It’s never a shock when a five-star recruit makes it to the pros. For Derik Queen, it just wasn’t necessarily supposed to happen this fast.

Queen is expected to be a first-round pick in the NBA draft on Wednesday. He could join Jalen Smith as the only Maryland NBA lottery picks over the past decade and would be the first Terp drafted since Aaron Wiggins in 2021. Queen would also be the first one-and-done NBA product for previous Maryland coach Kevin Willard.

Before his historic freshman season with Maryland men’s basketball in which he became the first in the program to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year, scouts projected Queen as a multi-year college player. Even Maryland men’s basketball’s former coaching staff — who recruited the highly-touted Baltimore native out of Montverde Academy — didn’t project this level of output.

“We knew he would have a good year, but we didn’t expect him to have the success that he’s had this year,” former Maryland director of player personnel and current Villanova assistant coach Ricky Harris told The Diamondback. “We knew he was a good player, but we didn’t know it would come this soon.”

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That possibility became more likely the second Queen stepped on a college floor last November — and the odds increased with each game.

The 6-foot-10 big man averaged a team-best 16.5 points and nine rebounds, posting 21.2 points per game across five postseason appearances. The highlight of his season came on a buzzer-beater against Colorado State, lifting Maryland men’s basketball to its first Sweet 16 in nearly a decade.

Harris said Queen’s production didn’t shock him due to his elite talent. But the staff’s expectations for the freshman were uncertain after the prior class including DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jamie Kaiser and Jahnathan Lamothe struggled, he said.

“Throughout the whole process that we were talking to Derik, his family and his people, the plan originally was two years at most,” Harris said. “But we always knew that one year was definitely a possibility.”

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Queen has worked out with almost every team in the lottery during the pre-draft process and has received “amazing feedback,” according to Harris, who said he expects Queen to have his name called within the top eight.

The host of 1080 The Fan shared on X that Queen worked out with the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this month, while former Maryland associate head coach David Cox said on the 1stStringPodcast that New Orleans Pelicans general manager Troy Weaver was a frequent visitor at home games last season.

But ESPN’s Jeremy Woo reported Monday Queen has received mixed feedback, with “questions still hovering over his conditioning, shooting mechanics and competitive on-off switch.” He also wrote Queen “doesn’t appear to be maximizing some of the factors within his control” during the pre-draft process.

Queen’s draft range likely starts around the No. 6 pick, owned by the Washington Wizards, and extends into the late teens. His development will be interesting to track as a uniquely skilled big man who couples tantalizing offensive upside with major defensive questions.

Harris said he speaks with Queen almost every day and he seems excited for Wednesday. Queen also has the “butterflies and the jitters” of not knowing where he’ll end up, but he’s ready to finally call himself an NBA player, Harris said.

“This is a dream that’s about to come true,” Harris said. “He’s wanted this moment for a very, very long time.”