Maryland Terrapins
Overall Rank: #15
Conference Rank: #2 Big Ten
Maryland Team Page
Fresh off their trip to the Final Four, Maryland is making the move from the ACC to the Big Ten. For the women’s basketball program, the move will not change much of anything. This is still a program that will compete for conference titles year after year. In fact, compared to the ACC of the recent past, the move means the Terrapins will not just compete for a conference title, but will be the favorites to win it more often than not.
2013-14 Record: 28-7, 12-4
2013-14 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Brenda Frese
Coach Record: 306-101 at Maryland, 363-131 overall
Strengths:
Maryland will need some of their talented role players from a year ago to step into starring roles. Fortunately, Coach Brenda Frese has plenty of options and it stars with Lexie Brown. As a freshman last season, the 5-9 guard averaged 10.1 points per game and knocked down a team high 51 three-pointers. She also dished out 4.3 assists per game and is a great floor leader. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough spent her freshman campaign coming in off of the bench, but ranked third on the team with 9.3 points per game and is ready for a much bigger role. She was only on the floor 17.3 minutes per game, but they were almost always productive minutes. Laurin Mincy earned a handful of starts in 2013-2014 and does give Maryland another outside shooting threat. Incoming freshman Kiara Leslie and junior Brene Moseley are both more than capable of filling quite a few minutes too.
Weaknesses:
But this is a team that is trying to replace the only three players on the team who started all 35 games a year ago. Katie Rutan’s consistent outside shooting is replaceable, but that may not be the case for Alicia DeVaughn and Alyssa Thomas. Thomas was everything to this team and led the squad with 19.0 points and 10.9 rebounds. Thomas ended up being the fourth overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft and replacing her production and leadership is nearly impossible. The pressure will be Brionna Jones, Tierney Pfirman and Malina Howard to provide the Terrapins with some interior scoring and a presence on the glass. This team had a plus-10.4 rebounding margin last season. That number will not be as impressive without Thomas, but this is a team that needs to stay strong on the glass and Jones, Pfirman and Howard are the top candidates.
Final Projection:
Without Thomas, it is feasible that this group takes a bigger step back than expected. That is what the rest of the Big Ten should be hoping for. However, even a big step back still puts this team right near the top of the Big Ten. Coach Frese knows how to win games and there is too much talent here for this team to miss the NCAA Tournament. The questions are just who is ready to turn into a leader and can the rebounding be good enough to get the program back to the Final Four? Even if it does not happen this year, there is just one senior on the roster and the expectations will be through the roof in 2015-2016 and probably 2016-2017 as well.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA Tournament
Projected Starting Five:
Lexie Brown, Sophomore, Guard, 10.1 points per game
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, Sophomore, Guard, 9.3 points per game
Lauren Mincy, Senior, Guard, 6.3 points per game
Tierney Pfirman, Junior, Forward, 5.1 points per game
Brionna Jones, Sophomore, Center, 6.9 points per game
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 81.8 (12th in nation, 2nd in conference)
Scoring Defense: 62.7 (62, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 48.3 (4, 3)
Field-Goal Defense: 38.5 (91, 6)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.2 (174, 11)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 35.5 (36, 4)
Free-Throw Percentage: 74.5 (39, 3)
Rebound Margin: 10.4 (7, 1)
Assists Per Game: 18.9 (5, 2)
Turnovers Per Game: 15.1 (108, 6)
Madness 2014 Women’s Basketball Recruit Rankings:
#59 Kiara Leslie
See All Top 44 Women’s Basketball Previews
