CHICAGO — Mark Turgeon’s name dotted nearly every college basketball pundit’s hot seat list last October. Many saw Maryland as reeling after he failed to reach the NCAA tournament in his first three seasons with the program. Five players transferred, and the Terrapins were picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big Ten in their inaugural season in the league.
The outlook is a little different one year later.
Maryland was ranked third in the USA Today coaches’ preseason poll released Thursday, trailing Kentucky and North Carolina, which shared the No. 1 spot. Not only are the Terrapins heavily favored to win their first conference title in six years, they’re also a trendy pick to cut down the nets in Houston in April.
That’s what a school-record 26 regular-season wins and one of the most talented rosters in program history will get you.
“Just to be talking about us that way is really cool,” said Turgeon, who was 59-43 in his first three years before last season’s 28-7 finish. “That’s why I took the Maryland job.”
Ultra-high expectations aren’t entirely new for Turgeon. Playing under Larry Brown at Kansas, he became the first Jayhawks player to appear in four consecutive NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in 1986. He was an assistant on Brown’s national championship team in 1988 and remained on the staff through the first four seasons of Roy Williams’ storied run in Lawrence.
“When I was a young assistant, I was watching and learning,” Turgeon said. “I’m ready for this.”
Turgeon has to be confident with a lineup that could feature a future NBA draft pick at every position, highlighted by Melo Trimble, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. The point guard’s 568 points, an average of 16.2 per game, were the second-most by a freshman in school history, trailing only Joe Smith’s 582 in 1993-94. His 86.3 free-throw percentage led the Big Ten, while his 41.2 3-point percentage ranked sixth.
After turning down the chance to go pro, Trimble is a contender to become Maryland’s first consensus first-team all-America selection since Juan Dixon, who led the school to its lone national championship in 2002.
What’s most impressive to Turgeon about Trimble, though, is the way he handles the adulation.
“We’ll be up on campus doing a function and fellow students are taking pictures with him. I’ve never seen that,” Turgeon said. “He’s really well received — because he’s a great kid. He stays unbelievably humble through the whole process, and that’s why his teammates like him so much.”
Trimble must take big steps forward in two specific areas in order for the Terrapins to fulfill their lofty goals: Leadership — a void left by the loss of Dez Wells, a first-team all-Big Ten coaches’ selection — and defense.
“He wouldn’t say a word for two months [last year],” said senior forward Jake Layman, a fellow preseason all-conference selection who averaged 12.5 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds. “But he’s come a long way. … You can see his confidence is rising in terms of leadership.”
Trimble averaged a team-high 33.5 minutes per game, and Maryland’s point guard depth behind him was virtually non-existent. That meant he couldn’t over-exert himself and had to avoid foul trouble, limiting his defensive impact.
Should he need an occasional rest this year, highly regarded junior college transfer Jaylen Brantley gives Turgeon another option at point. Trimble, meanwhile, has studied film of Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul, an eight-time all-star, noting how active he is defensively.
“That’s something I want to take pride in,” Trimble said. “I want to be able to guard anyone.”
Defense is where the Terrapins want to make their mark as a unit, too — a scary thought for opponents, considering they limited teams to a league-low 39.5 field-goal percentage last season.
The offense should come naturally with a plethora of scoring options, including Trimble, Layman, and freshman center Diamond Stone, perhaps the most well-regarded recruit ever reeled in by Turgeon. The 6-foot-11, 255-pound Stone could immediately become one of the nation’s top low-post scoring threats.
Junior forward Robert Carter Jr. is eligible after sitting out last season following his transfer from Georgia Tech, where he averaged 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in 2013-14.
Rasheed Sulaimon could join Trimble in the starting backcourt after transferring to Maryland. A 39.1 percent 3-point shooter in three seasons at Duke and a lock-down defender, Sulaimon will often be guarding the best opposing perimeter player.
The ingredients for another historic season are present. But with the Big Ten boasting four other ranked teams in Thursday’s poll — No. 12 Michigan State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 24 Purdue — achieving a conference title and more won’t come easy.
Turgeon hopes this is only the beginning of something bigger.
“Everyone is patting us on the back and we haven’t won a game? Yeah, that’s kind of weird,” he said. “Hopefully in the future, when we’re a top-five team, people aren’t patting us on the back — they kind of expect it.”
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