Maryland's 2013-14 basketball schedule highlighted by quick turnarounds

Maryland basketball fans have had a few months to digest the fact that traditional Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State won't be playing in College Park during the team's farewell season in the league.

Now, third-year coach Mark Turgeon and the Terps have a couple more months to get ready for a challenging schedule that was made a bit more difficult by the number of quick turnarounds they will have during the 2013-14 season.

Turgeon knew his team would be playing three games in four days at the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands in November and two games in three days in late December when the Terps face Tulsa and North Carolina Central at home.

He and the Terps learned Thursday that they will have to play two games in three days four times during their final ACC season, the most of any school.

While some believe it's the ACC's version of a parting gift — along with the $52 million exit fee that is currently in litigation — it also might be a byproduct of the ACC now participating in ESPN's Big Monday, with the Terps playing two of those nationally televised game.

The Terps open the season Nov. 8 against Connecticut in their second straight opener at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. They close the regular season March 9 with a nationally televised CBS game against Virginia at Comcast Center.

There is also a big difference in the quality of Maryland's non-conference schedule from a year ago. Along with UConn, the Terps play at Ohio State in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and face Tulsa, Oregon State, Boston University and Morgan State at home.

"Our schedule features many of the top basketball programs in the country and we are excited to compete against these outstanding teams," Turgeon said in a statement. "We have a number of challenging early season matchups, which will prepare us for a very competitive conference schedule."

Among the toughest parts of the schedule for the Terps will be going from playing at Virginia Tech on Feb. 1 to playing at North Carolina on Feb. 4; Maryland then goes from playing at home against Florida State on Feb. 8 to playing at Virginia two nights later.

The Terps' final conference visit to Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium will be Feb. 15 in a 6 p.m. tip.