Terps Roundtable: June 18, 2016

The summer is one of the few times during the collegiate athletics season that tends to be a bit quiet. All spring sports have wrapped up, and there are still a few months to go until fall sports begin. However, there has been some news surrounding Maryland’s football and men’s basketball programs over the course of the past few weeks. This week, I touched base with fellow BSL Terps Analyst Andrew Feather and my Talking Terps co-host CT Schwink to preview the football program’s 2016 season and talk about some of the recent news regarding the men’s basketball program.

(Discuss this roundtable on the BSL Message Board here.)

Football

Head coach DJ Durkin has been on the job for a few months now, and has already shown his prowess on the recruiting trail. What has impressed you the most about Durkin so far, and what are you looking forward to seeing from him in the months to come?

Feather: The biggest thing for me is the attitude change that he’s brought to the program. He’s worked for some of the nation’s premier schools and coaches as an assistant, and he’s really bringing the attitude that Maryland can compete with these schools. Under Edsall, I doubt the Terps would have even offered a player like Joshua Kaindoh, much less even had a shot at getting him, but Durkin has showed he’s not afraid to go against the nation’s power players and it’s paying off. Now recruiting is one beast, but actually playing the game is a whole different one. Obviously I’m intrigued to see how the Terps perform this season, but I’m also interested to see how Durkin handles the team’s likely losing season. Will he keep command of the team? Will he be able to keep recruits on board? Right now he’s looking like a great fit, but those are a couple questions on my mind.

Schwink: It’s been pretty incredible to watch Durkin parachute in, make his mark on the program, and lock up top-talent that was unseen with the previous regime – all in a span of months. His emphasis on and success in recruiting highly touted defensive linemen is most impressive, as I believe that is the bedrock of building a winning a football team in college football. All that being said, it’s always easier to win the offseason and I’ll be interested to see how he handles adversity during the season with a team that has a lot of limitations.

Kiesel: The most impressive thing about Durkin so far, for me, has been the massive culture shift that he has implemented in the span of just a few months. His intensity and excitement comes out in every single aspect of the program, from practices to press conferences, team dinners to satellite camps. I’m really looking forward to how that culture shift affects the play on the field. While the team is likely still a few years away from where they want to be competitively, it’ll be interesting to see how they play in their first season under Durkin.

The Terrapins struggled last season, winning only three games. However, Durkin seems to have breathed new life into the program. What are your overall expectations from the team this season?

Feather: This year’s team has about the same amount of talent as last year’s three-win team but will perform better simply because it has one of the nation’s easiest schedules. Contests against Howard, UCF, and FIU should be easy wins, and it isn’t hard to think the Terps take three of the following games: Purdue, at Penn State, Minnesota, at Indiana and/or Rutgers, though beating the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley would be a tall task for this year’s team. I think 5-7 or 6-6 is a very real possibility, with a long shot at 7-5.

Schwink: Speaking of limitations, I’m not feeling all that great about this year. However, the bar is low. Winning four games would represent marginal improvement for the Terps. And with how awful last season was, I’d be ok with that. What would be sweeter are five wins and a shot at .500. You have to think the coaching change alone would be worth at least two wins, right? Add a soft schedule into the mix and that 6-6 talk isn’t so crazy.

Kiesel: For me, this season is not about the team’s record at the end of the year. Under Edsall, the team struggled to compete with the best talent in the ACC or the Big Ten. They didn’t give fans much hope going into those games, because they rarely threatened an upset victory. However, with the culture shift that Durkin has brought to College Park, I’ll be looking for more competitive games against the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State. That would give the program something to build on going into next season. With that being said, a bowl berth is not out of the question at all this season. Maryland has one of the easiest schedules in the conference, something that this team should be looking to take advantage of.

While the program is in a bit of a rebuilding mode, there are still some very talented players on the team. What positional group do you believe has the most talent, and why?

Feather: The most talented unit on this team is by far its offensive line. A lot of the line is still relatively unproven at this point, but if you go with star power coming out of high school, it is one of the best in the country. Damian Prince has shown he can play, but I’d like to see if he can dominate over a full season. Last season the line showed flashes of being dominant but never put it together over a full season. This year I think it does, vastly improving the overall ability of the offense.

Schwink: Offensive line is easily the most talented unit on the team, and if it excels, would be a boon for the Terps. When you’ve got shaky quarterback play and struggles at the running back position like the Terps did last year, you can forget about any kind of efficient offense. The line was fairly so-so year, but if guys like Damian Prince, Derwin Gray, Quarvez Boulware and the like can live up to their recruiting stars, all of the sudden the quarterback and the running game have a chance.

Kiesel: For me, it’s a close competition between the running back and defensive line positions. There is a massive logjam at the running back position, with players like Wes Brown, Ty Johnson, Trey Edmunds, and Jake Funk all competing for playing time. For a team with so many questions at the quarterback position, finding a solid rotation of running backs will be crucial for Walt Bell’s offense. The defensive line also boasts a lot of talent, featuring Roman Braglio and Jesse Aniebonam at the ends. Durkin is a defensive-minded head coach, and his multiple defensive scheme is very aggressive.

Men’s Basketball

The Terrapins got some excellent news when Melo Trimble announced that he would be returning to College Park for the 2016-17 season. How important will his presence be for Mark Turgeon’s squad this year?

