Several months after the end of the 2011-12 season, and several months before Mark Turgeon begins his 2nd year as the Head Coach of the University of Maryland; Baltimore Sports and Life has reached out to Mike Miller (NBC Sports / CollegeBasketballTalk) for his thoughts on the Terps.

You can find Miller’s work at:
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/

You can find Miller on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/#!/MikeMillerNBC

Baltimore Sports and Life thanks Mr. Miller for again answering a few questions.

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Following Stoglin’s departure, Maryland added Logan Aronhalt, who had recently graduated from Albany. With Pankey’s transfer this leaves the Terps 2012-13 Roster looking like:

Guards: Faust (Soph) Howard (Jr), Aronhalt (Sr), Allen (Freshman), Cassell Jr. (Freshman)
Wings: Layman (Freshman)
Bigs: Padgett (Sr), Len (Soph), Cleare (Freshman), Mitchell (Freshman)

It appears to me that Maryland’s strength will be a pretty deep roster of useable parts, and their primary weakness will be the lack of a true PG.

We know NCST is returning a lot, and bringing in a very highly regarded class. FSU has reached the Dance in 4 consecutive seasons. Despite their losses, UNC, and Duke will remain formidable.  What are your current general thoughts on how you see the top of the ACC? Can MD contend for the league title? If you believe they can not, what do you see as the primary limiting factor?”

Miller: “Competing for an ACC regular-season title seems unlikely given the league will be stronger across the top than it was last season. Aside from the teams you mentioned, Miami’s the team that will be the darkhorse candidate. It’s not that the Terps need a point guard to make a difference, it’s more that they need some kind of standout player. Stoglin tried to do too much at times last season, but there was little doubt he was the guy trying to make plays and was one of the few capable of making them. Is Faust ready for a leap? Will Len be more assertive? Perhaps Aronhalt can step in. I don’t think Mark Turgeon’s teams necessarily need a go-to guy – not with the defensive emphasis – but this one does. It’s definitely another year away.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Aronhalt has averaged over 30+ minutes per game the last two years, and was 2nd team American East this past year. I’m expecting a guy that can knock down some 3’s, and be on the court in close/late situations due to his strong ability at the line. How useful can he be? Do you think he can defend in the ACC?”

Miller: “If Aronhalt can’t defend, he won’t find much playing time under Turgeon – unless he’s hitting 40 percent of his 3-pointers. Hard to sit guys like that. He’ll need to hit to earn playing time, too. Turgeon would be foolish to take away experience for his young guys for a player who can only be around one season.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Alex Len has to improve his strength, and his hands; but his skills jump out at you. He can run, and get off the floor. He is a shot-blocking presence, capable of finishing strongly, and he can knock down shots from 15 feet. NBADraft.net has Len currently showing in the Top 10 of their 2013 NBA Mock Draft. Do you see the 7’1 Ukrainian blowing-up to that extreme this coming year?”

Miller: “He should, but that doesn’t mean he will. Will Maryland’s lack of a true point guard cut down on his options? Does he have the assertiveness to be more aggressive with his shot? I’d expect a few monster outings, some good ones, a couple of stinkers and mostly games where you thought Len could’ve done more.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “At the start of last year (and again later in the year when Howard was again forced out of action) Faust was forced to play out of position at the PG. That probably influenced his offensive production earlier in the year. As the season was ending, Faust was showing superior all-around skills. He was getting to the rim with ease. His outside shooting improved as his confidence grew. He was using his length to disrupt on defense, and play the passing lanes. Similarly to how we expected Stoglin to go from an 11 ppg scorer to a high-teens scorer after Jordan Williams left the program, we expect Faust to make a significant jump now that Stoglin has left. I’m thinking 16-17 ppg, and the all-around capabilities of finishing the year on one of the all-conference teams. Agree, or disagree with that? Your thoughts on Faust?”

