Diamond Stone, a Terrapins men’s basketball recruit and the nation’s top-ranked prep center, is expected to be on the campus Friday for an official visit to watch Maryland Madness. Stone, entering his senior season at Dominican High School in Wisconsin, has narrowed his college choices to four teams: the Terps, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Oklahoma State.

Stone’s coach at Dominican, Derek Berger, has an idea as to why there’s so much interest in the 6-foot-10, 250–pound center.

“The way he was able to develop his body from freshman year to his senior year now has just been outstanding,” Berger said. “His work ethic basketball-wise is just phenomenal.”

Stone polished his game through his first three years of high school by building his physical frame.

“He puts in a lot of the hard work in the offseason to where he’s just pure muscle right now,” Berger said. “He’s just lean. And he’s able to take the big bodies during games that kind of bump him and bruise him. It doesn’t affect him because of his strength.”

Berger credits Stone’s parents, Robert Stone and Cynthia Oliver-Stone, for instilling him with traits that have made the Milwaukee native nothing short of a pleasure to coach through four seasons.

Stone has also adopted a modest attitude, according to his coach, even as his recruitment has heated up.

“Diamond’s been very humble about it the whole entire time,” Berger said. “He doesn’t really ever talk about it. He just goes about his business like he’s a normal kid. I think that falls back to our last question where his parents do a really wonderful job of raising him and let him be a kid.”

Stone’s likely to help whichever team he plays for with his rebounding and low-post scoring, but he’ll also help his teammates on the defensive end.

“As a guard, you can put more pressure on the opposing teams because you know you’ve got a shot-blocker right behind you,” Berger said.

Stone will come to College Park on Friday to get a glimpse at the culture of Terps basketball and the campus, and to speak with coach Mark Turgeon.