Maryland basketball will have to deal with losing Bruno Fernando to the draft but the preseason ranked No. 7 Terps looked primed for another great season.
Maryland won’t have the ginormous 7-foot, 240-pound frame Bruno Fernando lurking in the paint the season, but they are still expected to be one of the best teams in the country. The fact this team is still expected to be elite is just a testament to head coach Mark Turgeon and the job he has done recruiting in College Park.
Yes, the Terps lose their best player, Fernando, who averaged just over 13 points as well as 10.6 rebounds for a team that saw a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament last year. What may have been Fernando’s biggest asset, however, was his physical presence inside the paint on defense. He averaged just under two blocks per game last year, as it was tough to score inside against this Maryland team.
Outside of Fernando, Maryland returns pretty much every single player who was an important piece. Seven of the eight top scorers for the Terrapins return. Add the No. 3 recruiting class in the Big Ten and you have a team with a chance to make a lot of noise nationally.
The most important returnee is Anthony Cowan who averaged a team-high 15.6 points, 4.5 assists and 1 steal for the Terrapins. Cowan definitely struggled with his shot at times last season, shooting only 39 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3. But that doesn’t mean his value will be lower this year as Cowan is the unquestioned senior leader on a still very young squad. He will eat up minutes at the point guard position and has proven to be a very good floor general which is hard to find in today’s one-and-done era. He will lead this team and even when he is struggling with his shot, he is still able to find open shooters.
While Cowan will be the steady rock, the most exciting player is Jalen Smith. While he wasn’t able to put it all together last season, he still showed some major flashes of what he has the chance to be going forward.
The then-freshman averaged 11.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks for the season and was often their go-to scorer. Smith is an athletic freak at the forward position who can run the floor and guard most positions. He also wasn’t afraid to take a few deep shots as he averaged just over two 3-pointers per game. The problem is he was only making 27 percent of those 3’s. If Smith can get that above 30 percent, he has a chance to be one of the best players in the country and a future lottery pick.
Some of the other key returners for the Terps include Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins who both shot over 40 percent from 3 last season and averaged just above eight points per game. Both sophomores, they should give Maryland solid scoring options behind Cowan and Smith. With Fernando’s 13 points a game needing to be replaced, Turgeon’s squad will certainly need them to step up.
When you look at this roster and their stats from a season ago, it’s hard not to question how they are going to replace the production on the boards from Fernando. Sure Smith should take a step forward, but the Terps are largely going to have to rely on freshman Mahki Mitchell to fill that void.
The lone four-star in the 2019 recruiting class for Maryland, Mitchell is going to have to step up if they hope to continue the physical presence they had inside with Smith and Fernando.
A 6-foot-9, 225-pound player from Washington D.C., Mitchell was ranked the No. 17 center in the country according to 247Sports. He will be thrust into this talented Maryland lineup, ready or not, and be expected to produce right away.
Mitchell’s twin brother, Mahkel, will also be on the team, so it will be interesting to see how the two siblings mesh on the same squad. 7-foot-3 freshman Chol Marial should also make an impact right away.
At its base, the success of Maryland will come down to how Turgeon decides to play a roster that lost its top player. He will have the option of going small at times and it is a viable one as Smith can surely play at the center position for stretches if needed and the Terps have an influx of guards on this roster. Between Cowan, Ayala, Wiggins, Darryl Morsell and incoming freshman Donta Scott, Turgeon definitely has his pick from the crop. It’s just a matter of whether he wants to utilize that part of his team.
Now, with the star big men Turgeon has turned out in recent years, it wouldn’t surprise if Mitchell becomes a viable enough replacement to ward off the small lineup that may be needed if he doesn’t perform. The depth is more the problem here, with a lot of young guys at the center position. It will be hard to see a scenario where Turgeon doesn’t have to go small at some point this season.
All in all, this should be a fun season to watch for the Maryland Terrapins as while they have always flirted with being a top 20 team that can make a run in the tournament. While they haven’t always been able to put that all together, it’s likely this year could be the year for them.
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