Stone Gone: Melo to Test Waters

[mskrulz]

I'm hoping with a bevy of guards, and athletic guys like Wiley, Huerter, and Jackson, that they will run a lot more. The offense with Stone and Carter just never seemed to feel right last season.

This current team, reminds me a lot of the team from the year before last. Layman playing the 5 a lot and very athletic. I could see us going further this year than last. This is gonna be more of an up tempo pressing group. I saw a graphic last year that MD was the second tallest team in the country last year and how that may not have been a good thing based on the more guard oriented play in college basketball. I could definitely see that on tons of occasions with the bigs fighting over the room in the paint and the difficulty sticking with shorter, smaller teams on D.

[Ruzious]

This current team, reminds me a lot of the team from the year before last. Layman playing the 5 a lot and very athletic. I could see us going further this year than last. This is gonna be more of an up tempo pressing group. I saw a graphic last year that MD was the second tallest team in the country last year and how that may not have been a good thing based on the more guard oriented play in college basketball. I could definitely see that on tons of occasions with the bigs fighting over the room in the paint and the difficulty sticking with shorter, smaller teams on D.

Yeah, Jackson might have to play some smallball center. The team is going to go from one of the biggest teams in the country to a relatively small one. Thing is, Coach has not shown any interest in making MD a running team in the past. He's going to have to change that drastically, imo. Btw, I'm hoping Ivan Bender gets every chance to start next season. We only go so far with Dodd.

[murph]

I'm hoping with a bevy of guards, and athletic guys like Wiley, Huerter, and Jackson, that they will run a lot more. The offense with Stone and Carter just never seemed to feel right last season.

I agree, in the set offense the play was just not enjoyable to watch at times, especially that ring around the rosy thing they would do at times (I know other teams run the same play to start their offense at times, just never saw it give us an big advantage when they would break out of it), but would be great to see a team than can really get up and run.

[ArtVanDelay]

Wow this is great news! Kid looks like a player! Things have really turned around in the last 24 hours. Wonder who we are targeting for that last scholarship?

Apparently Alec Peters from Valpo is a target. He's transferring after withdrawing from the NBA draft. 6'9, 225 lbs and averaged 18.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/alec-peters-1.html

[ArtVanDelay]

We now have the #9 recruiting class in the country.

The Terps football team currently has the #15 class in the country.

Good times.

http://247sports.com/Season/2016-Basketball/CompositeTeamRankings

http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings

[Ruzious]

Apparently Alec Peters from Valpo is a target. He's transferring after withdrawing from the NBA draft. 6'9, 225 lbs and averaged 18.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/alec-peters-1.html

He had much better stats than L.G. Gill - the junior transfer that already committed to MD.

[ChuckS]

Whoo, that saves next season and people are speculating this puts MD in the running to get Justin Jackson - who is one of the few highly rated players who have not committed.

We got Jackson. Top 50 recruit, 6'7 230. Prototypical SF that can probably play some PF if we go small.

Speculative Starting Lineup:

PG Trimble

SG Wiley

SF Nickens

PF Jackson

C Dodd

Bench (in order by projected minutes): Huerter, Cowen, Cekovsky, Gill, Brantley

We are certainly deep at Guard. Nickens is a pretty limited player and Wiley did not show much in his frosh season but I think these guys start based on seniority and familiarity with the system. If Huerter and Cowen end up being ballers they could easily unseat either of those guys.

Correction: Did some more reading up on Jackson and based on his style of play and wing span, he's probably more of a prototypical 4 at the college level. At the pro level he would probably have to play the 3.

[Ruzious]

We got Jackson. Top 50 recruit, 6'7 230. Prototypical SF that can probably play some PF if we go small.

Speculative Starting Lineup:

PG Trimble

SG Wiley

SF Nickens

PF Jackson

C Dodd

Bench (in order by projected minutes): Huerter, Cowen, Cekovsky, Gill, Brantley

We are certainly deep at Guard. Nickens is a pretty limited player and Wiley did not show much in his frosh season but I think these guys start based on seniority and familiarity with the system. If Huerter and Cowen end up being ballers they could easily unseat either of those guys.

Correction: Did some more reading up on Jackson and based on his style of play and wing span, he's probably more of a prototypical 4 at the college level. At the pro level he would probably have to play the 3.

Expect a big year from Wiley. Before his injury, Turgeon said he was going to start ahead of Sulaimon. Nickens really needs to grow up and step up.

[SouthRider]

Great week for the Terps' BB program. I've got to give credit to Coach Turgeon for being able to land these guys. Now if he can only get some of this off court success to migrate to on court. Last year's team just didn't gel. Perhaps too many guys had their sights on the NBA. I'm glad they were able to reload so quickly.

[Oriole4Life]

Turgeon sure knows how to recruit. I love him for that reason alone. We will consistently be competitive if he keeps bringing in these freshmen and transfers.

Justin Jackson coming to College Park is huge. I think he is going to add a whole lot of scoring and defense to this team. L.G. Gill adds some much needed muscle. With Trimble coming back and Wiley hopefully 100%, this team will be nothing to sneeze at next year. Can't wait to see what Cowan and Huerter have in their game.

[clapdiddy]

Question for the CB gurus: is this a top 20 team on paper?

I'm not a "guru", but I'd have to say yes. Three of the four freshmen coming in should have a pretty big impact...of course, that's tough to say for sure.

As I said earlier, if Turgeon is smart, the team should change to a more up-tempo offense. He's got a bevy of guards and forwards who can handle the rock.

[Reboulet'sStache]

Question for the CB gurus: is this a top 20 team on paper?

Probably. I never liked the team last year, and said as much before the season even started. My problem with them is they couldn't play small, but at the same time, not a bunch of giants like UNC that could play old school basketball. So it kind of left them in no man's land. This year's team looks far more athletic, and so better suited for today's style of basketball.

[TakebackOPACY]

For what it's worth, Lunardi (ESPN) currently has them as a tourney #6 seed. And Parrish (CBS) currently does not have them in his Top 26.

Without having looked around much yet, I'll guess they settle into a pre-season ranking somewhere between 21-30. Their upside is great, but it's dependent on the development of bench guys into starters and immediate contribution from a freshman class that, while great, doesn't have a consensus 5-Star recruit.

[ArtVanDelay]

Looks like Stone made a terrible decision. Drafted 40th and headed to the Clippers. Layman drafted 47th and headed to Portland. Will be teammates with Pat Connaughton.

[ArtVanDelay]

And Carter goes undrafted.