Less than half of Maryland women’s basketball’s roster played for the Terps last year.
Finding a way for so many new faces to gel was a big task for coach Brenda Frese — thankfully for her, three of them came to College Park with an established connection.
Saylor Poffenbarger, Mir McLean and Amari DeBerry all began their collegiate careers at UConn before reuniting years later to play alongside each other at Maryland.
But the three all had different paths to becoming a Terp after starting with the Huskies.
Poffenbarger, a redshirt junior guard, always wanted to play for UConn. Wearing the navy blue and white at Gampel Pavilion was a lifelong dream.
Coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies sport 11 national championships, good for the most of any program in Division I women’s basketball. Poffenbarger wanted to create a legacy at college basketball’s biggest powerhouse.
“During the recruiting process … as much as they were recruiting me, I was also very invested in them,” Poffenbarger said. “But I think one thing I’ve learned is sometimes what you think your plan is, it’s not always that way.”
Poffenbarger joined the program as an early enrollee in January 2021 — taking advantage of extra NCAA eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic by graduating high school early to join the Huskies midway through the season. In doing so, she teamed up with McLean as one of UConn’s seven freshmen on the roster.
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McLean scored 10 points in her UConn debut but never hit the double digit mark again in 23 games to follow.
“I was more fixated on learning,” McLean, a graduate student guard, said. “In high school, I didn’t really have that high level of IQ, I just depended on a lot of my athleticism. So UConn kind of presented itself to me as an opportunity to learn more, basketball-wise.”
Poffenbarger also couldn’t carve out a consistent role in her inaugural season with the Huskies, playing just 32 minutes in 12 appearances while notching six total points. She entered the transfer portal in November 2021, seeking a new environment with a larger role to rebuild confidence.
A month later, McLean also transferred out of the program a few weeks into her sophomore season. The two went their separate ways — Poffenbarger to Arkansas; McLean to Virginia — for the following two seasons, while DeBerry remained at UConn.
DeBerry, a senior forward, only briefly crossed paths with the two while in Storrs, arriving on site as a freshman just before they transferred.
But the trio’s shared history stretches even earlier.
DeBerry won a championship with Poffenbarger on the FIBA U16 Americas team in 2019, and first played alongside McLean as a SLAM All-American in high school.
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Poffenbarger and McLean also have prior history, as the two Maryland natives squared off against one another back in high school.
DeBerry appeared in more than 60 games across three seasons at UConn. But much like McLean and Poffenbarger, she earned limited minutes in a loaded rotation.
Winning and competing in consistent roles at the highest level became the priority for all three of the former Huskies when they entered the transfer portal last offseason. Maryland checked all the boxes, and having each other provided added familiarity.
“It was nice just being able to have the general idea of who everyone was, and not having to be completely brand new to an entire system, because that can always be a challenge,” DeBerry said.
Frese and Auriemma have a combined 64 years of experience as head coaches. The two boast similar play styles, both having found sustained longevity through a similar fast-paced, transition-heavy style of basketball which has helped them establish powerhouse programs at their respective schools.
“A lot of the qualities I learned at UConn are really helping me out here at Maryland,” Poffenbarger said. “The want to win is very similar, and I think just the competitive nature for me is what stands out.”
