Mark Turgeon's whirlwind offseason continued last night with Elon grad transfer Simon Wright announcing that he will spend next season in College Park playing for Maryland as a walk-on. The 6-foot-7 Minnesota native was a scholarship player for the Phoenix who averaged 5.1 points and 2.9 rebounds last season while averaging just shy of 21 minutes per game. The stat that really sticks out is his 37.5% shooting from beyond the arc (18-of-48). That's awfully impressive for a walk-on big man. With his size, experience and three-point shooting ability, it wouldn't be out of the question for him to possibly see some minutes as he could potentially stretch the floor on offense and grab a rebound or two on defense. At the very least, he will be a nice scout team player.
Maryland is still left with one additional scholarship open as of right now and there seems to be a plan as far as the type of player they are looking for. Turgeon recently went on 105.7 to do an interview and reiterated that he does not expect Darryl Morsell back next season. He went even further, stating that he believes his thought process is to play professionally somewhere next season. This is pretty much in line with what I have heard, as well. So with the expected departure of Morsell, it appears the Terps have targeted a couple of former JUCOs who could possibly step right in and play a similar role as Morsell next season.
The first player that entered the portal that Maryland reached out to was Central Michigan wing Meikkel Murray. The 6-foot-6 junior averaged 15.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in his first year of D1 ball last season. An NYC native, Murray played his freshman and sophomore years at Coffeyville JUCO in Kansas. Murray can jump out of the gym, he's electric in the open floor on fast breaks and he is a solid defender. Among the schools he's heard from are Maryland, St. John's, Utah, Iowa State, Oregon State and Arkansas. It sounds like being closer to home could be a factor, which gives St. John's and possibly Maryland an edge.
I've also learned from a very good source that the Terps have also reached out to Oklahoma grad transfer Alondes Williams. The 6-foot-5, 200 pounder from Milwaukee averaged 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this past season for Oklahoma as a part-time starter for the Sooners. Again, Williams spent his first two seasons in JUCO at Triton outside Chicago. He helped lead Triton to a D2 JUCO national title as a freshman. And again like Murray, Williams can jump out of the gym, is a solid defender and has pretty good vision, too. To give a couple of examples of the type of potential Williams has, he went for 15 points, 2 boards, an assist and a block in 26 minutes vs. Gonzaga in the NCAA tourney. He went for 11 points, 2 boards a block and an assist in 21 minutes vs. national champs Baylor and went for 13 points, 3 boards, an assist, a block and a steal vs. Texas. He's heard from a laundry list of schools that includes Texas A&M, Oregon, South Carolina, USC, Marquette, DePaul and Xavier. Per a source close to Williams, Maryland is very much in consideration at this point.
Both players appear as though they are wings you could plug in for Morsell and they can fill a similar role with similar athleticism and physicality.
And although they have reached out to a pair of transfers with game similar to Morsell, they will also continue to reach out to the best available players until someone commits. The most recent example of this is Syracuse transfer Quincy Gerrier. The Montreal native averaged 13.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game last season. Maryland has had some success recruiting Canada recently with Justin Jackson and they were also one of the first schools on fellow Montreal native Karim Maine who is playing in the G League. He's going to be an extremely tough pull, however. He has already heard from Kentucky, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgetown, LSU, Alabama, Marquette and more.
Maryland is still left with one additional scholarship open as of right now and there seems to be a plan as far as the type of player they are looking for. Turgeon recently went on 105.7 to do an interview and reiterated that he does not expect Darryl Morsell back next season. He went even further, stating that he believes his thought process is to play professionally somewhere next season. This is pretty much in line with what I have heard, as well. So with the expected departure of Morsell, it appears the Terps have targeted a couple of former JUCOs who could possibly step right in and play a similar role as Morsell next season.
The first player that entered the portal that Maryland reached out to was Central Michigan wing Meikkel Murray. The 6-foot-6 junior averaged 15.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in his first year of D1 ball last season. An NYC native, Murray played his freshman and sophomore years at Coffeyville JUCO in Kansas. Murray can jump out of the gym, he's electric in the open floor on fast breaks and he is a solid defender. Among the schools he's heard from are Maryland, St. John's, Utah, Iowa State, Oregon State and Arkansas. It sounds like being closer to home could be a factor, which gives St. John's and possibly Maryland an edge.
I've also learned from a very good source that the Terps have also reached out to Oklahoma grad transfer Alondes Williams. The 6-foot-5, 200 pounder from Milwaukee averaged 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this past season for Oklahoma as a part-time starter for the Sooners. Again, Williams spent his first two seasons in JUCO at Triton outside Chicago. He helped lead Triton to a D2 JUCO national title as a freshman. And again like Murray, Williams can jump out of the gym, is a solid defender and has pretty good vision, too. To give a couple of examples of the type of potential Williams has, he went for 15 points, 2 boards, an assist and a block in 26 minutes vs. Gonzaga in the NCAA tourney. He went for 11 points, 2 boards a block and an assist in 21 minutes vs. national champs Baylor and went for 13 points, 3 boards, an assist, a block and a steal vs. Texas. He's heard from a laundry list of schools that includes Texas A&M, Oregon, South Carolina, USC, Marquette, DePaul and Xavier. Per a source close to Williams, Maryland is very much in consideration at this point.
Both players appear as though they are wings you could plug in for Morsell and they can fill a similar role with similar athleticism and physicality.
And although they have reached out to a pair of transfers with game similar to Morsell, they will also continue to reach out to the best available players until someone commits. The most recent example of this is Syracuse transfer Quincy Gerrier. The Montreal native averaged 13.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game last season. Maryland has had some success recruiting Canada recently with Justin Jackson and they were also one of the first schools on fellow Montreal native Karim Maine who is playing in the G League. He's going to be an extremely tough pull, however. He has already heard from Kentucky, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgetown, LSU, Alabama, Marquette and more.
