Terps favored by 1.5

A special shout out to GF7. My gift to you is the Terps charting their first W vs OSU at the Shoe in 2023! Hope you like it!

Locksley and Driesell.

Still hearing it is likely the Harris twins will sign before the end of the early period today. The new wrinkle is that there is now some chatter down in Fla. that they could recommit to UCF. As of now, I'm sticking with my prediction they sign with the Terps, but won't know for certain until later today. The rumor is an announcement this afternoon. We'll see. If I hear different in the meantime, I'll be sure to post here.

Maryland moved up to #23 after their rout of St. Peter's, but I'm confident six teams ahead of them will not retain their position when the Selection Committee meets to hand out bids. That puts Maryland at #17 in the net NET, but I think the SC will downgrade Ohio State because either they've lost all QUAD 1 games or because the Big Ten finally got around to declaring their victory versus Rutgers null and void because the buzzer beating basket happened because the refs missed the guy who made the half-court shot was out of bounds and couldn't be the first player to then touch the ball. The Terps, then, are number 16, and the S curve bids for the top teams would look like this, more or less:
East - UConn, Alabama, Duke, Maryland
South - Tennessee, UCLA, Texas, Indiana
Midwest - Houston, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor
West - Purdue, Kansas, Gonzaga, Virginia

Have a joyous Christmas from a slightly prejudiced fellow fan.
Chuck (aka Terpaddict)

Maryland has picked up a commitment from former Tennessee defensive lineman Jordan Phillips. The Orlando, Fla. native played sparingly for the Vols this season and will have 4 years of eligibility remaining. The Maryland staff was plenty familiar with him as they recruited him heavily last cycle and he officially visited Maryland in June of 2021. More at the link.

STORY

We’re about 20 minutes from tip-off between the Terps and Peacock.

Not too surprising, but Patrick Emilien will start in place of JuJu Reese who is rehabbing a shoulder injury he suffered versus UCLA.

More surprising, Ian Martinez will replace Don Carey coming off of his 16-point effort vs. the Bruins.

Here is tonight’s starting lineup:
Jahmir Young
Ian Martinez
Hakim Hart
Donta Scott
Patrick Emilien

More on DHS from the national hoops team after watching him down in Florida. Don't know this to be fact, but I have a good feeling he's going to be getting a considerate boost in the Rivals rankings when they are next updated based on his play at City of Palms this past week.

LINK

Again, sorry I didn't post this to the board last night. Not sure what was up with YouTube last night, but this vid took almost two hours to process on their end after I uploaded it to their servers. Anyways, full postgame comments at the link below.

STORY

Here are my three takeaways from last night's win. Sorry I forgot to post the link to the board last night, my tank is just on E as I've got COVID and some other bug going through my house at Christmas for the 2nd time in 3 years. The joys of having toddlers and a wife who's around sick little kids 24/7! lol Anyways, Hakim owns the Peacocks and the Terps showed their trademark D last night. More at the link below.

STORY

*

Former LSU OT Marcus Dumervil has committed to Maryland. Played in 10 games with 1 start in 2021 and should have three years of eligibility, I believe, since he was a true freshman in 2020 during the COVID year. Another solid pickup from an SEC program. For those wanting star power, he was a Rivals250 four-star coming out of high school.

STORY

Login to view embedded media

in USA Today.

Locksley says they thank a number of people on campus for their help with selling the university and helping recruit this class. Also mentions this class isn't finished yet.

Says the two major areas that were addressed were the pass rush and at WR. Felt they hit the mark with both of those needs and this class offers a lot of balance. Says while they want to keep the top players home, getting the right players is most important. Also says the Mid-Atlantic in general is their footprint and they recruited the entire Mid-Atlantic well including North Carolina.

Says 8 players will early enroll and some will take part in bowl prep.

Considers this another foundational class with the numbers due to COVID. Says they now expect to lose at least 1/3 of the roster every year now between the NFL and the portal.

