Maryland basketball feels it overachieved during ‘rebuilding’ year

Darryl Morsell fought back the tears, overwhelmed with the emotion of Monday night’s sudden conclusion to Maryland’s unorthodox campaign. Memories spilled out in no particular order of importance, though each seemed to underscore the Terrapins guard’s pride in what he and his teammates had accomplished.  

“Everybody counted us out the whole year,” Morsell said.

He felt it before a ball had even been tipped, before the season began, when experts predicted a 12th place finish for the Terrapins in the Big Ten. The prediction, it turned out, wasn’t far off, but that said more about a conference loaded with talented teams than it did about last season’s Big Ten champs. 

Morsell felt the lack of consideration once Maryland opened up the conference slate at 1-5. Then again at 4-9. Even after the Terrapins put together a five-game winning streak, Morsell picked up on the skepticism when the team dropped its final two regular-season games.

But the senior and his fellow Terrapins defied the doubters to reach the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Consider this season a success, Morsell said, even if it ended in a blowout loss to No. 2 seed Alabama and included a sub-.500 record in the conference.

“This team wasn’t supposed to be here,” Morsell said. “You put us on paper. You ask anybody, we’re not supposed to be here, man. But we’re here. We kept fighting. Coach [Mark] Turgeon did a phenomenal job this year, with this group of guys. He made us better. And he brought the best out of every single one of us. And that’s all I’m going to always remember about this team.”

From the outside, there might be more to remember about this team. For the full scope of why Turgeon needed to meld his team into a small-ball unit that played with high defensive energy, a pair of transfers away from the program in December 2019 come into focus.

That’s when forwards Makhi and Makhel Mitchell entered the transfer portal, finishing their Terrapins careers after 12 games. The freshmen didn’t make much of an impact in those contests before moving to Rhode Island, but that kicked off a slew of frontcourt changes that left Turgeon scrambling for replacements.

Jalen Smith, the first-team All-Big Ten selection, left for the NBA Draft. Reserve forwards Ricky Lindo and Joshua Tomaic transferred in the offseason, joining George Washington and San Diego State, respectively.

Turgeon added transfer forwards Galin Smith and Jairus Hamilton, but neither were the sort of rim protector Maryland seemed to require at many points this season. And 7-foot-2 center Chol Marial didn’t develop into a reliable enough player to warrant minutes.

Plus, with the graduation of Anthony Cowan, the Terrapins didn’t have a true point guard on the roster. That left Maryland with a hodgepodge lineup in which 6-foot-7 Donta Scott guarded some of the country’s most dominant big men and Hakim Hart — recruited as a wing — shifted to ball-handling duties.

“We were all playing out of position,” Morsell said. “We’re all sacrificing, but we all put the team first. And I just applaud and appreciate everybody for that.”

While the Terrapins’ defense improved down the stretch and became the team’s bread and butter, rebounding issues — a result of the lack of size — were apparent for much of the campaign. And against Alabama on Monday, Turgeon’s squad was outrebounded 40-19, leading to the Crimson Tide’s 23 second-chance points.

But reaching the tournament and beating No. 7 seed UConn in the first round resonates with Turgeon as a relative success. Considering the circumstances of the season and the roster construction that was thrown off two years ago when the Mitchell twins vacated two scholarship slots, Turgeon characterized this season as a rebuilding year.

“I think they’re going to be remembered as a team that sacrificed, was undersized, guys played out of position, and they went to the final 32. Right? I mean, come on,” Turgeon said. “We weren’t a Final Four team. Come on, let’s be real. And I think we maximized this team extremely well.”

With two years left on Turgeon’s contract, though, there are questions as to what the path forward should be — and whether that includes another extension. In Turgeon’s 10 seasons in College Park, the Terrapins have made one Sweet 16 appearance. Besides beating the Huskies, their NCAA Tournament high points include wins over Valparaiso, South Dakota State, Hawaii and Belmont.

But Turgeon welcomes a pair of four-star recruits to the team next season, including 6-foot-9 Julian Reese. Turgeon will likely hunt for transfers to build out the rest of his unit, aiming to improve on an underwhelming season that still finished in the NCAA Tournament.

When Turgeon met with the media following Monday’s season-ending loss, the coach followed a similar line of thought as Morsell, his senior leader. Each focused on what the program overcame this year when doubt grew all around — a silver lining to a blowout defeat at the end of an uneven campaign.

“I will always remember this team, what they went through, how we fought,” Turgeon said. “We could have quit easily and never did.”