On March 13th, the University of Maryland Terrapins saw their 2013-14 season end with a loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. We wrote an article that night, about looking ahead, and wondering what awaited the Terps when they enter Big Ten play next November.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Terps

Over the past Month – while 68 Universities – competed for a National Championship; there was mostly silence out of College Park.  The departures that many people had been anticipating had yet to come to fruition. Yesterday morning, The Baltimore Sun stated the following:

“There have been rumors that Cleare would leave after the season, but so far, no current players have asked for a release from their scholarship, according to those with knowledge of the situation. Spinelli has been a candidate for head coaching jobs in the past, and Ranson seems to be a potential candidate at Coppin State. As for the players, it appears that the roster will remain pretty much intact. Junior forward Smotrycz would be eligible to transfer after he graduates this spring, but I doubt he wants to transfer again after coming to Maryland from Michigan a couple of years ago. Ditto for junior forward Jon Graham. Junior swingman Faust is not on target to graduate early, according to a team source.”

Shortly thereafter an unexpected announcement came out that Maryland had added their 5th commitment of the 2014 Class – 7 foot Center, Michael Cekovsky. It’s great to get a big with any upside at this point in April. Seeing that Cekovsky was also being recruited by Arizona, Florida, and Louisville just increased the excitement about the verbal.  Scout.com has him a 4 star player. Their Recruiting Analyst Evan Daniels included this quote on Cekovsky from his Coach Rob Orellana:

“He’s 7-foot, 220-pounds and he can put it on the floor,’ Orellana said. “It doesn’t take a rocket science to see he can put it on the floor, he can shoot it or he can post you up. He’s 30 pounds away from being a hell of player and playing [against this competition] every day. He’s long,” he added. “He’s bouncy. He can put it on the floor and he can shoot it. He’s a good player.”

We were able to see a bit of Cekovsky’s game directly, with these YouTube highlights:

You can come to your own conclusions based on that. Personally, I see the skills. I’d like to see some additional physicality. Not a lot of size defending him, and there was still an abundance of layups. Him and fellow incoming Freshman Trayvon Reed are going to be chained inside the weight room once they arrive in College Park.

The Sun’s article on the announcement from Cekovsky noted that he is signed to a European Pro team, like Alex Len was.  Unlike Len, he’s never played a game. So hopefully Cekovsky won’t have to miss the 10 games Len did his Freshman year.

As I said above, getting any big with upside at this time of year is great. Based on what is known, there is reason to be genuinely excited about Cekovsky. If in his Freshman season, he can be a contributing part of the post rotation, that’s a win. If he develops past that (potentially becoming the best offensive post option?) by his Sophomore year; that would be tremendous.

As soon as Cekovsky was announced, the focus went back to wondering who would depart the Terps due to the scholarship limitations. By this evening, we had our answer as Roddy Peters, Shaq Cleare, and Nick Faust all stated their intentions to leave the program.

Taken individually, none of those departures are shocking. When you speak about the three departures together, in-conjunction with the note that there might be changes with the Assistant Coaches; the discussion increases in scope to the program as a whole.

In ’14-’15, I think Maryland could potentially miss the benefits of a Senior Faust. He was one of MD’s most athletic players. One of the Terps best perimeter defenders. If you could get him to buy into a reserve role, where he chucked-up less 3’s; he could help a roster. Looking past next year, Faust had arrived in College Park as a heralded recruit from Baltimore. Given the historical recruiting issues that have existed with Maryland recruiting Baltimore’s best players; seeing Faust leave the program early is not ideal. Faust bears responsibility for not developing more as a player, but so does Coach Turgeon who had 3 years to help mold the guard.

Cleare leaving early is understandable. Kentucky reached the NCAA Final with the Harrison Brothers helping lead the way. As Maryland fans know (from the Terps recruiting of the Brothers); Cleare was their AAU teammate. I’m sure Cleare’s play was elevated by playing with them. Still, he was highly regarded in his own right, and also did not develop under Coach Turgeon. In a lot of ways, you can point to Cleare’s lack of growth as the primary issue for the Terps during this past ’13-’14 season. Is the lack of development solely on the player here?

The ‘surprise’ is Peters. In the aforementioned article we wrote when the season ended, our comments on Peters were:

“Would Peters leave prior to his Sophomore year? Seems unlikely to me. A highly regarded prospect that missed his Senior year of HS. Have to think that impacted his development. The argument for leaving would be that he has effectively been recruited over. The arguments for staying would be that he’s a local guy who decided on MD for a reason. He still has years to develop. He needs to be in the gym taking a 1,000 jump shots a day this off-season.”

I’m not shocked that Peters is leaving, but I am surprised. It is often said that players develop most between their Freshman and Sophomore years. With the experience he gained, and 3 years of eligibility remaining; seems like there was still a chance for him to be a part of things at Maryland – even with Trimble coming in.

Earlier tonight, Jeff Ermann from Inside MD Sports tweeted, “Those close to Roddy Peters believe he’s better suited somewhere away from home/distractions. Also facing logjam w/Melo Trimble arriving.”

The distractions angle is interesting. It’s also interesting that it’s another player that is leaving MD, that was a highly regarded recruit. It also has to be mentioned that incoming Freshman Dion Wiley, talked about Peters being one of the reasons he decided on MD to begin with.  Will Peters leaving impact MD’s recruiting in the DMV in the near-future?

That is to-be-determined I guess.

Right now, the focus turns to who is on the roster, and who might join.

As of now, the 2014-15 Terps look like:
Guards:  Allen (Jr), Trimble (Frosh), Wiley (Frosh)
Wings: Wells (Sr), Layman (Jr), Nickens (Frosh)
Bigs: Mitchell (Jr), Smotrycz (Sr), Dodd (Soph), Reed (Frosh), Cekovsky (Frosh)

That is 11 of the max 13 scholarship players, plus Graham (will he now get a scholarship?).

ESPN’s Jeff Goodman posted a recent comprehensive list of all 2014 transfers . Will Coach Turgeon and his staff pursue a transfer with immediate eligibility?

Without further addition, what do you think the above roster is capable of in their first year in the Big Ten?

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

X