They will continue to search for o-linemen whether they be through the portal or hs prospects as that remains a need.

They wanted to add some athletic, fast-twitch guys at the rush edge. Says the guys they are bringing in are extremely athletic and Rico Walker could possibly even come in and play immediately at LB. Says Walker will start at the TE side but if he can help as an edge rusher they will try to use him there but his flexibility helps the program.

Says the last 48 hours get crazy. One thing he says to help close is that while others sell fluff, he sells relationships and they will make them the best versions of themselves.

Says this area used to be under recruited but that isn't the case any longer. Says this area has some of the best youth football in the country and then you look at Caleb Williams winning the Heisman and he's from this area.

Locks is rockin' a red and green checked sport coat and says he's trying to step up his game to be on the list of top 50 coaches with swag. lol

Says they aren't bringing in guys to sit. They want to bring in guys who want to compete and come in and play early and can hopefully do that. But they also aren't going to just throw someone out there who isn't ready.

Says the goal is to build this program through high school recruiting classes. They will fill in needs through the portal, but he does not want half the class to be from the portal each year. Says you need to bring in mostly high school prospects in order to have the type of team culture he wants to have.

Saint Peter's (6-5) vs. Maryland (8-3)

When: Thursday, Dec. 22 | 6:30 p.m. ET
Where: Xfinity Center (College Park, Md.)
Television: BTN (Streaming on FoxSports) - Watch Live
Broadcasters: Jason Horowitz (play-by-play), Christy Winters Scott (color)
Radio: Maryland Sports Radio Network | Listen Online

Line: Terps -22.5
Over/Under: 131.5

Series history: Maryland leads the all-time series 3-0, with the Terps winning the most recent meeting 90-57 on Dec. 4, 2020 in College Park.

Projected Starting Lineups

Saint Peter's
Latrell Reid (6-foot-3, Senior, G) - Averaging 7.0 points, a team-high 6.8 rebounds and a team-high 4.5 assists per game through the first 11 games of the season.
Kyle Cardaci (6-foot-2, Senior, G) - Averaging 5.5 points and 1.5 rebounds through the first 11 games of the season.
Isiah Dasher (6-foot-4, Senior, G) - Averaging a team-high 13.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game so far this season.
Cam Young (6-foot-7, Junior G/F) - Averaging 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Mouhamed Sow (6-foot-9, Fr., F/C) - Averaging 4.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game so far this season.

Maryland
Jahmir Young (6-foot-1, Senior, PG) - Averaging a team-high 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists through 11 games.
Don Carey (6-foot-5, Senior, SG) - Averaging 7.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game to start the season.
Hakim Hart (6-foot-8, Senior, G/F) - Averaging 12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists to start the season.
Donta Scott (6-foot-8, Senior, F) - Averaging 13.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists so far this season.
Julian Reese (6-foot-9, Soph., F/C) - Averaging 11.2 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game through 11 games.

The Terps enter Thursday night's game looking to snap a three-game losing skid and get some confidence back following a 28-point home loss to UCLA last week. They will face a Saint Peter's team that has struggled offensively this season, ranking 318th in adjusted offensive efficiency. Just how bad has Saint Peter's been shooting the ball? They are currently ranked 299th (30.6%) in three-point shooting percentage and 341st (43.2%) in two-point shooting percentage.

The Peacocks have been without their second-leading scorer Jaylen Murray and his 13.6 points per game the past three contests. A Saint Peter's team that already struggles to score could struggle even further should Murray miss a fourth straight game.

For the Terps, leading rebounder Julian Reese is 'day-by-day' according to head coach Kevin Willard after suffering a shoulder injury during the first half of his team's loss to UCLA. He'll likely be a game-time decision as they look to get him healthy as they enter the meat of the conference schedule at the start of the new year.

