Maryland Basketball: Big Men Key to Terps Making a Run

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Jan 3, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins forward Damonte Dodd (35) looks on against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Xfinity Center. The Maryland Terrapins won 70-58. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

The Maryland Terrapins 2014-15 campaign has been a successful one thus far, especially considering the expectations “experts” had for them coming into the season. One knock on this team, however, has been the inconsistent play of the Terps’ big men.

No one player has emerged as “that guy” down low since the departure of Alex Len in 2013. Damonte Dodd, Jon Graham, Michal Cekovsky, and Evan Smotrycz, as a unit, are pretty solid, but Mark Turgeon would definitely love to see some more consistent post production. On numerous occasions, Maryland’s bigs have neglected to play the way they were taught, resulting in them being pulled from the game, like Dodd did against Penn State.

On the bright side, Turgeon’s decision to pull him seemed to have worked. Dodd was much more active on both ends of the court, even if it was in lesser minutes. In fact, Dodd’s play helped elevate that of Jon Graham, who had one of his biggest performances of the season, finishing with 16 points and six rebounds. As for Cekovsky, he didn’t play against the Nittany Lions, most likely because his shaky play.

When The Baltimore Sun asked about the play of his big men this season, Turgeon responded, saying ” “We’re trying to figure it out. We need our bigs to play better…We believe in all three of those guys.”

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Everyone knows about Melo Trimble, Dez Wells, and Jake Layman, but quite honestly this team will only go as far as the big men can take them.

Oftentimes, we, as fans get enamored by the big-name players, which is understandable. But, if you know anything about March Madness, it’s always the players you least expect who comes up big for their team, no pun intended.

With all of the offensive threats on the Terps roster, the bigs won’t need to score much, but they will be tasked with crashing the boards, playing solid on-ball defense, and affecting shots of those who dare to enter the paint. They’ve done it before, so there really should be no excuse. The big men need to get back to playing at the level they were when the Terps were on the cusp of cracking the Top 10.

Maryland has some big conference showdowns coming up against Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin, so they will need their frontcourt players to step up and answer the bell. If they are able to do so and become a little more consistent as conference play winds down, don’t be surprised if the Terps are playing deep into March.

Next: Maryland National Signing Day Review