Maryland Basketball: Melo Trimble Coming Back to Terps

Maryland basketball has been anxiously waiting for a decision from guard Melo Trimble. He announced today his intentions to come back to school for his junior season.

Maryland Terrapins fans can rejoice. Melo Trimble will be playing basketball in College Park next season.

Trimble had his final NBA workout on Monday with the Atlanta Hawks and had until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to make a decision about his future. Around 10:00 p.m. we learned he was coming back.

There is no denying that Trimble wanted to enter the draft this year. He already made a difficult decision last year with the thought that his sophomore year would be his last with Maryland. He comes back this season knowing what he needs to work on to finally impress the NBA.

Trimble struggled on the first day of the NBA Combine, the same day his former teammate Robert Carter Jr. shined. He was much better on the second day of the combine, but with too many question marks about whether he would be drafted or not, he made the right decision to stick around for one more season.

By returning to Maryland, Trimble has another year to showcase himself to scouts. He will be the unquestioned floor general for a team that should contend for another appearance in the NCAA Tournament. If he can get the Terps back into the Big Dance with a team that is less talented than the past two years, that could be enough to get the NBA’s attention.

Trimble will be the leader of a team that will be missing every starter from last season but himself. If he had decided to enter the NBA Draft, Jared Nickens would have been the Terps highest returning score with a mere 5.4 points per game last season.

Trimble led the Terps in scoring (14.8 per game), assists (4.9 per game), steals (1.3 per game) and free throw percentage (86.3 percent) last season.

Maryland will be a guard heavy team next season with Melo’s return. Dion Wiley will be back from injury and Anthony Cowan was going to get significant playing time whether Trimble came back or not. Jaylen Brantley is the biggest loser in Trimble’s return, but should still get ample time on the floor.

Trimble has an opportunity to go down as one of the Terps greats with another season in CP. He has scored 1,102 points in his two-year career, which is good for 48th in program history. If he continues to score at the pace as the past two seasons, he will finish in the top 15. Should he average over 20 points per game this season, a finish in the top 10 could be possible.

He is also on pace to enter the top 10 in three-point field goals made and currently is ranked second in career free throw percentage at 86.5 percent. Only Eric Hayes (87 percent) has a better percentage.

Melo has a chance to remembered on a first name basis by Terps fans, similar to Len, Greivis, Juan, Dez, Jake, Lonny and Blake. Those names will always be in the hearts of the Maryland faithful.

Next: L.G. Gill Big Help Terps Needed

It’s likely that Terps fans will go through this anxiety again next spring, but for now, Maryland basketball has their leader back for one more year.