It is officially June and we are still doing Exit Surveys. In the same vein that The Floor Slap did season previews and in season spotlights for every team in the Big Ten, now it’s time to look back on everyone’s season and reflect. Going from the Bottom to the Top in the standings, we will be releasing Exit Survey’s for all 14 teams in the conference. Today, we have the 5th place Maryland Terrapins.
Preseason
Maryland had a bizarre year two years ago with Mark Turgeon resigning just 8 games into the season. The Terps and Danny Manning were never able to pick up the pieces.
The Athletic Department turned to a DMV guy to right the ship by hiring Kevin Willard from Seton Hall.
My preseason preview of Maryland focused on how you shouldn’t judge year one of Kevin Willard on just wins and losses. Sike! Turns out you can because Willard and Maryland were awesome.
I tried to say to watch how hard his players fight for him, pace of play, level of defense and other BS like that. Nope, Kevin Willard only gets results baby!
On a serious note, I was curious to see what Willard’s offense would look like going from a guard heavy league in the Big East to a Big dominated league in the Big Ten.
Willard succeeded with guys like Myles Powell and Isaiah Whitehead at Seton Hall. Charlotte transfer Jahmir Young seemed to be a candidate for the first iteration of Kevin Willard’s lead guard for Maryland.
Kevin Willard at Seton Hall had an eerily similar resume to Turgeon at Maryland:
| Mark Turgeon (Maryland) | Kevin Willard (Seton Hall) | |
| Year Started | 2011-12 | 2010-11 |
| Record | 226-116 | 225-161 |
| Win % | 66.1% | 58.3% |
| Tournament Appearances | 5 | 5 |
| Conference Championships | 2019-20 season | 2019-20 season |
That resume was not enough to keep Maryland fans happy with Turgeon. So, Willard will have to step his game up at Maryland.
The Season
If you’ve been reading my exit survey’s you might have noticed that I keep talking about highs and lows for each team.
Beyond a larger point about College Basketball’s parity leading to a variance of results delivering the joy of success and despair of failure … the Big Ten specifically was wildly up and down last year. Every team but sort of Purdue (and Minnesota lol) suffered from inconsistency.
Maryland was no different.
The Terps came out guns blazing starting 8-0 with wins over a good Saint Louis team, a bad Louisville team, Miami (FL) and Illinois. Illinois was the only win that wasn’t by 15+ points.
Maryland was hot! The Terps had a big three in Jahmir Young (15.1ppg), Hakim Hart (13.75), and Donta Scott (15.3ppg) and climbed all the way up to 13th in the AP poll. However, Donta Scott would slow down after this stretch and so did Maryland.
Just like every other Big Ten team, Maryland then had a slump.
Maryland lost a close one at Wisconsin, nearly came all the way back against a top 10 Tennessee team in Brooklyn but still lost and then were obliterated by UCLA 60-87 in an Under Armor revenge game in College Park.
After beating no-name schools who have never beaten anyone in UMBC and St. Peter’s, Maryland lost three road games to Michigan, Rutgers and Iowa with a win over Ohio State in between them to start the Big Ten season at 2-4.
But that was when Maryland’s defense flipped a switch
After giving up 80 points twice and 73 in another game in the previous four games, Maryland held opponents under 60 points 5 of the next 6 games and earned 5 wins as well. In fact, Maryland won 9 of their next 12 games catapulting to 11-7 in conference and tied for 2nd.
They had huge wins over ranked Northwestern, ranked IU & a signature win for Willard over number 3 Purdue in the Xfinity Center.
Two games left in the season and the Terps had a favorable shot at finishing 2nd in the Big Ten and a real longshot at tieing Purdue for 1st. Did I mention this was year one for Kevin Willard?
The season ended sourly for Maryland though.
Maryland lost at Ohio State in the next game. Then, in a do or die game for Penn State, Camren Wynter came through at the very last moment to cap a comeback victory for Penn State.
The late season stumble caused them to finish 6th in conference after all the tiebreakers.
It likely cost them a few seeding spots in March Madness too.
Post Season
Maryland had a decent postseason.
Maryland dispatched Minnesota for the third time in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament, but then lost to IU in the Big Ten quarterfinals. A win one, lose one showing that followed expectations.
Maryland earned an 8 seed in the NCAA tourney and a matchup with West Virginia. Maryland won a back and forth affair that had a monster Julian Reese performance with 17pts/9reb/3ass/3blks.
Oh and this monster dunk:
However, Maryland wasn’t able to book a hotel stay for the next weekend as the Terps got waxed by number 1 overall seed Alabama in the Round of 32. The Crimson Tide built a 10 point lead with 15:31 left in the 2nd half and never looked back on their way to a 73-51 win.
Another respectable win one, lose one showing in March Madness, same as the Big Ten Tournament.
After a surprisingly great regular season, the offseason was a mixed bag for the Terps.
The Jahmir Young and Julian Reese pairing is back. However, the team also lost 7 players to the transfer portal including maybe their 2nd best player in Hakim Hart to Villanova (Yes, Maryland plays Nova next year in the Gavitt Games).
Willard and Maryland lost out on some big names in the portal like Hunter Dickinson, but they did land three to round out the roster in Mady Traore (C from NMST), Jordan Geronimo (F from IU) & Chance “Sniper” Stephens (sharpshooting guard).
Terps also add a talented group of freshmen and Jaime Kaiser and Deshawn Harris Smith are wings who will have major minutes right away. With Donta Scott, Young and Reese being the only players in the top 7 in minutes returning, Kaiser, Harris-Smith and rising sophomores like Noah Batchelor will need to step up.
Jahmir Young and experienced seniors carried the terps this year. Now, we will get to see how Willard develops and deploys young talent.
By every indication Maryland fans should feel great about Willard going forward as he had a tremendous first season taking a 15-17 (7-13) team to a 22-13 (11-9) team in year one. Coach Willard was able to build a good defense, establish an All-Big Ten lead guard, and develop a team identity with an emphasis on the DMV area. Almost finishing 2nd in the conference in year one and not only making the Tourney but winning a game in March Madness is a great start.
Maryland fans will still expect the team to improve and Kevin Willard will need to be ready for those expectations. A respectable one win and done doesn’t stay respectable long. Just ask Chris Holtmann and Ohio State fans.
Read More on The Floor Slap:
- My 2025 March Madness LOVE/HATE List
- Big Ten Tiers, Title Race & Bubble Update after the Halfway Point
- Midweek Madness: The Big Ten’s Top 5 and What I Got Wrong in the Preseason
- The 21 College Basketball Teams that Matter for the 2025 Season
- Midweek Madness: A Fast Break Recap as we barrel into Big Ten Play