Gameday Preview: No. 18 UConn vs. Maryland

You ready Husky fans?

It's been a long and stressful year so far, between getting shut out of the conference realignment game, being banned from last year's postseason and having to watch the football team stink up the joint all fall, we really haven't had a lot to be positive about (besides the women's team, thank God for the women's team.) But that all changes tonight, as the No. 18 ranked men's basketball team finally returns to the court to do what they couldn't last year, play for the postseason and try to bring banner No. 4 back to Storrs.

The game will be played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Fans who are going to the football game in East Hartford instead will have the chance to watch the game on the big screen at Rentschler Field before that game begins too, and naturally everyone else will be able to catch the game on ESPN2 or online at ESPN3.

The road to banner four begins now, here are the projected starting lineups for tonight's game.

UConn:

G - Shabazz Napier, Senior, 17.1 PPG

G - Ryan Boatright, Junior, 15.4 PPG

G - Omar Calhoun, Sophomore, 11.1 PPG

F - DeAndre Daniels, Junior, 12.1 PPG

F - Tyler Olander, Senior, 4.3 PPG

Maryland:

G - Seth Allen, Sophomore, 7.8 PPG

G - Nick Faust, Junior, 9.3 PPG

F - Dez Wells, Junior, 13.1 PPG

F - Jake Layman, Sophomore, 5.5 PPG

C - Shaquille Cleare, Sophomore, 3.7 PPG

Coverage

TV - ESPN2, ESPN3 Radio - WTIC, WHUS

Twitter - @MacCerullo, @TheUConnBlog

Vegas

UConn is favored to win at every stop by 5 to 6 points.

Get Caught Up

For an in depth look at the Terrapins, click here. For a closer look at what UConn will be bringing, click here.

Prediction

UConn wins convincingly to start the season, we'll say 76-66.