As pandemic continues, Maryland basketball is on a losing streak when trying to fill '20-21 roster
After the departure of his two top scorers and two frontcourt reserves, Mark Turgeon hasn't been successful in a season he typically dominates - spring recruiting
My first post earlier this week examined how Maryland football coach Mike Locksley was seemingly getting more quality commits during the coronavirus lockdown than just about any of his Power 5 counterparts despite his team being largely viewed as a Big Ten East bottomfeeder.
So why can’t Mark Turgeon, whose basketball team just shared its first conference title since joining the Big Ten and lost its two leading scorers as well as two frontcourt reserves, entice any graduate transfers or uncommitted freshmen to come to College Park?
Are the Terps and these potential recruits just taking social distancing to an extreme?
Since Jairus Hamilton, a 6-8 forward who played his first two seasons at Boston College, announced plans to transfer to Maryland back on April 1, Turgeon has gone 0 for the pandemic when it comes to filling the spots left vacant by Anthony Cowan Jr. and Jalen Smith.
Heck, Turgeon hasn’t even been able to get anybody to take the scholarships available after the departures of little-used forward Ricky Lindo Jr., who transferred to George Washington, or even lesser-used forward Joshua Tomaic, who announced Thursday he’s going to San Diego State.
What makes this even more shocking, aside from the abundance of playing time available for at least one scoring point guard and two bigs, is the fact that this is the time of year during which Turgeon typically has had some of his most notable recruiting wins.
It’s when he got Rasheed Sulaimon, who was kicked off the team at Duke midway through the 2014-15 season but transferred after he finished up his undergraduate degree that spring and summer. Sulaimon was an important piece as a grad transfer on the only Maryland team to make the Sweet 16 during Turgeon’s nine-year tenure.
It’s also when Turgeon got a number of other players who made their own contributions: from Michigan transfer Evan Smotrycz in 2012 to Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter Jr. and grad transfer Richaud Pack in 2014 to five-star high school prospect Diamond Stone in 2015 to four-star Canadian high schooler Justin Jackson in 2016.
Even Chol Marial, the 7-2 center from South Sudan who is now Maryland’s only remaining big man, came last spring.
Which brings us to what has transpired over the past month.
As Locksley has likely benefited from the pandemic lockdown by getting commitments from a number of prospects who live close to the campus, Turgeon was seemingly hurt by it when Carlik Jones, the Big South player of the year at Radford who grew up in Cincinnati, chose Louisville and Harvard’s Bryce Aiken, a Jersey kid, picked Seton Hall to finish his career.
But that doesn’t explain why Duke’s Alex O’Connell went to Creighton, Yale’s Jordan Bruner picked Alabama, VCU’s Marcus Santos-Silva opted for Texas Tech, and Michigan’s David DeJulius and Colgate’s Rapolus Ivanauskas both chose to go to Cincinnati.
The Terps also lost out on two 7-foot high school prospects, most notably Adama Sanogo, who opted Monday for Connecticut.
So who’s to blame?
Already maligned by a vocal segment of the fan base for his team’s propensity toward late season fades and postseason flameouts, Turgeon is again being crushed for what happened in late February and early March, when Maryland frittered away a three-game lead with five games to play and settled for a three-way tie for the title with Michigan State and Wisconsin.
Turgeon is the easiest target, but it’s not that simple.
As for his lack of recruiting success during the pandemic, it might also have to do with the fact that some of Turgeon’s biggest selling points in the past - Maryland’s impressive Xfinity Center, the quality of the character of both his players and of the strength and conditioning program run by Kyle Tarp, the director of basketball performance - are not available during the lockdown.
“There’s no playbook for how to handle recruiting during a pandemic,” Jay Bilas, ESPN’s longtime college basketball analyst, told me in a telephone interview Thursday. “I’ve heard a number of coaches talk about the difficulty to recruit when you can’t do a campus visit, can’t really show the players anything. It’s a totally different environment than you’re used to.”
Some of those close to Turgeon believe that his personality doesn’t translate as well on Facetime calls as it does during face-to-face meetings with players and their parents. Should Locksley, who seems equally adept at both, give Turgeon some lessons on Zoom to help him liven up his laid-back Midwestern vibe?
