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Maryland basketball: Where do the new Terps land in final transfer portal rankings? – 247Sports
The college basketball transfer portal officially closed as the clock struck midnight and the week turned to Thursday.
Maryland’s roster is almost officially set with 12 scholarship players and just one open scholarship remaining. No other players can enter the transfer portal from this point forward, though players already in the portal have plenty of time to choose their next destination.
As of Thursday morning, Maryland owns the No. 21 transfer class in the country, per 247Sports. Belmont transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Virginia Tech transfer Rodney Rice, South Florida transfer Selton Miguel and Georgia Tech transfer Tafara Gapare are all signed to play under Kevin Willard for the 2024-25 season. With no new players appearing in the portal, 247Sports released their final ranking of the portal’s top 150 players out of more than 1,000 players in the portal. Where did the new Terps land?
Gillespie was the only player of the quartet to crack the rankings, checking in as the No. 51 transfer in the class. With two seasons of eligibility remaining, Gillespie has a 94 rating. Rice and Miguel, though not included in the top 150, are also four-star transfers – Rice with a 91 rating and Miguel with a 90 rating. Gapare is a three-star transfer with an 88 rating.
Maryland Basketball Recruiting Scoop: A new transfer portal prospect and who’s the next PG?
The Athletic, meanwhile, ranked Gillespite the No. 31 transfer. Sam Vecenie wrote:
One of the best guards in the portal is off to Maryland, as Terps coach Kevin Willard makes a second big-time backcourt investment after first securing Virginia Tech scorer Rodney Rice. Gillespie is more ready to play immediately and will step into the role vacated by the graduating Jahmir Young. Maryland desperately needed more depth in its backcourt even after securing Rice, as role player Jahari Long was the only holdover likely to receive guard minutes next season. (Sophomore Chance Stephens may be back as well, but he’s still recovering from a serious knee injury suffered last summer.) Honestly, the Terps have room to add even more to their backcourt.
Locking in Gillespie, likely with a sizable NIL deal, is a great start to an incredibly important 2024-25 season for Willard in College Park. I bet Gillespie makes an All-Big 10 team at some point in the next two seasons.
The Athletic ranked Rice the No. 131 transfer. Vecenie wrote:
Rice will be heading to Kevin Willard’s Terps next season, even though Jones departed to become the head coach at Old Dominion. Willard succeeded for a long time at Seton Hall with combo scoring guards, whether they were purer shooters like Myles Powell, pull-up threats like Khadeen Carrington or attack-oriented drivers like Isaiah Whitehead. With last season’s starting point guard Jahmir Young departing and the rest of the backcourt cupboard bare outside of DeShawn Harris-Smith and role player Jahari Long, Rice projects as a starter next season and should help boost a Terps unit in desperate need of offensive firepower and shooting.
Should the Terps fill their final scholarship with a transfer, their class ranking will improve. North Florida transfer shooting guard Chaz Lanier is a Maryland target. He is the No. 10 player in the top 150 with a 96 rating after averaging 19.7 points per game last season. Here’s what Travis Branham and the 247Sports national team had to say about Lanier:
“Chaz Lanier exponentially improved his game this season and became one of the best players in the A-SUN. He’s a dynamic scoring guard who can drills shots from three. He is at his best when he attacks off the dribble and finishes above the rim. If you are looking for a potential ‘Dalton Knecht’ in the portal, this could very well be the guy.”
Maryland’s transfer class joins a roster that includes star big Julian Reese and rising sophomore DeShawn Harris-Smith as headline returners. Five-star big Derik Queen also joins the mix with tons of hope after officially signing with the program last month. Willard’s squad has found itself in several “way-too-early” preseason rankings.
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