Yesterday, I received an email from a university alumnus and season ticket holder. He was clearly frustrated by the Terrapins men’s basketball team’s 71-60 loss to Iowa in the NIT semifinals, and he wanted to tell somebody about it.
It wasn’t the first time the longtime fan — who asked not to be named — reached out to us this year to express his views about the state of Terps sports, either. It’s been a tumultuous past seven months for the school’s athletic department, and there has obviously been a lot to talk about.
His message yesterday stood out more than the others, though. He said, unequivocally, that he has absolutely no optimism about the Terps next season. He said the team was unwatchable and the freshmen were largely clueless, and he gave coach Mark Turgeon and the team a “C-” grade for the season.
A lot of Terps fans probably share his views. After all, the Terps were a model of inconsistency for much of the year. They jumped out to a 13-1 start before stumbling to a 12-12 mark to close the season, mixing great wins with ugly defeats all the way to Tuesday night’s season-ending loss in Madison Square Garden.
But I respectfully disagree. There are plenty of reasons to have hope for next season. Turgeon has said all along that building the team he wants would be a process, and the Terps are right on track to become that team.
They entered this season with expectations too high for a team with so many new and untested components. Next year, the Terps are going to have even loftier goals. But this time, they’re going to have the talent and experience they need to achieve them.
Yes, they’ll lose two valuable depth players in forward James Padgett and guard Logan Aronhalt. But Padgett’s contributions were mostly negligible, and Aronhalt’s 1.7 3-pointers per game could be easily replaced by any one of the Terps’ talented returning shooters.
Center Alex Len will probably be gone, too, as most pundits expect him to declare for the NBA Draft. But while the Ukraine native had all the talent of a future lottery pick, he rarely played like one. His presence around the rim might be missed, but there’s no reason to think forward Charles Mitchell and center Shaquille Cleare can’t easily replace his 11.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
In fact, that’s arguably the biggest reason for optimism. Players can work on their jump shots or their footwork as much as they want, but the only way to actually improve is to get real game experience. Mitchell, Cleare, forward Jake Layman and guard Seth Allen all have a full season under their belts now. They’re only going to get better next year.
The Terps will have an influx of talent to replace their departed players, too. The addition of uber-athletic center Damonte Dodd could help replace Len’s shot-blocking presence, and Suitland High School’s Roddy Peters — Rivals’ No. 42 overall recruit in the Class of 2013 — could eventually become the true point guard the Terps lacked throughout this season.
Perhaps the most significant boost, though, will come from a player who has already spent a full year with the team. Forward Evan Smotrycz sat out all of this season after transferring from Michigan, but he’ll have every opportunity to make an impact early and often next year.
A power forward with range and the ability to stretch the floor, the Reading, Mass., native averaged nearly eight points and five rebounds per game in his last season with the Wolverines while shooting 48 percent from the field and nearly 44 percent from beyond the arc. Turgeon has lauded his performance in practice all season, and there’s no reason to think Smotrycz can’t be the team’s third scoring option behind guard Nick Faust and forward Dez Wells.
The improvement of those two can’t be understated, either. Both struggled to get comfortable with the Terps early this season — Wells after transferring from Xavier, Faust after bouncing back and forth between point and shooting guard — but the duo carried the team’s scoring load in the postseason. Wells averaged 17 points and Faust averaged close to 12 over the final seven games of the season. Both should continue to get better with a full offseason together.
That leaves the Terps with two dynamic scorers in Wells and Faust, two floor-stretching wings in Layman and Smotrycz, two burgeoning bigs in Mitchell and Cleare and two talented rookies in Dodd and Peters. Add in the seemingly more confident Pe’Shon Howard and the explosive Seth Allen at guard, and the Terps have the makings of a team more balanced and experienced than the one that finished 25-13 this season.
Sure, the Terps could end up being no different next year than they were this year. The turnover problem could remain, the lackluster showings could become the norm and streakiness could become the team’s identity. And if that happens, feel free to call for Turgeon’s job. He would deserve it.
But that’s probably not going to be the case next season. There is reason for optimism. So instead of dismissing the team before it has had a chance to come together, give them a chance to grow. And when Selection Sunday rolls around next March, be sure to tune in and see where the Terps are seeded.
Maybe I’m wrong. But if I’m not, I expect the emails we receive a year from now will have a decidedly different tone.
sportsdbk@gmail.com
