Ken Davis

Maryland plays at Duke Saturday, and suddenly there’s a real retro feeling in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The winner walks away on top of the conference standings, with the edge in the loss column. They meet again on March 3 at Maryland, so this ACC race is far from over — especially with three other teams within striking distance. But for now, North Carolina is out of sight and Maryland (16-6, 6-2) is the top challenger to Duke (20-4, 8-2) for the title.

Have we gone back in time? Is this 2002?

Nobody seems certain that Maryland belongs. Nobody knows if the Terps are ready to grind it out with Duke, or if they are on the verge of throwing everything in reverse and settling for a trip to the NIT. That’s a wide range of possibilities. Until Maryland makes a major statement, it could go either way. The Terps could rise up on their back legs and triumphantly march out of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Or they could lose to the Blue Devils and simply crawl back in their shells.

An opportunity of this magnitude may be new to the Maryland players, but coach Gary Williams has been here before. He understands what the Terps need to do to stay in contention for the ACC regular-season title. Williams also understands how quickly momentum can change.

“We have to be consistent,” Williams told The Washington Post in late January. “We played well our first four league games. If you can do that for 16 then you have a chance. There are teams that will improve, there are teams that are not going to play as well as they’ve been playing. You’d like to be one of those teams that keeps getting better.”

Maryland fits the description of a team getting better. Since an overtime loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 12, the Terps have won six of seven, including a 92-71 demolition of North Carolina on Sunday. A home game against Virginia on Wednesday was rescheduled to Feb. 15 as a result of the blizzard that hit the Washington/Baltimore area. That means the Terps face a quick turnaround for the Virginia game but, in the long run, the schedule alteration could work in Maryland’s favor.

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Maryland obviously gets more preparation time for Duke. And the Blue Devils might be suffering from a slight letdown after defeating rival North Carolina 64-54 in Chapel Hill Wednesday night.

There were stretches of that victory over the Tar Heels that Williams would like to capture in a bottle for use in other games. Senior guard Greivis Vasquez, who is building a strong case to be ACC Player of the Year, had 26 points and 11 assists. Eric Hayes, another senior, had 16 points. Not only did Maryland shoot 51.5 percent overall and 52.2 percent from three-point range, the Terps also had 26 assists on 35 baskets.

“We had a couple runs that were really good, but you can’t do that for 40 minutes,” Williams said after the North Carolina victory. “It’s just the nature of the game. We’re taking advantage of it when we can. We’re a good shooting team, so if we get looks we’re able to keep the offense going. We’re able to score. Hopefully, that will continue.”

Maryland began the season 4-0 and was ranked No. 21 in The Associated Press poll before a disastrous trip to the Maui Invitational. The Terps opened with a victory over host Chaminade, a non-Division I team, but then lost to Cincinnati and Wisconsin. That’s the worst possible outcome for a team in that event. In essence, it erased Maryland from the national memory bank.

Maryland’s other losses came to Villanova (Dec. 6) and William & Mary (Dec. 30). Those don’t qualify as bad losses but with four defeats, the Terps were out of the polls and expectations heading into the ACC were not as high as they were at the start of the season when Maryland looked like a solid fourth-place team behind Duke, North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

But the demise of North Carolina has thrown the ACC race open. The Terps have been winning the games they should win. The only loss in this recent stretch came Jan. 31 at Clemson. A 62-53 loss at Littlejohn Coliseum is nothing to be ashamed of. The important thing was the way Maryland bounced back on Feb. 4, beating Florida State 71-67 on the road and under difficult circumstances.