Reviewing The Terps Through Three Games

 

(Discuss over at the BSL Boards here)

Three games into the college basketball season for the Maryland Terrapins, it’s probably time to examine a few good things (and a few bad things) happening with the team. While the opponents have been far from spectacular, the results are what you were expecting from a team as loaded as Maryland. Blowout wins mired in the occasional misfire, inconsistency, highlight reel dunks –but in general blowouts that serve to rouse a fan base.

Wells, Layman, Trimble, Pack, Nickens, Wiley — in that order

If we were looking at scoring distribution and who’s scoring substantially for Maryland in 2014-15, the aforementioned order is exactly what we were expecting and it’s what we’re seeing. Dez Wells doing the majority of the scoring, Jake Layman chipping in with some hot shooting, Pack putting some steady points in, and all three freshmen playing inconsistently well.

The backcourt is clearly doing most of the scoring right now for the Terps (clearly) because there really isn’t a frontcourt until Evan Smotrycz returns. Wells has been nigh unstoppable thus far for Maryland, and the biggest reason for that is an improved jump shot that we’re cautiously optimistic about right now (he’s 5-of-7 from deep). If Wells keeps that up, he moves up from stud senior to..well, a lot more.

But it’s hard not to love (and cringe) at what the freshmen are doing. Trimble is already averaging 10 points per game for Maryland, Nickens is averaging a confident seven points per and three boards, and Dion Wiley is proving to be a solid all-around guy (while averaging seven per as well.

The shooting percentages are low, to be sure (no freshman is shooting better than 34% from the floor), but that’s more a product of simply adjusting to college basketball than anything else. You can see how good some of these players are in stretches, but it’ll take time to put it together.

The best part? They’re doing this without a front court. Imagine how things will open up once Smo gets back…

Our combined big man is playing pretty well

Damonte Dodd, Jonathan Graham, and Michal Cekovsky (in a Frankenstein “let’s put them all together and make one person” scenario) are averaging 13 points, 11.3 boards, and four blocks per game combined. From the center-ish spot, that’s as good as expected. Dodd has clearly been the best big thus far, and while it’s against poor competition, he’s played better the last three games than any point during his Maryland career.

Best of all, Dodd is doing exactly what Maryland needs him to do: score when he’s rarely asked to, not foul, and block shots. Dodd has three fouls through three games. Through his first three games last year he was averaging three fouls per 25 minutes. I love this kid’s progress at the free throw line as well. He was horrid before the season began, and this year he’s at 57%.

With Graham you get the expected grinder but not a lot of natural ability, and with Cekovsky you get the expected very raw player with a ton of natural ability. Ceko will clearly be good at some point, and he’s getting better each and every game, but as with most big men it takes time. His foul rate will be prohibitive at times, but as a whole his effort level has been encouraging and his willingness to block shots somewhat surprising. If Ceko can average close to 2 blocks a game this year, Maryland will be fine.

Looking a little ahead to the rest of the schedule until Smotrycz gets back, I’m cautiously optimistic that the Terps should be fine without him. The only really lethal big man they will face until Smotrycz’s expected return will come at Oklahoma State, where JUCO transfer Anthony Allen Jr. has been spectacular in his D-I debut, and Arizona State with Jacobsen.

Maryland has been supplementing their interior post scoring with guards getting to the free throw line at will thus far, and that’s translatable against everyone. If they can keep that up, along with their Franken-big man the frontcourt situation will have been overblown all along.

The best freshman hasn’t been Melo Trimble

While Trimble might be leading all freshmen in scoring right now, apples to apples, you could argue that either Wiley or Nickens has been playing better than him right now.

Because of the positions they each play, their demands are different. Trimble plays one of the hardest positions, while Wiley and Nickens have been able to affect the game off the ball by moving to open space. With Wiley, we’ve seen a willing passer and a guy who rebounds very well for his size. He’s been playing with more effort than I’d seen him throughout his high school days on the defensive end, and he’s getting to the line very well for a freshman.

With Nickens, his shot isn’t falling right now but he’s getting open looks, picking up steals, and not turning the ball over at all. The shots will eventually fall for him, and his confidence will only increase. I said before the season he might end up averaging ten points per, and if his deep ball starts going in, that’s going to happen with the way he moves off the ball.

Trimble’s time will come. He’s a McDonald’s All-American and defenses are paying close attention to him on the floor. Right now, his shot isn’t going in as much as he’d like it to and he’s clearly still feeling things out. That said, Trimble is also yet another freshman who knows how to get easy points by drawing contact, and with his explosiveness, watch out once he figures things out.