I would love to know exactly what has transpired, but Turgeon isn’t saying much on the subject. Through a team spokesman, Turgeon declined my request for an interview.
There could be some other factors in play.
At least as far as the freshmen are concerned, is it Maryland’s lack of a longterm commitment to Turgeon, who has three years left on a contract that seemed on the verge of an extension had his team made a decent postseason run?
Is it that Turgeon’s staff members might be better at X’s and O’s and player development than some of their immediate predecessors, but are not as good at recruiting?
Is it simply that so many other schools had more to offer?
Bilas said that it’s better for coaches not to just fill roster spots in order to show their fan base they’re working during these difficult times.
“One of the things you want to do is not just recruit guys, you want to make sure you don’t make a mistake,” Bilas said. “You don’t want to rush things..because you can’t do what you normally do. It’s not just about getting a guy, it’s about getting the right guys. But there’s still a lot to shake out. As odd as this sounds, we still don’t know if we’re going to play.”
There’s still a long time before the 2020-21 season begins - with the possibility looming that most college students won’t be on campus for much if not all of the fall semester, pushing the opening tip back until January - and the chance of the NCAA voting to allow athletes to transfer once without sitting for a year.
There’s also still a few uncommitted freshmen out there who could reclassify from 2021 to 2020 as Sanogo did, including 5-star center Franck Kepnang, the No. 24 ranked player and No. 6 center who plays at the same prep school where former Terp Jared Nickens went.
Those scenarios could give Turgeon more time to fill the remaining roster spots, and a potentially larger and better quality talent pool from which to choose he has right now.
Turgeon told a Baltimore radio station this week that he and his staff are working hard, maybe even harder than they have before, during the past two months in recruiting. He acknowledged the lack of success, but is not conceding that the Terps will drop precipitously next season as many have recently suggested.
“It’s been a little bit more difficult for me than I anticipated, but we’re trying to add a piece or two still for next year’s team,” Turgeon said in an interview with Baltimore radio station 105.7 earlier this week. “And if we’re able to get a couple of quality guys we should be really good again.”
It’s not that the departure of Cowan and Smith, both of whom were first-team all-Big Ten selections last season, has left the Terps devoid of talent. Four players who have started a good chunk of their careers - senior Darryl Morsell, juniors Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins and sophomore Donta Scott - all return. Hamilton should also be a nice addition if immediately eligible.
But the lack of a proven scorer, as Cowan was since his sophomore year and Smith was as a sophomore last season, is a big concern. An equally troubling prospect is a lack of a proven rebounder and rim protector, as Smith became late in his freshman year. The departure of Lindo, Tomaic and the Mitchells leaves Maryland with virtually no frontcourt depth behind Marial, who is a question mark himself.
For now, at least, it appears Terp fans are more excited about the football program that has had five straight losing seasons and hasn’t won a league title in nearly 20 years than a basketball program that was on its way to a fifth NCAA tournament in in six years and helped get what Turgeon called “a thousand pound gorilla” off his back with its share of the Big Ten regular season championship in March.
And for now, at least, there are more questions than answers about why Turgeon is losing a season - spring recruiting - he typically dominates.
Accurate but sad article! Maybe let Damon Evans recruit? The way he kept his job, and got promoted, after Durkin got fired...seems like he can sell anything! Maybe we need a new arena or change conferences.
Before you publish you really need to verify whom was actually offered. Also, remember when you got personal with Turgeon writing after the second football game on social media that "Locksley's offense is averaging more points than Turgeon's offense." Instead of writing Maryland's offense you had to take a shot and say "Turgeon's offense." That didn't go over to well with the team and immediately after you wrote that the Terps unfortunately lost their football game to Temple. The rest of the season was disaster. Since joining the B10 for basketball only Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan State have a better in conference record than the Terps. The Terps have a better record than Indiana, Michigan, Ohio St, Iowa and Illinois and five other schools. Granted the recruiting this spring has not gone well and they need to pick it up. But why don't you wait until the summer is over and see if they sign a big man before taking your continued shots at Turgeon. If they don't sign a post your criticism is warranted.