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

Worst-case scenario

• Point Guard: Eric Ayala
• Guard: Aaron Wiggins
• Guard: Darryl Morsell
• Forward: Donta Scott
• Center: Joshua Tomaic

The uncomfortable truth about the Terrapins for the 2020-21 season is that they are not working with any kind of certainty. That was somewhat the case last year as they were hoping Smith would break out and were fortunate that he did. But at the same time, the baseline level of play was always relatively high with Cowan on the floor.

With Cowan gone, they are hoping Wiggins can step up as a primary scorer, hoping Ayala can develop as the primary ball-handler and playmaker, hoping Morsell is capable of being more than a role player and hoping Scott can grow further after his progression in his freshman campaign. None of that, however, is guaranteed. And that’s a scary proposition.

Speaking of not being guaranteed, it’s also not certain that Marial will be ready to assume the starting center role with any kind of confidence. If he’s not, that would put Joshua Tomaic at the five in the starting lineup. Tomaic played in just 16 games as a junior and is not an inspiring option by any stretch of the imagination. He is, however, a high-effort player who rarely makes mistakes, which gives him a good shot at winning the starting job over Marial at this point.

But with Tomaic at center, and with all of the questions around him, this lineup is definitely the worst-case scenario. It leaves a lot to the imagination in terms of sure aspects to bank on and, frankly, that makes it hard to bet on the Terps coming close to the success of this past season should the worst-case lineup be the one they have to trot out.

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