Maryland Basketball: Who Will Start for Terps Next Season?

Maryland basketball will have a brand new look next season with the possibility of all five starters leaving the team.

The Maryland Terrapins are coming off their best season since the 2003 season, the last time the program made the Sweet 16. Gary Williams had a tough task of replacing much of the team after back-to-back postseason runs as many of the team’s stars graduated or headed to the NBA.

Sound familiar? Mark Turgeon is going through the same situation heading into the 2016-2017 season.

The Terps are facing a strong possibility of losing all five starters from this year’s squad. Four of the five are gone for sure. Diamond Stone and Robert Carter will enter the NBA Draft and hire agents, while Jake Layman and Rasheed Sulaimon just finished out their senior season. That leaves the Turgeon with at least four holes to fill for next season.

Melo Trimble is the wild card for Maryland. He will enter the draft process and test his luck at the NBA Scouting Combine, but will not hire an agent. He could decide to come back if he feels the NBA might not call his name, a move that Maryland is hoping for with the departure of the rest of the starting five.

Let’s assume that Trimble does decide to hire an agent and forego his final two seasons of college basketball. What would the Terrapins’ starting five look like next season?

More from The Baltimore Wire

Damonte Dodd will be the only senior on the team and a starting spot is secure with Stone on the way out. Dodd played nearly the same amount of minutes this year as last season, but did see a dip in his numbers across the board in the time share with Stone.

After that, it’s a guessing game which way Turgeon will utilize his roster. He will get Dion Wiley back from a knee injury, and Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley will likely step into the starting lineup.

Michal Cekovsky is the only other returning player from last year’s squad that played significant minutes. Ivan Bender also remains with the team, but was barely featured this season.

Turgeon has landed a solid recruiting class, headlined by point guard Anthony Cowan. The four-star recruit could step into Trimble’s role and be the starter by next November if Melo does head to the NBA. The Terps have also landed Kevin Huerter, a four star shooting guard, and Micah Thomas, a three star small forward.

Maryland does have three more scholarships available to them and could look for transfer players to fill those spots. Few expected a Duke transfer to be well received at College Park, but Sulaimon had games in which he dazzled the Maryland faithful. Carter, another transfer, put up solid numbers in his one season with the team.

Maryland has recently lost out on two big-time recruits in Josh Johnson (Kansas) and Terrance Furgeson (Arizona). They are still in the mix for several high profile recruits, and Turgeon can entice some of these young guys with immediate playing time due to the roster turnover.

Many gave Turgeon credit for being able to field a team with such promise last season. Maryland basketball had a perfect mix of youth and senior leadership with valuable role players off the bench. We just have no idea who will take the floor for the Terps next season.

Next: Diamond Stone, Melo Trimble to Enter NBA Draft

How Turgeon responds to losing last year’s group will be a true test. If he can somehow get them back into the Sweet 16 next season, it might be his best coaching job yet.

Home/Maryland Terrapins