Feather: The return of Melo Trimble single-handedly makes this a team that can compete not only for the Big Ten title, but for the national title. While there isn’t as much talent on this year’s team as there was last year, if Melo bounces back to his freshman year self, it could be better. We’re going to see Melo in a new role where he will be the guy any time he’s on the floor, so it will be interesting to see if he can step up and carry the load. If he can, this team could be as good as any, if not, the only championship the Terps have a shot at winning is the NIT.

Schwink: The most important. And that’s going to be a new role for Trimble. For his entire time at Maryland he’s been, arguably, the best player on the team, but not the most important. Last year that title slid throughout the year, bouncing around from guys who have since departed in Diamond Stone, Rasheed Sulaimon or Robert Carter. And Dez Wells was most certainly “the guy” during the 2014-15 season. The mantle has now been passed to Trimble. How he handles the taking on that role – being the leader, consistently handling the scoring load, playing like the NBA prospect we know he is – is the biggest story line going into next season.

Kiesel: Trimble’s return is absolutely huge for the Terrapins this season. With the rest of the roster full of younger, more inexperienced players, Trimble brings a veteran presence for Turgeon’s team. However, he’ll need to show significant improvement over his play from last season in order for Maryland to be the Top 20 team that they should be with Trimble back in the lineup. He’ll also need to prove that he can be the leader that the team needs him to be this season. In his first two seasons, the leadership roles were taken by players like Dez Wells and Rasheed Sulaimon. But this season, that role needs to be taken by Trimble.

Turgeon’s Class of 2016 is currently ranked #10 in the country by 247Sports after picking up a big commitment from Justin Jackson in the last few weeks. What are your expectations for this year’s incoming class, and who are you most looking forward to seeing?

Feather: Simply because of his position and length Justin Jackson is the most important commit in the team’s 2016 class. He adds talent and size to a position that so desperately needed it, and I think that he gets significant minutes from the time he gets to campus. With this said, I cannot wait to see what Anthony Cowan can do. I think he is the most underrated point guard in the class of 2016 and believe he will make an immediate impact. He can score when he needs to, but plays like more of a pure point guard with good handles and stellar passing. This will allow Melo to play off the ball more and take pressure off of him if he hits any rough patches. As a side note, I think Kevin Hueter’s time with USA basketball will help him tremendously in the long run but could hinder him in the short term because he isn’t with the team.

Schwink: Of the five guys Turgeon has brought in, it seems that three are going to be thrown into the fire immediately. The services of Anthony Cowan, Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson will be needed if this team is going to compete against the upper-tier of the Big Ten. But, as always, expectations with freshmen should be tempered. It would be awesome if all three of those guys show up ready to play high-major college basketball, and we’ve seen it fairly recently. Melo Trimble exploded onto the scene in the early season tournament his freshman year. Trimble is not the norm, though. The majority of freshman need time to learn. Get up to speed with the game. I’d really like to see these guys hitting their stride toward the end of conference play, heading into the postseason. As for who I’m looking forward to: If Huerter can drill open threes as advertised, that’s going to be a big boost for an offense that has traditionally stagnated under Turgeon.

Kiesel: Justin Jackson is likely the most important recruit in the 2016 class, due to the immense need for bigs on this season’s roster. He is also extremely talented, and is likely to start immediately. However, I think I’m more looking forward to seeing Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter. Both of them have a ton of scoring ability, and should play big roles this season. Cowan especially has shown his incredible athleticism during his senior year of high school this season. While Trimble will be on the court the majority of the time, Cowan’s presence will allow Turgeon to play either of them off the ball to emphasize their scoring abilities.

There is a clear deficiency of frontcourt players on Maryland’s roster for this season, leading many analysts to speculate that Turgeon will likely use many more smaller lineups than we saw last season. Would you agree with that speculation, and if so, who are you most looking forward to seeing in that smaller lineup?

Feather: Mark Turgeon loves guard play and we’re going to see a lot of that this year. With the dearth of proven big men on the roster we’re going to see a lot of three and four guard sets, and I cannot wait. Though it is important that the Terps do have capable big men, The thought of having a lineup of Cowan, Trimble, Wiley/Nickens, Jackson, Gill, just screams excitement to me. While those players haven’t spent much time together, if they can click, they will be able to run, pass and shoot most teams out of the building.

Schwink: Although I have no evidence, I’ve always felt as if Turgeon has longed for a guard heavy roster. He has it and I’m excited to see what he does with it. I believe we’ll see a three guard lineup deployed often and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the four guard, one big man lineup (otherwise known as the Unicorn-Four). More than all the combinations of guards Turgeon could trot out, I’m looking forward to seeing if Damonte Dodd as a senior or Michal Cekovsky as a giant man can start sucking down rebounds and converting second chance points off misses with greater consistency.

Kiesel: I think, for the majority of this season, we’ll see Turgeon trot out lineups with no true center on the court. Dodd and Cekovsky will get minutes, but I think you’ll see players like Jackson and Gill playing in the frontcourt the majority of the time. This roster is set up well to run the court with smaller players, opening up opportunities for wings like Jackson, Nickens, and Huerter. One thing is for sure: this offense ought to be very exciting to watch.