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The Maryland basketball season ended a couple of weeks ago in the Sweet 16, and head coach Kevin Willard left for Villanova shortly after. There was a lot of drama surrounding the program during the final week of the season as Willard was linked to the Villanova job, and the rumors were accurate. The Terrapins have since hired Buzz Williams from Texas A&M to be his replacement, and he has a busy first offseason ahead of him.
One big part of every offseason in today's era of college basketball is the transfer portal. Teams need to be able to bring in experienced talent every offseason, and it is especially important for a first-year coach like Buzz Williams. The Terrapins have lost a lot of their players to the transfer portal since Willard left for Villanova, but Williams has been active finding replacements.
A big advantage for coaches like Williams who are going from one big program to another is that he is going to be able to bring in talent from Texas A&M. Williams has already picked up a few commitments from former Aggies, and he has picked up a couple other big commitments as well. This offseason has been a success for Williams and the Maryland basketball team so far, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Who Maryland has already landed
Buzz Williams has done a good job in the transfer portal already as the Maryland basketball team has landed five commitments all from power five schools. Williams has done a good job bringing talent over from Texas A&M with him as three of the Terrapins' commits played for the Aggies last season. Soloman Washington, Pharrel Payne and Andre Mills are all following their head coach to Maryland.
Williams has also landed commitments from Kansas transfer David Coit Jr. and Indiana transfer Myles Rice. It's been a good haul so far, but Maryland is still looking at some other players in the transfer portal. Here are some more targets:
Bryce Lindsay, James Madison, G
One player that the Maryland basketball team is taking a look at is James Madison transfer Bryce Lindsay. Lindsay can score in a lot of different ways, and perhaps his most attractive strength is three-point shooting. Lindsay shot over 40% from three last year, and he ended up averaging 13.4 PPG. He is a big-time scorer that should be able to make a significant impact at the power five level. We know that Maryland likes to shoot the deep ball, so they are looking at guys that have shown that ability during their career.
You have to like Maryland's chances here as Lindsay hasn't just played at James Madison in his career. He started his career at Texas A&M, playing under head coach Buzz Williams. Lindsay has already played with Williams before, and there is a chance that they reunite in College Park.
Honor Huff, G, Chattanooga
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Another player that the Maryland basketball team has expressed interest in is Chattanooga transfer Honor Huff. Huff has had two big years with the Mocs as he has averaged over 15 PPG in each of the last two seasons. Huff is another player that shot over 40% from three this past season, so he can fill up the box score in a lot of different ways. It will be interesting to see how his play translates to the power five level if he does decide to go that route.
Sincere Parker, G, McNeese
Lastly, another player to watch as a potential Terrapin is Sincere Parker, who is transferring from McNeese. Parker just finished up his first and only season with the Cowboys as he spent the first two years of his career at St. Louis. Parker helped McNeese upset five-seed Clemson in the NCAA Tournament, and he is now in the transfer portal. Parker averaged 12 PPG last season, but his three-point shooting percentage did take a big dip from the previous season. He shot over 40% from three in his final season with St. Louis, but Parker shot just 30% from beyond the arc this past season. Still, the potential is there, and he still found a way to be a consistent scorer from the Cowboys. He has received some interest from Maryland in the portal.
Transfer portal overview
The college basketball transfer portal opened up on March 24th, and it will be open for about a month as it closes on April 22nd. The final game of the season took place on April 7th, and the portal opening up before then does create issues for teams that are still dancing.
First of all, players that want to transfer have to make a difficult decision. They can either finish up their season with their current team and miss out on potential opportunities, or they can skip the NCAA Tournament so they can find their next home. We saw this happen already as Michigan freshman Justin Pippen left the program before the Sweet 16.
This also creates an issue for coaches as they are trying to devote 100% of their time to tournament preparation. A lot of coaches want to wait until their season is over before they explore the transfer portal. All in all, the opening date creates some issues.
The college basketball transfer portal is only open during this initial window, unlike football, which has two different windows. From now until the portal closes in late April, there will be a lot of transfer portal news in the college basketball world.
