While the Maryland Terrapin’s basketball season is just nine games and three weeks old, on some levels it seems like we’ve had almost a full season’s worth of action.

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

Three wire to wire games against programs that have won National Championships – Georgetown, North Carolina and Connecticut. Each offered their own unique challenges. Each played in a different venue and a different environment – one home, one away, one neutral – but each played in palaces in front of a national television audience. Each was more fun than a Louisville recruiting trip.

There have been standout performances from a number of players, be it Diamond Stone in the second half of the ‘closer than it should have been’ win against Rider or Jake Layman dropping fifteen of his points in the second half against Georgetown or Melo Trimble in, um, pretty much every game.

There have been not one, but two, episodes of coaches behaving badly. Kevin Ollie’s poorly timed technical in the last two minutes in Madison Square Garden pretty much sealed the deal in the Maryland win there this past Tuesday night. Then there was Rhode Island coach Danny Hurley. His behavior was atrocious well before he went after Mark Turgeon and the entire Maryland team in the post-game handshake line. He completely clowned himself, his players and his University. Guys like that eventually get theirs. Book it.

No doubt it’s great to be 8-1 at this point and the ranking that comes with it is sweet. That said, what’s even better than all of that can be summed up with one word that coaches abhor but that all of us have seen: Potential.

That potential was on full display in a completely dominating first half against UConn. After falling behind 2-0 the Terps authored a 19 minute beat down of the Huskies that was so complete it had Terps fans rushing to the Garden concourse to grab another beer and Husky fans drinking for entirely different reasons. The fact that UConn came back and made a game of the second half is entirely predictable. Theirs is a national championship program with a good head coach and a nice edge to the way they play. Of course they were going to fight back. And don’t buy into the fact that the Ollie technical won the game for Maryland. That provided the Terps with one point. The game was won in the first half.

During that half the Maryland offense created quality opportunity at every turn for virtually any player that played and the team was able to get to the foul line early and often. They scored 38 points against a solid defensive team and didn’t even shoot the ball well. Their 12/30 shooting was completely pedestrian by any standard but they shot 11/13 from the line and drubbed UConn on the glass.

What was most impressive about the first half was how completely complete the defensive effort was. UConn was harassed into shooting 7/23 and 1/5 from the three point line. The Terps hedged on every screen and cut off every drive. Of particular note was the job that Layman did on UConn’s Dennis Hamilton in that first half. It might be the best defensive half he’s had since coming to Maryland.

But all of that is ancient history now. Let’s look back for a second before we look forward. These first few weeks have taught us a couple of things.

First and foremost, this backcourt is damn good. As in the top two or three backcourt in the country. In New York City some of the pregame discussion within the media was about how these two really good backcourts would match up. If you ranked the best players on the court in terms of production AND consistency of effort, Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon might well have been number one and number two.

No contest.

Secondly, the forward combination of Layman and Robert Carter, Jr. is problematic for teams. Carter seems to score at will around the basket. Layman hasn’t even played his best ball offensively but is enough of a known quantity after three plus years that he commands attention. This combination is unique to college hoops today. I totally get the hand-wringing about Layman and his play in the UNC game but two things have to be kept in mind. The first is that players will generally find the mean…if he is a career 40% shooter from three he will probably end the season around that mark. The second is that- in Layman’s case- his entire game has matured to the point that he’s doing a lot more of the subtle things than ever before…his first half effort on Hamilton being a case in point. Even in the loss at UNC he continued to rebound and compete. His backup Jared Nickens is still a bit of a one-trick pony at this point. No doubt he can shoot it but he doesn’t offer the flexibility that Layman does.

The wealth of big men on the Terps roster leaves a lot of folks wondering which one will eventually seize the mantle of “primary inside weapon.” I’d suggest that the primary weapon is probably Carter but it’s interesting to see the rotation of Stone, Dodd, Cekovsky and even Ivan Bender parry and thrust for playing time. You can never tell how a young guy will perform under the glare of national television and the bluster of Dick Vitale, but you just cannot help but be impressed by the performance of Diamond Stone in the last two blockbusters in Chapel Hill and New York City. He’ll only get better.

And then there’s Melo. He went from the sublime ten minutes in the first part of the second against UNC to a ridiculous game long education of UConn’s experienced backcourt. His game has seriously evolved from last year… quicker first step, better decision making, more willing defender. He’s pretty much better in every phase of the game. But there’s some potential bad news…

For opponents.

Right now Trimble is shooting 33% from the 3 point line. That number is significantly below his career numbers (north of 40%). Again, over a long term players will usually regress or progress to the mean. If he gets to 40% it would mean the Big Ten guards are in for a world of hurt.

So 8-1 isn’t 9-0 but it sure beats 7-2 or 6-3 and there are some quality wins to show for the effort. The out of conference schedule has shown us that this team can play with anyone, anywhere. It has also shown us there is plenty of work to be done. For instance…

Depth in the backcourt needs to be developed. Jaylen Brantley has really improved in recent showings. Somehow, some way the Maryland staff needs to find him 7-10 minutes of playing time right now. If you want him to come through for you on the road at in East Lansing or Madison he needs to get the time right now. If he’s not the answer then just maybe Mark Turgeon just turns to Varun Ram and tells him “sic him.” Turn him into a three minute per half pit bull.

The consistency of effort needs to be addressed but, the fact of the matter is that consistency is an issue for every team right now. It’s December…you’re not supposed to be playing your best right now. Even with that, it can be maddening to be so damn good one minute and to look like Sherwood High School the next (total cheap shot at Walt Williams).

Early returns are in and they are very favorable.

Chris Knoche
Chris Knoche

Terps Analyst

A fixture in the Washington sports scene since his days as a player and a coach, Chris Knoche has accumulated a diverse resume as a media presence in town for more than two decades. That resume has earned him opportunities on both national and local stages and made him a Washington DC staple on radio, television and in digital media.

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