- The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 12, 2024

A remarkable first year that included an NCAA Tournament win over West Virginia and a home upset of No. 3 Purdue had new coach Kevin Willard convinced the Maryland Terrapins would make some noise this season in the Big Ten. 

But the promise and expected growth for the Terrapins never materialized for a team that finished 12th in the conference and now will play Wednesday on the opening day of the Big Ten tournament for the first time since joining the league in 2014-15.

The Terrapins’ 15 regular season wins are tied for the fewest this century with the 2021-22 squad.

Barring a miracle run to a conference title this week in Minneapolis, they will miss the NCAA Tournament and potentially record only the program’s second losing season since 1989.

A veteran returning corps with Jahmir Young and Donta Scott back for their fifth and final seasons along with returning junior Julian Reese was the main reason the Terrapins were picked to finish third in the league, with Young and Reese earning preseason All-Big Ten team selections.

Young would have a remarkable, All-American-caliber season. The DeMatha grad averaged 20.6 points per game, third best in the Big Ten, and his 90% free throw mark was second-best in the league. He ended the year as an all-conference first-team selection while also becoming one of only five Terrapins and the third-fastest to score 1,000 points in just two seasons.

The only critique of Young? With the lack of production from his supporting cast, he often tried to do too much due to the lack of support.

As a sophomore, Reese made a name for himself by winning battles and games against some of the conference’s most dominant post players but this season the improvement needed to stay in the elite big-man conversation didn’t happen.

Scott ended up breaking program marks for starts and games played, but his performance this season was not commensurate with his experience. He scored less than 10 points (13 times) nearly as often as he broke into double digits (18).

Willard tried to buttress the veterans with youth, bringing in a heralded trio of local freshman — Paul VI grad DeShawn Harris-Smith, Bishop Ireton’s Jamie Kaiser Jr. and St. Frances’ Jahnathan Lamothe, even calling Harris-Smith the “best freshman I’ve ever had.”

Harris-Smith started 28 of Maryland’s 31 games, showing flashes of the talent that made him the top prospect in Virginia in 2023 but also having understandable growing pains as a freshman. Kaiser, one of Willard’s first substitutions off the bench all season, would display similar flashes but was too inconsistent to make a bigger impact.

“Understanding the way I built the roster a little bit, the way I put a lot of pressure on these young kids … that’s the one thing I wish I could have redone is maybe get someone that not [have to] put so much pressure on,” Willard said. “I’m really, really excited about Jamie and DeShawn. I put a lot, a lot of pressure on them. I think that’s a little bit, in this league … it’s really hard.”

All of Maryland’s problems can be traced back foremost to its struggles shooting the basketball. Opposing teams’ strategy was easy to discern: Collapse and make it hard for Young and Reese to breathe inside, and dare the rest of the Terrapins to make longer-range shots. 

At 41.3%, Maryland was the conference’s second-worst shooting team, and its 28.4% mark from 3-point range was the worst in the Big Ten and 9th worst nationally — evidence that the strategy worked. 

The offensive stagnation was all the more confounding when viewed alongside its defense. The Terrapins led the Big Ten all season by holding opponents to 65.7 points per game and ranking in the top 25 nationally in defensive efficiency.

But 10 of Maryland’s 16 regular-season losses came when it shot less than 40% from the field, and the Terrapins were 1-6 in one possession games, proving that even the best defense can’t overcome inconsistent scoring.

Multiple times this season — especially at home — Maryland would come out “lackadaisical” in Willard’s words. A 3-of-13 start Jan. 11 against Michigan, an identical 3-of-13 in a Feb. 6 loss to Rutgers, the nadir of the season, and a 7-of-28 effort the entire first half Jan. 2 against Purdue are just a few of the examples.

“We’ve just, for some reason, we’ve just struggled,” Willard said. “I can’t really put my finger on it.”

Similar refrains from Willard — “I wish I had an answer” and “it’s baffling” — became more common as the season ground towards its inevitable conclusion. Help arrives this fall in the form of consensus five-star recruit Derik Queen, but Willard will also need to find answers elsewhere as patience among fans in college basketball’s transfer portal and NIL era is much thinner.

• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide