After Jamie Kaiser Jr. departed ten days ago after one season with the program, head coach Kevin Willard turned back to the portal to add more potential offense to the roster. Now, he’ll watch a pair of portal targets head to campus starting on Friday.
Maryland is expected to host Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian for a visit on Friday, a source confirmed to IBG. Almost exactly one month ago, Essegian admitted he had no plans to leave the Badgers. “There’s no reason (to enter the portal). I love this place,” he added, refuting a report that was ironically released ahead of the Maryland game. Two weeks later, the former All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection reversed course to announce his plans to depart after two seasons with the program. Indiana is also a factor for Essegian, a Fort Wayne native, while South Carolina has been in hot pursuit of the sharpshooting guard.
By now, fans know the need to infuse scoring onto the roster and Essegian proved exactly that as a freshman, shooting nearly 36% from three and 41% from the field while breaking the school record for most made threes by a freshman (69). He was also the first since Brad Davison in 2018 and one of only five Badgers to average double figures in their freshman year. Essegian saw those numbers dip in year two, though, shooting just 38.5% from the field and just over 30% from three while playing at least ten minutes in just nine games as he battled back from injury. Still with Chance Stephens set to rejoin the team in June for workouts, he’ll get a chance to showcase himself as a shooter at the Big Ten level again in practice while Essegian has already proved that to bolster the backcourt.
After Essegian heads to campus, Maryland will get the first crack at UC-San Diego guard Bryce Pope in what we now know will be the first of several planned visits. After unofficially visiting USC on Friday, Pope will head to Maryland beginning Monday, April 15. Pope then plans to visit to Florida State beginning April 20 then back to the west coast to visit Stanford on April 22. Whether Pope ultimately leaves the west coast remains to be seen, but the Terps have a chance of prying him away in doing so heading into the visit. Maryland was able to pounce on the veteran scoring guard with director of player personnel and assistant Greg Manning Jr. teaming up to get the Terps in the door before setting up the visit, but whether he’s willing to still step into a rotational role compared to potential starting spots at other suitors will be the task for Willard next week. With one year of eligibility left, Pope fills Willard’s need to add additional scoring the roster after shooting over 48% from inside the arc and over 33% from three through his career.
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