A Year in Review; The Back Court

As we continue to look at this past season, we shift our attention to the Maryland back court. In general the guard play for Maryland was great, especially towards the end of the year. However, the point guard play for Maryland was non-existent for the most part. College basketball comes down to how good your guards are. Last night featured two of the best back courts in the country playing for the National Championship. Maryland’s lack of a true point guard was the root of most of their downfalls as a team this year. They were turnover prone, and unable to establish their bigs mainly because they didn’t have a true point guard running the offense. Individually, the guards are really good. Dez Wells in particular was a saving grace, it would be tough to imagine this season going the way it did without Dez Wells. Nick Faust continued his improvement from last year, and freshman Seth Allen was much more than expected.

Similarly to the front court, Maryland will be losing two players. Also like the front court, one of the players that is leaving was a light contributor to the team. Maryland is currently only scheduled to add one player to the back court. While Roddy Petters will be a welcomed addition to the team, many (myself included) are concerned about how much he will be able to contribute right away. While Roddy is highly regarded, it is really tough for freshman to come in and adjust right away and be heavy contributors from day 1, not too mention that Roddy is coming off of shoulder surgery.

Logan Aronhalt

Much respect goes out to Logan for coming out to the 6th annual KMF Classic this past Saturday. Has nothing to do with his play on the court, but great to see him active in the University of Maryland community. Plus it was awesome to see him throw down a Dez Wells style dunk.

While many people will remember his miss against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, Logan was still a good addition to this team. It didn’t cost the team anything to take on Logan Aronhalt for a year. His scholarship didn’t prevent Maryland from taking a highly touted freshman. He didn’t take away any time from the freshman, and he didn’t create a future log jam at the SG position. One year of Logan Aronhalt helped the team, by having a seasoned player and one who could stretch the floor. He did his job well, he was able to knock down many well timed three pointers during the course of the season. He was also able to space the floor and work as a decoy.

Of course, don’t get me wrong, it would have been great if he had come off the screen closer to three point line and knocked a game tying shot vs North Carolina, but I’ll still take his year of production.

Pe’Shon Howard

Yesterday it was announced that Pe’Shon was leaving the University of Maryland to transfer to a school close to home. Many expected this to happen during the year, I didn’t think he would leave given that he only has 1 year left. Regardless, Pe’Shon is leaving, and that leaves a hole in the back court. I thank Pe’Shon for everything he did as a student-athlete at Maryland, he represented the University well, and I wish him luck in the future. It was unfortunate that he spent his sophomore season injured, and never seemed to recover from it.

Pe’Shon’s production won’t be tough to replace. He scored less than 40 points in 18 ACC games. He couldn’t shoot the three well, couldn’t get to the rim, and was just as turnover prone as the other guards. What will be missed though is the body on the court. With only Roddy Peters joining the back court, Maryland is light on bodies , especially ball handlers. While having Pe’Shon on the court meant that Maryland was playing 4 vs 5 on offense, he still had the ability to the get the ball up court and run some offense. Pe’Shon did progress some towards the end of the season, but not enough to make his loss detrimental to the teams future success. He only had one year left, and just getting a ball handler for a year would have helped Coach Turgeon and the staff get additional time to lock up a future PG.

Nick Faust

After struggling throughout most of his freshman year, Nick Faust began to show us how good he can be down the stretch of last year. This year had similar ups and downs, but for the most part Nick had a solid sophomore campaign from beginning to end. At first he seemed to struggle to adjust to life with his new wing mate, Dez Wells, but once he settled he was an overall solid player this year. Nick expanded his all around game. He was a big help on the glass, worked to get teammates involved, and his shooting improved a lot from his freshman year. Yes, Nick does have to improve his free throw shooting, and quickly. But overall he is beginning to round himself out into a strong overall player. In the last 12 games of the season, he only had two games with single digit scoring. Most notably was his game against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, when he hit 5 three pointers.

If the trend continues, I would expect Nick to have a great Junior season. This season was a strange one for the returning players. It was unexpected what they would be getting from the freshman, and the transfers. Now with the team knowing what one another are capable of, and having a summer to improve with each other, I would expect Nick to make solid progress. Especially since he will be the most veteran player in Coach Turgeon’s system.

Seth Allen

An unfortunate end to a solid freshman year for Seth Allen, with his season ending early due to injury. Seth showed us so much during the year, his crossover in the Kentucky game, the clutch free throws against Duke at home, and all of threes a long the way. Seth Allen was Coach Turgeon’s first commitment when he got to Maryland. Him and assistant coach Scott Spinelli were recruiting Seth while they were at Texas A&M. Once Coach Turgeon got to Maryland, Seth was ready to commit, and what a get he turned out to be. Seth is an unbelievable athlete, with great handles and good feel for the game. A lefty, who I don’t think has seen a shot he didn’t like.

Seth Allen showed great poise as a freshman, there never seemed to be a moment to big for him. He is a combo guard, but tends to play better off the ball. He was thrusted into the Point Guard role during the season, and struggled with it at times. Its not a bad quality to have, but Seth is a leader and at times he wants to be the one to get the team back into a game. What is bad about that, is poor decision making at times with shot selection. But those are things he will learn. You can teach a player how to be a better decision maker, but its tough to teach players to be more aggressive with their shooting.

Seth has a great future ahead of him at Maryland. Just like Jake Layman, he has a lot of tools right now, and its just a matter of fine tuning everything and learning to play the Point Guard position. He blew people away throughout the season, and I expect that to continue for young Seth Allen.

Dez Wells

What more could you say about the transfer from Xavier. At times he was the lone bright spot of an up and down season. On the road, he was unstoppable, and willed the team to either win or to be in a position to win. His game against Duke in the ACC Tournament will be remembered for years to come. Dez has all of the physical tools. He is strong, has court vision, can finish at the rim, and he knows how to use his body to get to the rim.

Dez could use a more consistent shot, but in the ACC Tournament, he was shooting from everywhere on the court. I would say he needs a low post game, but he showed that against Denver in the second round of the NIT. If Dez plays the way he did in the ACC Tournament, then he will be in heavy consideration for ACC Player of the Year.

Too be fair, Dez will need to be a more consistent shooter, despite that three game stretch. He will also need to cut down on the turnovers. I think experience will help him on this, after playing a season with this team and having an off season to work with them, Dez should be on the same page as his teammates now. That should make a big difference in not just his game, but his teammates game as well.

Both the front and back court will have question marks entering next season. While the Point Guard issue will most likely be there the entire season, it should help Maryland out a lot to not be working to incorporate so many new players. There will only be one guard coming in, and everyone else will have a full off-season together. That alone should make a noticeable difference.