Terps Basketball Recruiting – Future Looks Brighter Than Immediate

With its 2020 recruiting class currently ranked 83rd nationally according to Rivals and leaving a lot to be desired by Maryland standards, Terps head coach Mark Turgeon is hoping to make a big splash in future recruiting cycles in order to maintain his program’s status as a Big Ten contender.

Having recently missed out on Utah transfer Both Gach and Indiana grad transfer Justin Smith further hurt the Terps’ chances of landing another immediate contributor. As a result, Turgeon has seemingly turned much of his focus to his 2021 class and beyond.

The Terps are already off to a great start when it comes to 2021, having landed two local four-star recruits. Baltimore (St. Frances ) power forward Julian Reese was the first to pledge back in early May, and fellow Baltimorean Ike Cornish jumped on a month later, making his commitment to Maryland official on June 10th.

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Despite hailing from Charm City, Cornish plays his high school ball for Legacy Early College in Greenville, South Carolina. He’s a 6-foot-6 wing who reportedly chose Maryland over the rest of his top eight — Xavier, DePaul, Clemson, VCU, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, and George Washington — because of the opportunity to play the two guard in the Terps’ backcourt.

With Cornish’s ability to transition between the two and the three and Reese fitting more of the four-five mold, Turgeon remains in search of another wing as well as a point guard and a big.

Here are some of the top 2021 Terps hoops targets to keep an eye on.

Jalen Warley:  A top-25 junior guard according to Rivals, the Terps made Warley’s top 10 earlier this month along with Florida State, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, and Virginia. It will be stiff competition for the 6-foot-6 point guard with two-way abilities. The 2021 class is considered pretty weak in terms of point guards, but Warley is one of the crown jewels and clearly Turgeon’s top target at the position.

James Graham III: Maryland was Graham’s first Power Five offer despite the fact that the Milwaukee native hails from Wisconsin Badger country. The offer from the Terps opened up the floodgates for the 6-foot-8 three-star and offers from the likes of Auburn, Florida State, Iowa, and Michigan State came in the subsequent weeks. Maryland assistant Bino Ranson is currently putting on the full-court press for the Terps’ top remaining wing target.

Franck Kepnang: As Maryland’s main center target in the 2021 class, Kepnang continues to be a hot commodity for many high major programs. But the Cameroon native got to take his last visits in the beginning of March before the pandemic to Georgetown and Maryland, which can’t hurt the Hoyas’ and Terps’ chances. The four-star prospect is still saying his recruitment is wide open and this one could play out late into the cycle. As my colleague Raphielle Johnson outlined yesterday, there is still discussion of him reclassifying to the Class of 2020.

Eric Van Der Heijden: A three-star wing from Raleigh, North Carolina, Van Der Heijden fits the mold of the type of player Turgeon likes to roster. Maryland’s lead man has even compared him to former Terps wing Jake Layman already. Van Der Heijden’s recruitment blew up in late spring and the Terps will have to fight hard for his services, but if Maryland strikes out on Graham, expect them to push even harder for this 6-foot-9 forward.

David Jones: Maryland is part of Jones’ top seven. While Louisville, Oregon, and Illinois all seem to have the inside track here, Maryland does have the benefit of being the Dominican Republic native’s last visit before the pandemic. On that trip, Jones got to see the Terps win a Big Ten regular season title over Michigan in front of an electric crowd at Xfinity Center.

Early 2022 targets

With college coaches able to call 2022 prospects starting at midnight on June 15, here are some early 2022 Terps targets.

– Virginia Class 4 Player of the Year Jayden Epps 
– Top 50 Westtown (Pa.) center and Jalen Warley’s teammate, Dereck Lively
– Spalding (Md.) Rivals150 wing forward Cam Whitmore
– Bishop O’Connell (same school as Melo Trimble) three-star point guard Paul Lewis
– Rivals150 guard Judah Mintz out of Gonzaga (D.C.)
– Calvary Christian (Fla.) top-40, four-star power forward Greg Glenn
– Wilbraham and Munson (Mass.) three-star power forward Kyle Filipowski
– Local top-75, four-star point guard Rodney Rice. Rice began his high school career at Bullis but recently announced that he will transfer to DeMatha for his junior year
– Charlottesville (Va.) St. Anne’s-Belfield four-star wing Justin Taylor 
– Five-star wing Dariq Whitehead, a New Jersey Native who currently attends Montverde Academy down in Florida. He also plays his AAU ball with Ike Cornish. Could be a straight-to-the-NBA candidate.
– Top 20 point guard Bruce Thornton from Milton (Ga.)
– First Love Academy (Pa.) three-star point guard Mason Manning
– Three-star point guard from Tennessee Quante Berry
– Four-star top-100 shooting guard Isaac McKneely from Poca (W.V.)