5-Star Center Diamond Stone Missing Piece for Terps
Feb 28, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon directs his team against the Michigan Wolverines at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
Take a look at how the Maryland Terrapins basketball program has done in recent years when it comes to recruiting. Up until this past season, the big-time players didn’t seem to want to come to College Park. Melo Trimble is a star. Dion Wiley and Jared Nickens have the potential to be very good. Although all three have contributed in varying ways, there’s no way the Terps get to where they are without them. But, still, there is something missing: an elite big man. In comes Diamond Stone.
Stone is a five-star center from Milwaukee and is currently ranked as the No.2 center in the Class of 2015. If he decides to come to Maryland, he would easily be one of the biggest recruits in program history. The Terps do have some stiff competition though, as Stone is also considering Oklahoma State, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. Recently, experts have declared the Terps and Badgers as the likely favorites to land the big man.
So, what would this mean for Maryland? The perennial powerhouses would finally have to respect them. Now, this is not a knock on Damonte Dodd and Michal Cekovsky, but Stone appears to be cut from a different cloth. He’s a big strong kid, who possess the finesse and ball skills to make him an all-around great player.
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Next year, Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter is eligible to play. He averaged 11 points and eight rebounds in his last season with the Yellow Jackets. Carter and Stone together would form one of the most dominant frontcourts in the country. Then, to have a second unit of Dodd and Cekovsky, would turn the Terps into a national championship contender.
Hopefully Mark Turgeon and the rest of the Maryland coaching staff have done enough to bring Stone and his superb talent to College Park. I’m sure an immense amount of persuasion will be necessary because Wisconsin also seems to be a perfect situation for him. The Badgers star Frank Kaminsky is graduating, so they will have a hole to fill in the middle. Not to mention, Stone is from Wisconsin.
Players of Stone’s caliber are pretty hard to come by, so the Terps must do whatever it takes to get him to commit. The program is getting closer and closer to solving the puzzle and Diamond Stone is the missing piece.