Maryland took another hit in the recruiting market, as former Utah wing Both Gach announced via Twitter that he will be transferring to Minnesota. Gach played his high school basketball in Minnesota, so he’ll be back home should he decide to remove his name from the NBA Draft early entry pool. And with the NCAA deciding to hold off on granting revenue sports players immediate eligibility on their first transfer until the 2021-22 academic year at the earliest, Gach will be at the mercy of the governing body when it comes to receiving a waiver to play next season. It’s much easier to state your case when the new school is close to home, so it would be understandable if this factored into Gach’s decision to commit to Richard Pitino’s program.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
So where does Maryland go from here? Mark Turgeon still has three open scholarships to play with, and whether or not all ten players will be available to help immediately has yet to be determined. 6-foot-8 forward Jairus Hamilton, who averaged 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.5 steals per game while shooting 42.8% from the field and 77.5% from the foul line at Boston College last season, will need to apply for an immediate eligibility waiver. Alabama grad transfer Galin Smith will be eligible to play immediately, as will freshman guards Aquan Smart and Marcus Dockery. But even with the addition of Smith, who posted averages of 3.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in just over 13 minutes per game last season, Maryland doesn’t have much in the way of post depth.
Ricky Lindo Jr. and Joshua Tomaic transferring didn’t come as much of a surprise given the desire for more minutes, but those exits leave the Terps staring at a rotation of Chol Marial, Donta Scott and Smith should Hamilton not be granted immediate eligibility. At this point you’d have to assume a starting five of Marial and Scott in the frontcourt, with Eric Ayala, Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins manning the three perimeter spots. Hamilton’s status certainly bears watching, because hsi being deemed eligible could mean that he moves into the spot currently held by Scott. Smith and Hakim Hart, who appeared in 18 games and played 6.2 minutes per as a freshman, will provide additional depth with the aforementioned Smart and Dockery doing so on the perimeter.
So who’s still available? One player that just hit the transfer market on Monday is 6-foot-8 power forward Reggie Chaney, who has decided to leave Arkansas after two seasons in Fayetteville. After averaging 5.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 0.7 assists and 0.6 steals in 16.3 minutes per game as a freshman, his numbers took a hit in Eric Musselman’s first season as head coach. Chaney played 14.6 minutes per contest in 2019-20, posting averages of 4.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.6 blocks and 0.6 steals. The good news is that his field goal percentage increased noticeably, jumping from 55.3% to 67.1%, but that happened on an average of 2.5 field goal attempts per game (4.4 per as a freshman). The bad news regarding Chaney’s transfer prospects is that he’d need a waiver in order to play this upcoming season, and the the best path to that would likely be to pick a school closer to home (Frisco, Texas).
Beyond Chaney, Franck Kepnang (pictured above), and Efton Reid also bear watching. But both are currently 2021 prospects, so not only would Maryland need to beat out other programs but they would also need either Kepnang or Reid to reclassify to the 2020 class in order to help the numbers this coming season. Gach isn’t a big, but his addition would have helped Maryland with the numbers and allowed for some more versatility with regard to the rotation. Missing out on him at this point is a tough blow for the program to take, especially if Hamilton can’t get a waiver to play immediately.
BSL Analyst
Raphielle’s been writing about college sports for more than a decade, making the move to college basketball alone in 2013. Beginning his work with the former website CollegeHoops.net in 2003, Raphielle spent 3 years writing for NBCSports.com beginning 2013, covering CBB and the Olympics. In 2016, Raphielle joined Heavy.com. If there’s a game on, there’s a strong likelihood that he’s watching it.