Can prodigy Derik Queen lead the Terps late into March?

After years of failure at a chance to make a deep run, the kids from College Park seek to do just that. Playing in various ranked matchups and close games, the Terps have been a challenge for their opponents, led by freshman superstar Derik Queen and junior guard Ja’kobi Gillespie. Will this duo continue their success late into March?

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The Maryland basketball program has been wholly re-energized since the Kevin Willard era began in March 2022. His first season as head coach was marked by a great deal of uncertainty. His best recruits didn’t seem to be developing as the season went on, and they ended the season with a losing record. It was in the off-season that Willard made a splash. He landed 5-star Baltimore native Derik Queen while also landing key transfers in Gillespie and others in Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice. The 6’10” Derik Queen is an excellent compliment to his former St. Frances teammate Julian “JuJu” Reese in the frontcourt.

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The Terps started the season with a loaded schedule, coming out against the then-seventh-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles in just their third game. This was Maryland’s first showing to the league that it is a legitimate contender. The next critical game was a win against Villanova. While the unranked Villanova might have had a shaky record to begin the year, they indeed have turned things around, especially in their huge win against the ninth-ranked UConn Huskies.

Big wins for the Terps against Ohio State, St. Francis, and Syracuse have given a look at what this team is capable of. While a trip to the West Coast didn’t side in Maryland’s favor, they gave both teams a great fight and only trailed by four points at the end of the contest against ninth-ranked Oregon. The Terps followed up with their lousy trip with a ranked win against the twenty-second UCLA.

One of the components of Maryland’s success has been the three-ball. They are shooting just over 36% from beyond the arc, a nearly 8% improvement from last season. Another huge aspect is their depth. Maryland’s bench has proven reliable down the stretch of various games. They have about a five-man rotation off the bench that gets tested in many games. The only scare to Maryland would be losing one of their key frontcourt bigs due to injury or foul trouble since they only have one big to rely on on the bench in Tafara Gapare. Tafara has proved to be very dominant in critical minutes, with a massive vertical and an ability to shoot even from deep. He has shot a whopping 39.1% from behind the arc and has already collected a handful of posters underneath.

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What is next for this veteran bunch under the influence of Coach Willard at the helm? You can expect to see this group deep in your March Madness brackets. This group has the most potential we have seen since the 2019-2020 Maryland team, arguably one of the best teams in the Mark Turgeon era. That comes as such high praise since some bracket experts in 2020 even took Maryland to win it all. At the threshold of Derik Queen, along with a lot of proven first-year Terrapin talent, this team has a chance at a historic run. This team controls its own destiny and has a chance to cut down the nets late in March of 2025.