Transfers have been key to Terps success

By: Corey Johns

As great as Melo Trimble is and as big a game-changer as Jake Layman has the ability to be, Maryland is where they are right now because of their two transfers. Rasheed Sulaimon led Maryland with 21 points as they beat the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday to earn their fourth-straight victory. Robert Carter Jr. finished with 19 points and one of his four 3-pointers was a huge one with six minutes left that completely changed the momentum of the game and sparked Maryland’s run to victory.

All season long Sulaimon and Carter Jr. have been the difference makers for Maryland and both are playing this season with a chip on their shoulder.

Sulaimon was kicked off Duke’s basketball team last year after being connected to a sexual assault. He fell out of favor before that, seeing a significant drop in playing time and production over his three years anyway. Carter Jr. left Georgia Tech because he did not feel he would achieve as much success there as he could somewhere else, so he has to prove that he made the right decision.

Both guys do so many different things at a high level and contribute in a variety of ways. Sulaimon scored 21 points, but he does not have to score to dominate a game. He has proven he is an elite passer and facilitator. He shoots three’s and slashes but he sets guys up, runs the offense, finds the open man and that helps Trimble focus on what he does best — score. Carter Jr. is a big, powerful forward who can dominate in the paint, but against Purdue he showed off his deadly range that always has to be accounted for. He is a matchup nightmare for defenses.

Maryland has been ranked in the Top 8 all season long and are back up to No. 4 right now. The championship hopes they had in the beginning of the season have not faded. If anything, they have been made stronger because we clearly know what Maryland has.

There was a legitimate worry that Sulaimon would be an over-hyped addition to the team and purely a sixth or seventh man for Maryland, but he can be the best player on the floor any given night. There was legit worry that the power forward position would be a question mark and whether Carter Jr. could bang around in the paint in the more physical Big Ten as opposed to the more finesse ACC; but he can do everything.

With Trimble and Layman still doing what they did last year and Diamond Stone progressing each and every day, Maryland has legitimate championship hopes and that is something we have not been able to say about them in February for a long time.

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