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Transfer portal additions, Reese and Queen land Maryland basketball in first 2024 college top-25 rankings – 247Sports
This past season did not go smoothly for Maryland men’s basketball, but the offseason is off to a great start. After a disappointing season, perhaps nothing can instill some more early hope than seeing your team’s name pop up in a “way too early top 25” ranking, which flood out on the day of the national title game every year.
Year Three will be crucial for Kevin Willard and the Terps, and some national pundits are bullish on Maryland’s potential in the 2024-25 season. The Field of 68 ranked Maryland No. 17 in its ‘way too early’ list on Monday.
The Terps lose two key pieces in All-Big Ten first-team point guard Jahmir Young and fifth-year forward Donta Scott, the all-time leader in games played and games started at the University of Maryland. Other departures include rising sophomores Jamie Kaiser Jr. and Jahnathan Lamothe, reserve big Caelum Swanton-Rodger and reserve wing Noah Batchelor to the transfer portal. Players have until May 1 to enter the transfer portal.
Three starters are set to return to College Park: 6-9 rising senior big Julian Reese, All-Big Ten freshman team selection DeShawn Harris-Smith and forward Jordan Geronimo. Reese seems to be penciled in as an All-Big Ten preseason selection after averaging career-highs in points (13.7) and rebounds (9.5) per game. Harris-Smith posted 7.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a freshman, but he will need to improve his shooting percentages (36.8% overall and 20.2% from three) ahead of next season. Geronimo averaged 5.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 43.3% and 17.4% from three; he seems slated to come off the bench for a seemingly deeper Terps lineup next season.
Maryland Basketball Recruiting Scoop: Do the Terps have another standout at point guard?
Five-star center Derik Queen is the Terps’ prized newcomer. The No. 16 player in the class of 2024, Queen starred for a Montverde Academy team that went undefeated en route to winning the Chipotle Nationals title. The Baltimore native should form a unique frontcourt duo with Reese – something Willard will need to make work by the start of next season.
Maryland also brings in a highly-touted (as of now) two-man transfer class with Belmont transfer point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Virginia Tech transfer guard Rodney Rice. Gillespie averaged 17.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game with red-hot shooting numbers – 38.7% from three-point range and 56.1% from the field – this past season en route to All-MVC honors. Rice played just eight games for the Hokies during the 2022-23 season due to injury, but experts are still very high on the former four-star DeMatha product.
Other bench pieces currently include potential three-point specialist Chance Stephens, who transferred from Loyola Marymount ahead of last season (which he missed with a knee injury), forward Mady Traore, rising redshirt freshman big Braden Pierce and incoming three-star frosh shooting guard Malachi Palmer. Reserve roster Jahari Long remains on the roster but seems to be out for an extended period of time after suffering a leg injury in the Big Ten Tournament.
The roster is certainly not 100% set for Maryland – nor anyone in college basketball – with the portal window still open and roster movement set to continue through the summer, and predictions only mean so much. Maryland was a borderline preseason top 25 team ahead of this past season, which ended at 16-17. The Terps will have to prove it on the court, but the makings of a tournament team seem to exist early on.
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