Well after all of the hand-wringing and concern over the Maryland Terrapins and their roster for the upcoming hoops season, Terp fans received the best news possible when Mark Turgeon learned that point guard Melo Trimble would return to College Park next season and – within a few hours of getting that good news- secured the commitment from a player who was arguably the best remaining player on any recruiting board – Justin Jackson, a combination forward from Canada who seems to fit the team needs to a T.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
All of that is great news, to be sure, and it leads us to the annual exercise of which players will be used and how. Last year at this time we were looking at a really obvious and logical starting lineup with Trimble as a point and the other four positions being filled by players who, collectively, lead the NCAA in resumes. Those four – Rasheed Sulaimon, Jake Layman, Robert Carter and Diamond Stone- have moved on. What is on the roster for next season should make for a compelling and entertaining bunch with a lot of interchangeable parts and the best players playing multiple positions. This is all just a natural progression from the NBA/small ball/Draymond as power forward craze that is now a large part of the college game. The Terps will follow suit. I have no doubt you’ll see a front line of 6’7’, 6’7” and 6’5”. That’s sizable enough but doesn’t really compare to last year’s 6’10’, 6’9” and 6’8”. Those days are gone. Turge will play the best players…positions might be less important than they’ve ever been.
Before we dive into the hypotheticals….I’d like to offer two quick editorial comments. First off, I have had more than a few conversations with Terp fans disappointed with the season and the way it ended up. There was so much hype going into the season for a team that had three starters that had never played together before. In the end they won 27 games and went to the Sweet Sixteen. When the field had been whittled down to sixteen and we were in Louisville, even the most objective fan would have told you that Maryland was the third or fourth best team – in that regional. My guess is that, while we all wished for better, perhaps the truth of the matter was that we were somewhere between the 12th and 16th best team in the country. And that’s pretty much how it ended up.
One other thought…I like the fact that players – like Melo – can test the waters and go through the NBA combine to get an idea of their stock. The problem is that when you do the right thing – as Trimble did- and not hire an agent, you find yourself in a tremendous competitive disadvantage at the combine itself. Contrast Melo with Layman or Carter. Both of those guys signed with agents and were immediately immersed in a 12-15 hour day that included a diet regimen, continual weights, plyometric and agility work and hours upon hours of skill and basketball work against a lot of other prominent players who had signed with agents. By the time those guys got to Chicago they had basically been playing against similarly talented players for a good six weeks. Because of circumstance, Trimble had none of that. Sure he worked out with strength and conditioning coaches like Kyle Tarp in College Park but most of his work was against his peers on the team. It simply wasn’t the level of work or competition that Robert and Jake enjoyed. As a result what happened in Chicago was pretty predictable. Thank God!
When I look at the Maryland roster as it is comprised now, I see a roster with talent and promise and flexibility. It may be after the first few weeks of practice that it’s apparent that the two best players in the backcourt are natural point guards – Melo and freshman Anthony Cowan. Cool. Let them go. Anybody who saw Cowan play the past season at St. John’s saw that the kid is completely unafraid. He’s ready for this.
So play Trimble off the ball? You bet! I think that we’ll see that Trimble’s shooting issues over the last six weeks of the season were an anomaly. So use Cowan at point to slice and dice and let Melo go all Buddy Hield for segments of each game. Get him some shots. It’ll be good for him and good for the team.
The added pieces on the wing – a healthy Dion Wiley returning, Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley back and freshmen Kevin Huerter and Micah Thomas should mean for more pace on offense and a bit more pressure defensively. The depth also means a lot more accountability on defense. If you’re not getting the job done, someone else will do it.
As Terp nation was playing “will he or won’t he” up to the eleventh hour with Melo, the Maryland staff was back channeling one of their most important recruits of the season in Justin Jackson. To hear conventional wisdom tell it, the staff only got involved very late in the process when it looked like their numbers were going to be down going into the season and it became evident that he (Jackson) was interested in reconsidering his commitment to UNLV. Don’t believe that for a minute. This staff is as organized and tuned in as any staff in the country. The bet here was that communication started with him months before his name was ever seen on a message board.
On paper Jackson appears to be what just what the doctor ordered. Skilled enough to play on the wing and strong enough to be just fine as a power forward, he has played against big time competition for most of his prep years and seems to be a really nice piece for the way college hoops is played now with all=court players spreading the floor to open things up. Of all of the new Terps he might be the most intriguing.
The depth across the board will also afford the Maryland staff the opportunity to wait to decide whether any player on the roster will be redshirted. I know there has been some talk of this out there but that’s a decision that is several months away and can wait.
The “bigs” will sort themselves out. While I keep thinking Michal Cekovsky is going to break out at some point, the Vegas money would be on Damonte Dodd getting most of the minutes at the center sport in large part because of his defense. That said Ceko will get his chances to play. Can they play together? We might as well take a look. After that, things get interesting. Do you want traditional? We’ll play Ivan Bender. Want an athletic hybrid? We’ll give you a dose of Jackson and/or grad transfer L.G. Gill.
The schedule this upcoming season is challenging but not brutal and it is dotted with games against teams from power five conferences – Oklahoma State, Pitt, Georgetown, Kansas State. Etc. When you combine that with the Big Ten schedule there are plenty of challenges as well as plenty of opportunities to grow with a quality win. Over the past couple of seasons, Terp brass has tried hard to schedule mid-majors who had a chance to be very good in their respective leagues. My guess is that they’ll hold to that thought without having to go on the road to do it. In this day and age television gives you enough opportunities to play tough games. You don’t need to give a mid-major a two for one deal in an effort to find a tough game off campus.
The clouds of drama that seemed to hover in May have given way to the sunny skies of an optimistic June. This team has a chance to be good…probably more like the “good” of two years ago than that of last season. Lowered expectations and an infusion of talented young players will make for a fascinating mix. Next year can’t get here fast enough.
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.