Maryland basketball: 3 starting lineup options for 2020-2021 season

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Maryland basketball (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

Best-case scenario

Point Guard: Eric Ayala
Guard: Aaron Wiggins
Guard: Darryl Morsell
Forward: Jairus Hamilton
Center: Chol Marial

The backcourt trio of Aaron Wiggins, Eric Ayala and Darryl Morsell represents the three leading returning scorers for the Terrapins, meaning that’s likely where Turgeon will turn to when looking for the leaders of this group.

Wiggins is critical to any success that Maryland will have in the 2020-21 season. He improved dramatically as a wing defender this past season and should be a stalwart on that end of the floor. Unfortunately, his 3-point percentage dipped nearly 10 percent from his freshman to sophomore season. With how much the Terps will rely on him as the primary scorer, he needs to find a happy medium there while also improving his ability to score off the dribble.

Ayala will assume Cowan’s duties as the primary ball-handler but he too needs to find his outside shooting stroke. Meanwhile, Morsell’s role will increase after three seasons of steady contributions as a two-way role player and he needs to become a more versatile offensive threat to see an uptick in scoring.

In this best-case scenario, though, the frontcourt could be sneaky for the Terps. They landed transfer Jairus Hamilton from Boston College and, if he’s granted a waiver and ruled eligible, he can be a versatile forward who plays strong defense.

The X-factor in the best-case scenario is center Chol Marial, who we’ll dive into a bit more in the middle-of-the-road scenario.