"He's day-by-day right now," Willard said ahead of Thursday night's game. "He's progressing nicely, but he's still day-by-day. We're hoping to have him [Thursday]. He's been working hard in rehab and getting back after it and doing some things on the side, but we've taken it real slow with him in making sure we get that shoulder 100 percent healed."

Login to view embedded media

22 1/2 is the number. Maryland is #25 in the CBS daily poll today. Miami's win over UVA moved the Canes into Quadrant 1, so the Terps now have 2 victories in that category. The Terps moved up to 28 in the NET, but several teams rated higher will not remain so. Assuming a win tonight, Maryland should move back into the AP top 25 next week.

This year's City of Palms is in the books and Deshawn Harris-Smith was among the standouts according to Rivals' national analyst Rob Cassidy. As I mentioned in another thread, he had a solid outing versus the Boozer brothers in a losing effort, before pouring in 19 points and adding four rebounds and three steals in a winning effort versus top PG Isaiah Collier and national power Wheeler (Ga.). St. Frances scoring guard Tyler Jackson also gets a mention, as does Paul VI freshman guard Jordan Smith (every year like clockwork Paul VI has a standout freshman). More at the link.

STORY

Meant to post this yesterday, but honestly, I was hearing different things and I didn't want to be wrong with the same info I know everyone else is throwing out there. The Harris twins out of Lake Brantley decommitted from UCF the other day and it seems the Terps have a very good shot at landing them. FWIW, I was told some family never really wanted them at UCF to begin with and once their D coordinator left for Arkansas they decided to cut ties with the Knights. I guess there was some chatter going around that they were possibly headed to Arkansas but I was never hearing that. What I WAS hearing is that the same family that did not want them at UCF originally preferred Mel Tucker and Michigan State. That said, Maryland has remained in constant contact with them and it seems the Terps now have the momentum heading into tomorrow. They visited Maryland for the Ohio State game last month and were supposed to visit Michigan State again this month, but I'm not sure that final Michigan State visit ever happened. I will not be surprised at all if they pick Maryland (might put in a FutureCast for both later this afternoon).

Login to view embedded media

Dundalk OL Chimdy Onoh is another OL to keep an eye on. He was originally committed to ODU but decommitted last week. His first P5 offer was from Rutgers, where he visited this past weekend, but Maryland and Nebraska are making a push and both are likely going to get official visits next month. Ole Miss also in the mix. I like the Terps' chances here as long as everything checks out.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Mike Locksley joined the NSD Live show a little earlier this evening to break down the Terps' class with Rivals' Adam Gorney. You can watch the entire interview at the link below.

STORY

Adam Gorney is joined by Maryland head coach Mike Locksley to break down the Terrapins' 2023 recruiting class👇

Login to view embedded media

According to Kevin Willard this afternoon, JuJu Reese is "day-to-day" after suffering a shoulder injury in the first half of the UCLA game that caused him to miss the entire second half. Sounds like they want to be sure he is 100% for the meat of Big Ten play and could play tomorrow but they will rest him if they have to.

Another flip, this time local ATH/WDE Neeo Avery out of Good Counsel. Really like this pick up. Originally committed to PSU before most recently being committed to Ole Miss before flipping to the Terps. This kid has played everything from QB to TE to DE and looked good this year on the defensive side of the ball. Will need to work on a few things, but he has a chance to contribute in any number of ways down the line.

Login to view embedded media

Here's a link to a story on the homepage that will be updated throughout the day today as the letters start rolling in and with any big news from today. First letter of intent this morning is in and it was Fla. TE Dylan Wade. The big ones we are waiting on today include the Harris twins, and Markus Strong from Florida as well as an expected flip from three-star DB Tamarcus Cooley from NC State. Don't be surprised either if we see WVU wideout Kaden Prather announce his commitment today, also. Marcus Dumervil, the LSU OT is a possibility, as well. There is the chance of a surprise flip or two as well so stay tuned.

STORY