Maryland Basketball: Top Five in Numerous Preseason Polls
Feb 24, 2015; College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Terrapins guard Melo Trimble (2) celebrates as fans storm the court after beating the Wisconsin Badgers 59-53 at Xfinity Center. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
The college basketball season came to a close Monday night, with the Duke Blue Devils knocking off the Wisconsin Badgers in a tight one to win the national championship. Now, it is time to start looking ahead to next season. A number of media outlets have already released their preseason Top 25 rankings for the 2015-16 season. Multiple polls have featured the Maryland Terrapins in the top five. While this is ridiculously early to tell, it still is pretty exciting to see Maryland basketball being mentioned near the top.
Although Maryland’s season ended earlier than they had hoped, it was a monumental season for the Maryland basketball program. Mark Turgeon has turned this program around, earning his way off the hot seat with a 28-7 record.
The Terps bring back star freshman guard Melo Trimble. Trimble was everything the coaches asked for and then some. He made big play after big play for Maryland and the fact that he is returning for his sophomore year shows that he has some unfinished business. They are still awaiting the decision of junior forward Jake Layman on whether he will declare for the NBA Draft or return to College Park for his senior season. If he does, in fact, return, Maryland will have retained two of their top three contributors from a season ago.
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Also coming back is freshman Jared Nickens, who really came on strong towards the end of the season. He will be looked upon for a larger role in the upcoming season. The one move that really catapulted Maryland into the eyes of most experts is the commitment from Diamond Stone. With Stone, the Terps get a dominant presence inside to go with a talented group of perimeter players.
ESPN and USA Today have the Terps at No. 5, CBS Sports have them at No. 4, and NBC Sports has Maryland ranked as high as third, behind only North Carolina and Iowa State.