The University of Maryland Terrapins will play 3 games against Charleston Southern, Fairfield, and New Hampshire before heading to the Maui Invitational, which starts November 23rd.
Here is a look at Charleston Southern.
Charleston Southern is picked to finish 9th in the Big South. Still, Charleston Southern Head Coach Barclay Radebaugh believes that ranking does not represent the actual talent of their roster. Radebaugh is quoted on the Charleston Southern web-site as saying, “With all respect to the people who voted in that poll, with of the injuries from last season, many of the teams in our conference don’t know about out how good our team can be,” said Radebaugh. “If we can stay healthy I expect to compete at a high level in the conference.”
Looking at Radebaugh’s roster, I can see why he has some optimism.
His Sophomore SF Kelvin Martin, averaged 9pts a game last-year, and was a Top 100 overall recruit.
His Junior G Jamarco Warren, averaged 17.8 points a game, and had a 22 point, 7 assist game against VaTech.
There are a couple of Freshman or Transfers that should help.
Tom Tankelewicz is a Freshman SF that was a McDonald’s All-American Nominee, that set a record for 3’s made in the NC/SC All-Star game. Getting-off his shot at Comcast against the Terps will be more difficult, but the Terps will have to be wary of him getting hot.
There are two Freshman PG’s that will be interesting to watch. Theron Stephens averaged 19pts a game in HS last-year, and was named All-South Carolina. Jeremy Sexton was the Chattanooga High School Player of the Year, and like Tankelewicz, a McDonald’s All-American Nominee. He averaged 18pts, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds a game as a HS Senior, earning him a runner-up finish as Tennessee’s Mr. Basketball.
Mediocre HS ball is not the same as facing an Atlantic Coast Conference power, but these are score-first players, who are used to success. This will be their first collegiate game, and they will be playing with something to prove. It will be interesting to see how Bowie, and Hayes use their experience to handle these players defensively. Another way Bowie, and Hayes can make them work, is by being factors on the offensive-end.
One other player to watch is JUCO Transfer Stanley Honorat. Honorat lead Indian River CC. with 16 points per game, which included 33 against a Miami-Dade team that sent 4 players to Division 1.
Lastly, Charleston Southern has 6 players on their roster that are at-least 6’7. That type of height is often not found with lower D1 teams.
Obviously MD would have no excuse losing to the Buccaneers at-home. This is game that is more about Maryland, then their opposition. What I will be interested to see, is what type of intensity the Terps play with. If Maryland plays defense, and regularly attacks the rim offensively, they win this game by a comfortable 20-25 points.
If MD is lackadaisical with their defense, and settle for jumpers, they could win by a relatively low 10-15 point margin. I am sure that Gary Williams will point out to his players that Virginia Tech only beat Charleston Southern by 9pts last-year.
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