65 College Basketball Teams In 65 Days: Maryland Terrapins

This is a little something I like to call preview season, which by my watch starts on September 1. From that date until the start of the season we have 65 days. In those 65 days I’ll give a team preview each day. There’s going to be no rhyme or reason for the order we go in these 65 days. It will just be 65 teams I think are worthy of a detailed preview. We’ll have other previews throughout the time leading up to the season as well – conference breakdowns, player rankings, team rankings, etc. But, these will just be team previews. 

Maryland Terrapins 

2017-18 Record: 19-13, 8-10 Big 10, 8th in Big 10
Top Returning Scorers: Anthony Cowan (15.8), Bruno Fernando (10.3), Darryl Morsell (8.7)
Newcomers: Jalen Smith (5-star), Aaron Wiggins (4-star), Eric Ayala (4-star)
Head coach: Mark Turgeon, 8th season, 157-80

2018-19 Outlook

Another year for Maryland, another year with some expectations but really uncertainty. This team was originally thought of as a top-15 team and the favorite to win the Big 10. That all changed though when Kevin Huerter declared for the NBA Draft and turned into a 1st round prospect. So, Maryland now gets ready for a season, one that many will be look at for Mark Turgeon’s coaching, with a good mix of upperclassmen and a big time recruiting class.

The original class of Anthony Cowan, Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson was originally thought of as one that would be around all four years and help lead Maryland back to a top program. Two of the three are gone as Cowan is now the leader of this team. He’s one of the better lead guards in the Big 10, just behind Carsen Edwards and Cassius Winston and was the team’s leading scorer last season at over 15 per game.

The Terps are actually pretty loaded and deep in the backcourt. Obviously Cowan is the name there and the one guy that you know will start. However, you have Darryl Morsell, a 6’4″ guard who played about 30 minutes per game last year, but isn’t a shooter. Then you have the two big time freshmen coming in with Aaron Wiggins and Eric Ayala. Both are top-75 prospects and 4-star guys with Wiggins being more of an off the ball player and Ayala being a combo guard. I do wonder if we see Maryland go more with a 3-guard lineup using 3 of these 4 and then playing Jalen Smith/ Bruno Fernando/2 big look.

The biggest improvement Maryland needs to make on the floor? Learn to take care of the ball. They were absolutely atrocious last year, ranking 294th in turnover percentage. They also don’t force a lot of turnovers. That’s fine because they still defend well and Turgeon’s teams never force turnovers. However, if you’re going to do that, you must take care of the ball. Most of Maryland’s turnovers end up being pretty careless honestly too. With Cowan being experienced, he has to be the leader to cut down on his end.

Next thing for Maryland fans is going to be how this team develops under Turg. That’s been the biggest knock on him since he took over in College Park. There’s no doubt he’s been an excellent recruiter. He’s done a great job of getting talent from the DMV area to continue to stay at Maryland and build something there. This class coming in is a top-10 class in the country. However, his teams rarely develop as the season goes on. What you see to start the season tends to be what you see late in the season. I still go back to the 2015-16 team with Robert Carter, Melo Trimble, Diamond Stone, Jake Layman, etc. That was a top-5 team in the preseason. They never looked the part and some of that falls on Turg’s inability to develop and communicate. I’ll defend that Turg knows the game and knows how to coach. He struggles with communicating what he wants though to his players, which leads to over-coaching. He needs to step back a bit and let the guys just play and even improvise at times.

Finally, Bruno Fernando needs to be a star. He’s a projected 1st round pick, lottery pick and potential to even be a top-10 pick, but needs to live up to the billing this year. He was a bit raw last year but flashed signs of greatness and you know that he’ll rebound his ass off and finish at the rim. Fernando ranked 50th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage and 132nd in block percentage. Expect good numbers there again as a sophomore. It’s going to be even more important for Fernando to not only be good, but stay on the court, because Maryland has extremely limited depth in the frontcourt.

I know people want to call for Turg’s head, but that’s not going to happen unless there’s a drastic fallout this year. Maryland will let him coach out his contract, because, they don’t want to pay him + a new guy + who would they bring in? Again, look at what he’s bringing in recruiting wise. You have to give him a chance with the group.

Maryland should compete for a Big 10 title this year, but they are behind Michigan and Michigan State on paper to start the year. The nonconference schedule is fine, nothing special, but games against Seton Hall, Virginia and Loyola. They need to go 2-1 in that stretch and then get ready for Big 10 play. This is a NCAA Tournament team, which should drastically improve on that 8-10 Big 10 finish from last year.