Following a tumultuous offseason, Maryland’s 2025-26 men’s basketball season is set to tip off tonight with a matchup against Coppin State at CFG Arena in Baltimore. There isn’t anything left from Kevin Willard’s tenure in College Park, aside from a sour taste in the mouths of many fans. This is an entirely new team and coaching staff, compiled in a matter of weeks following the hire of Buzz Williams on April 1st.
The Coaches
Williams comes to Maryland with 18 years of experience as a college head coach, with stints at New Orleans, Marquette, Virginia Tech, and Texas A&M. He’s taken 11 of his teams to the NCAA Tournament, where he has an overall record of 12-11. His teams typically play good fundamental basketball, with an emphasis on stifling defense. A bit of a unicorn in the modern age of college basketball, he places huge value in loyalty and creating a familial atmosphere in his programs. To that end, every member of his coaching staff has been with him for a number of years at his previous stops.
Devin Johnson will serve as the team’s Associate Head Coach, and enters his 14th season as a member of Williams’ staff. Wabissa Bede (5th season), Aki Collins (5th season), Lyle Wolf (14th season), and Steve Roccaforte (9th season) will serve as assistant coaches, all with extensive experience working with Williams. While this group is new to Maryland, they’re not new to each other. That familiarity should help a good bit, particularly with an entirely new roster of players.
The Players
Williams brought four players with him from Texas A&M in the transfer portal: Andre Mills, Pharrel Payne, George Turkson Jr., and Solomon Washington. Payne played in 34 games for the Aggies last season, averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Washington played in 32 games, and averaged 4.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Both are expected to be regular starters for Maryland this year. Mills and Turkson Jr. served redshirt years in 2024-25, but are expected to play roles for the Terrapins off of the bench this season.
The six additional players that Williams added to the roster in the transfer portal are David Coit (Kansas), Collin Metcalf (Northeastern), Rakease Passmore (Kansas), Myles Rice (Indiana), Elijah Saunders (Virginia), and Isaiah Watts (Washington State). While Passmore will unfortunately miss the entirety of this season due to an Achilles tendon injury, Rice, Saunders, and Watts are all expected to be starters while Coit Jr. will likely be one of Williams’ top options off of the bench. The head coach has particularly singled out Saunders as being one of the most impressive players on this year’s team, as he steps into a front-court role alongside Payne. In 29 games for the Cavaliers last season, he averaged 10.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Finally, Williams added five true freshmen to his roster: Darius Adams, Aleks Alston, Nick Blake, Guillermo Del Pino, and Jaziah Harper. Adams is the most significant addition, a 4-star combo guard who 247Sports ranks as the 39th-best player nationally in the 2025 class. He’d initially been committed to UConn prior to signing with the Terrapins. He’ll play a big role immediately, likely off of the bench, but could step into a starting role depending on injuries and other availability. Del Pino will also likely get a significant amount of immediate playing time, as he comes to College Park from Spain. Alston and Harper both come to College Park as 3-star recruits, and probably represent more developmental options for the coaching staff.
The Expectations
It’s difficult to know what expectations should look like for this entirely new roster, but most projections have them as an NCAA Tournament bubble team at the moment. Those expectations become even murkier considering the injuries that the team suffered during the summer. In addition to Passmore, Coit Jr., Rice, Washington, and Watts are all dealing with undisclosed issues which have affected their availability. Regardless though, most fans are likely just excited to put the drama which affected the end of last season behind them and move forward into a new era. With significant non-conference matchups against Georgetown, Gonzaga, and Marquette all taking place in the first month of the year, we shouldn’t have to wait too long to have an idea of what this team’s chances might be the rest of this season.
Terps Analyst
Zack is a financial analyst for a defense contractor in Washington, DC. The Owings Mills native focuses most of his efforts on Maryland Football recruiting and individual coach and player pieces; but also covers Terps Basketball. He has established relationships with Big Ten beat reporters across the conference, which he utilizes in his game previews. Now a Sr. Terps Analyst for BSL, Zack can be reached at: zack.kiesel@baltimoresportsandlife.com.