Miller: “Players usually make the biggest jumps between their freshman and sophomore seasons. That’ll apply to Faust. Your guesses for scoring averages are probably accurate and a third-team All-ACC spot is doable. But he’ll need to be a more efficient scorer and improve in all other areas, too. He can’t automatically be a guy that takes 20 shots a game. Doesn’t seem like he is ready for that, especially if he’s asking for the ball along the wing and not doing as much primary ball-handling.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Incoming Freshman Seth Allen, and Sam Cassell Jr. are described more as combo guards whose primary attributes are filling it-up vs. true PG’s. The closest thing to a true PG on the roster is Howard. After a promising Freshman season, it was a rough Sophomore campaign for Howard. He missed the initial 9 games with a stress-fracture in his foot. When he came back, his shooting % and assists per minute dropped significantly from the prior year, and his turnovers increased. After 14 games played, he was lost for the year with an ACL injury. As a Freshman, he had strong interior passing, and showed an ability to knock down open 3’s. If Howard is healthy, what are your thoughts on the abilities of MD’s guards as a whole?”

Miller: “Decent-to-good. I’d expect to see more of Faust on the wing early on so Turgeon can see just how good all of those young guards are and if Howard’s ACL is fully healthy. Again, it is a roster full of guys who can play a role, but probably not much else.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Cleare and Mitchell are two well regarded recruits, who are going to add immediate depth and strength to the Front-court. Both should help on the boards. With Pankey leaving, both will receive regular minutes. How do you see the Terps Front-court matching up with the rest of the ACC?”

Miller: “Pretty favorably, actually. No frontcourt in the ACC is just loaded. They all have one to two good-to-great players. That applies to Maryland as well. If Padgett is consistent and Len develops as expected, the freshman will provide some much-needed depth. But there will be times where the Terps get blown away by individual players such as UNC’s James Michael McAdoo, Miami’s Reggie Johnson, or NCST’s CJ Leslie. Those three are the top of the league in my opinion.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Perhaps the primary benefactor of Stoglin’s departure is Jake Layman. Layman figured to get regular minutes anyway, but I believe is now likely to start at the 3. In an interview with Rival’s Eric Bossi, Bossi told us, “Right now, I don’t know that he’s a pure wing and would classify him as more of a face-up four man or combo forward.” In an interview with Kellon Hassenstab from Hoopniks, Hassenstab concurred stating, “I think it is accurate to say that Layman’s skill-set is best suited to play the four position, but with the interior players that coach Mark Turgeon has accumulated, it appears that Layman will be given every opportunity to earn minutes as a wing forward. I don’t think there’s any reason that Layman can’t be a hybrid wing forward that exploits match-ups to Maryland’s advantage.” I think for MD’s roster to take off, Layman is going to have to provide some regular scoring, and show he can defend on the wing. Do you see this similarly?”

Miller: “I haven’t seen enough of Layman to corroborate this. But if Bossi thinks Layman’s capable of this, he probably is. He’s not a guy who over-inflates guys’ abilities.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “Maryland recently landed Michigan transfer Evan Smotrycz. The 6’9 PF, was a Top 60 player in the Class of 2010, and will be eligible for the 2013-14 season. We know Smotrycz is known as a step-back 3 point shooting big. Your thoughts on him?”

Miller: “Love Smotrycz. I doubt he’ll have the green light to chuck as many threes as he did at Michigan, but that might help his shooting percentages. By the time he’s eligible, I’d expect him to be a guy who can step into several roles and and provide a stable presence. He’s not a game-breaker, though. For him to be really effective, someone like Faust or Len – if those two are still around – will need to be the star.”

Baltimore Sports and Life: “The Terps will begin next season facing defending National Champion Kentucky. With the Wildcats departures to the NBA, their likely starting 5 will be Sophomores Ryan Harrow and Kyle Wiltjer, with Freshmen Archie Goodwin, Alex Poythress and Nerlens Noel. How do you think MD matches up? In the Big Ten challenge, the Terps will face Northwestern, and in the BB&T Classic MD will be up against George Mason. Any early general thoughts on the Wildcats or Patriots?”

Miller: “Kentucky will roll out more sheer athleticism in their starting five than Maryland’s had in the last four seasons. Be interesting to see how ready both teams are for that game, though. The first one’s always a crapshoot. There will be a lot of matchup issues for Maryland. Northwestern’s better on paper, but always has a history of underachieving. That’s a winnable game. And George Mason? Paul Hewitt’s got some decent talent on the roster and some decent experience. That said, I have no idea what to make of what he did with the Patriots last season, let alone what’ll happen when Ryan Pearson isn’t around to stabilize things.”

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.

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