Discuss on the message board here.Earlier today, news broke that incoming freshman center Trayvon Reed would not be allowed to enroll at the University of Maryland this year because of an arrest and academic issues. Reed, Maryland’s 7’1″ center from Snellville, Ga., was charged with two counts of second-degree assault (0ne of which came against a police officer) and theft of under $100 Wednesday night in College Park. Per the university’s statement:
“Trayvon failed to meet the standards that are required by the University of Maryland athletics department.” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said.
“I regret that I was unable to meet the responsibilities that were expected of me from Coach Turgeon and the University of Maryland,” Reed said.
“We want to express our gratitude and appreciation to Coach Turgeon and the Maryland basketball program,” said Daniel Moore, Reed’s stepfather. “We regret that Trayvon has to leave Maryland and miss out on this great opportunity.”
Trayvon Reed was a member of Maryland’s top ten recruiting class, and the third to commit following Melo Trimble and Dion Wiley. He was set to play a big role for the Terrapins after the team lost two big men in the offseason, Shaquille Cleare and Charles Mitchell, as a result of transfers. That left Maryland with the paper thin front court of two freshmen and Jonathan Graham, a Penn State transfer not under a guaranteed scholarship.
Even though this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Reed was never a 100% certainty to play in the first place. According to a report by the Baltimore Sun, there still remained questions about his eligibility academically. Reed transferred to Life Center Academy for his senior season, but was still waiting on word from the NCAA Clearing House to rule on his academic standing.
That says nothing about the injury that Reed suffered which already set him back somewhat. Reed broke his ankle playing softball earlier this offseason, and was going to be out until at least September for the Terps while he recuperated. Now he’ll have a lot more time than that, it seems.
What does this mean for Maryland, moving forward?
To state the obvious, it isn’t particularly good. This is Maryland’s second player in as many offseasons who won’t be able to play sports for the school because of assaulting a police officer and committing theft. Last year it was Wes Brown (though the charges were dropped on that one) getting suspended; this year it’s Trayvon Reed.
Maryland’s basketball program has had enough controversy for 2014, and it’s starting to look unbecoming. The Dalonte Hill DUI stuff, the transfers, the lack of tournament appearances, the Nick Faust saga, and now Reed — ouch. At what point is enough enough for the program?
Let’s be clear though: this isn’t Mark Turgeon’s fault that a player acted so irresponsibly, nor is it a reflection of the university that Maryland has had a bad stretch of luck.To suggest that Turgeon had anything to do with Reed’s decision’s off the court is foolish. He’s not going to be with Reed every second of the day. At this point, you just have to feel for Turgeon when it comes to this. His best efforts are faced with the strong arm of fate at every turn, it seems.
On the basketball court, the good news for the Terrapins is that this probably won’t mean a whole lot for the team. Reed was a massively tall skyscraper in the middle, which was definitely something Maryland needed in the short term given their transfers and lack of rim protection last year which lost them games. But Reed wasn’t going to play right away no matter how you look at it; he wasn’t ready to start from day one, or even contribute a ton of minutes early on. At best, Reed was going to be a smaller part of a three-man rotation between Dodd and Cekovsky in year one.
Reed would have been eaten alive his freshman year by Big Ten big men, and I’m certain the staff knew that from the jump. That’s why a lot of reports came out that Cekovsky might even start, because there’s no way it was going to be Reed.
But it most certainly leaves Maryland dangerously thin at center for the upcoming season. In no scenario that involves Maryland and an NCAA tournament was there a two-deep center rotation in which neither player could be ready for the big time. Damonte Dodd wasn’t anywhere near ready to play major minutes last year, and this year he would have to take meteoric steps to be a starter right away.
And Cekovsky was playing high school basketball overseas last season, not in the United States where he could have gotten his feet wet. Few are the freshmen big men from abroad who come into college and start right away to go along with being elite centers. That just doesn’t happen, so Cekovsky is going to need to be, well, an exception to an unwritten rule.
That’s asking so much of a freshman, and it’s almost unfair. The kid is going to have pressure heaved upon him by both a coaching staff and a rabid, unforgiving fan base of professionals that want a tournament berth. It’s the definition of a dysfunctional scenario for growth, which is unfortunate for Cekovsky.
Of course, Jonathan Graham could end up sidling over to the center position, but Graham is a power forward who would never be a major minute contributor for a tournament team. If the end game is a berth, then playing Graham more than 20 minutes a game can’t occur. But that’s what Maryland is looking at right now should anything else go wrong for the Terps. Graham is a good player, but he should not be who a Big Ten team ought to rely on.
One thing is for certain: Maryland will be running out a whole lot of four-guard sets this season. The personnel doesn’t just request it, it demands it. Trimble, Wells, Layman, Smotrycz, and Cekovksy are going to be running up and down the court at a fervent pace this year, you can count on that. And when one of them gets tired, Dodd can run the floor well. Think North Carolina’s offenses.
That might be good in the short and skinny, but eventually Maryland basketball needs to get back to being a stable foundation rather than mercurial under Turgeon.
D.C. resident. Graduated from Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia (four year letterman in hockey) and University of Maryland, College Park. Played three years of ice hockey at Maryland. Former writer for Washington Wizards blog (TheDCDime.com), current hockey coach at Gonzaga College Preparatory School. Terrapin nut. Editor of Terrapin Station.