns the longest goal-scoring streak among active midfielders. He had a third of his goals in the NCAA tournament last season and brings a savvy, veteran presence to an offense that is reworking its attack thanks to graduation losses.

National Rankings

Power Ratings (Scale of 1-5)

Offense
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Defense
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goalkeeping
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Faceoff
⭐⭐⭐⭐

46

Goals last season for Connor Kelly, a record for a Maryland midfielder. With Matt Rambo and Colin Heacock graduating, Kelly will receive even greater attention from defenses a year after becoming the first Terrapin midfielder to score 40 goals in a season since Frank Urso did so in 1974.

5-Year Trend
Winning Percentage

Coach Confidential
John Tillman

“We lost some very strong personalities. We had competitive senior guys that really set the tone for practice and set the tone off the field. That’s what we need to have so we don’t take a step back. We have to have some guys who weren’t seniors who can now hold us to that standard all the time.”

Enemy Lines
Rival Coaches

“Final four is a given. ... Replacing Matt Rambo is simply not possible. Colin Heacock and Isaiah Davis-Allen are also unique lacrosse players that will be sorely missed. ... Connor Kelly is the best shooting midfielder in college lacrosse. ... The defense will miss Tim Muller and assistant coach Kevin Conry, but the system is in place. ... I don't see them taking a step back. ... Fairman is so good. He'll just step in and plug a hole. ... Well-organized and disciplined team. Goalie and FO return with enough pieces to make another run. ... Reigning champs. ... I know they lose a lot up front, but I still think they have enough to be considered the best team until someone proves otherwise. ... Getting the monkey off their back has to do something for their confidence. ... I don’t see a dip in their play at all. I think they have a really nice thing going with their depth and their system. John does a really nice job coaching them. ... They’ll be a real load with Connor Kelly, Jared Bernhardt and Timmy Rotanz, and the goalie is back for another year. ... With that sigh of relief of winning one, who knows? Do the floodgates open and they go on a tear and win multiple ones? ... They’ll always be dangerous. ... Maryland does as good a job year to year of starting over with their team and their guys as anybody out there. I don’t expect that to be any different this year. ... Maryland is pretty damn good coming off a national championship. Connor Kelly and [Tim] Rotanz and the little Bernhardt. They have an All-American goalie coming back. They didn’t lose too much. ... Talent is the first thing that comes to mind. They’re as talented up and down the field as any team in the country. Certainly, they graduated some talented young men, but they’re going to have as much, if not more, talent this year than last year. It starts there, and they have experience. Coming off a national championship team, that’s very dangerous. They combine the two things that most of us are trying to attain. ... They lost a lot of good parts, but culture tends to get handed down. The easiest part is building a champion. The hardest part is staying there. The world is different when you win it all. Just ask [North Carolina head coach] Joe Breschi.”