Maryland basketball: 5 questions the Terps must answer in 2020-2021

No. 4 Will Maryland basketball see Hakim Hart breakout?

Maryland basketball will have a changing of the guard literally and figuratively speaking as Serrel Smith Jr. decided to transfer from the program this offseason. Smith Jr. was a part of the Terps 2018 recruiting class. He was ranked a three-star recruit out of St. Petersburg High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. After playing only 12 minutes per game in his freshman season, those minutes decreased to nearly eight per game last season.

It’s completely understandable why a guy would want to transfer to a place where he can get more playing time and develop his skillset in a new environment. There’s no word on where he could potentially land right now but he did some good things out on the court for the Terps even if he weren’t utilized as much as he would have liked to be.

The next man up is Hakim Hart. Hart came to the Terps by way of Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a three-star recruit in their 2019 class. His most productive game for the Terps statistically came against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies when he scored seven points to go along with three assists in 12 minutes.

The way I see it, Hart is most likely going to have an increased role. After playing only six minutes per game in 18 games total, an ideal increase that makes sense would be 15-20 minutes per game. Giving Hart that amount of minutes on the floor or more should Turgeon choose to, will allow fans to see Hart’s growth from year one to year two. The Terps have six guards on their 2020-21 roster now and he will likely be competing for time with Marcus Dockery and Aquan Smart as a reserve.