Big Ten transfer tabbed X-factor for Maryland basketball ahead of 2025-26

Ahmed Ghafir
Aug 25
4 min read

While Maryland football is set to kick off the regular season this week, Maryland men’s basketball is nearly two months away from kicking off year one of the Buzz Williams era with intrigue surrounding a brand new staff and roster now taking the court in College Park.

A big part of Maryland’s identity next season will be the pair of veteran Aggie transfers – Pharrel Payne and Solo Washington – who made the move from College Station to College Park alongside Buzz and his staff. But heading into a season filled with uncertainty about what to expect, a pair of college basketball analysts pointed to Indiana transfer Myles Rice as the X-factor on the 2025-26 roster.

“Can he find himself again? Because that year at Indiana, we know and I won’t belabor the point – they had no direction,” Mike Latulip said while previewing Maryland on the Field of 68. “Washington State, when he was there his freshman year had a very specific way they wanted to play. It was kind of pull you in the mud, they kind of grinded you down offensively. And then as a player, you can go to that. You have predictability and predictability breeds confidence. And so for Rice, like depending on whatever way Buzz wants to play this year - I know he will have a way he wants to play. I don’t know what way Indiana wanted to play last year and I think it left Myles Rice just really overanalyzing, overthinking. And it affected his game, period. He got taken out of the starting lineup last year and I think now is just that fresh start for him to be able to just go and I think that’s going to be big for this team because when he left Washington State, it was like, is this an All-Big Ten type of player? And I think that’s back on the table for Myles Rice this year.”

Rob Dauster backed Latulip’s claim on the Indiana transfer, who opted to stay in the Big Ten to play for Buzz Williams one year after Texas A&M pursued the then-Washington State transfer. After averaging nearly 15 points as a redshirt freshman with the Cougars, Rice struggled to find consistency through conference play with the Hoosiers before eventually shifting from a starting to a rotational role in what proved to be Mike Woodson's last season as head coach. While the change in scenery could provide a spark for the former All-Pac 12 Freshman team selection, who will likely take over as the primary ball handler alongside 'Diggy' Coit, Dauster noted the lack of offensive identity in Bloomington held Rice back.

“Myles Rice is an All-Big Ten caliber player the same way that Mackenzie Mgbako is a potential NBA caliber player, the same way Malik Reneau is like one these transfers that everybody wanted when he put his name in the portal. I would make the argument that a lot of those guys got stifled because of the way that Indiana wanted to play. You can’t play two bigs together in college basketball in 2025 if neither of them can shoot. And when you have a point guard whose best ability is give him the rock, kind of let him go get a paint touch and make something work and there are two monsters down there with the guys guarding them and a couple of guys on the perimeter that can’t shoot, Myles had nowhere to go. So I think that was a result of the system.”

Maryland landed at 12^th in Andy Katz’s preseason Big Ten standings while Andy Katz included them among the last four byes in his updated preseason bracketology as the program looks for consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2016/2017. But whether the Terps reach the 68-team field was up for debate after Latulip noted he views Maryland as “a year away.”

“If you make the tournament, it is a good year for Maryland this year,” Dauster added. “Point blank, period. With the way that it takes Buzz a little while to kind of establish his culture and gethis guys ready to go, like part of that was taking over programs that didn’t have the pedigree that Maryland does. Maryland has pedigree and so it’s going to take a little time for Buzz to get there but I think like if you dance this year if you’re Maryland, that’s a good season for the way that it goes. I think they have a little more upside especially if Myles Rice ends up being the guy that I think he could end up being but I don’t think that they’re a top-25 team. To me, they have eight-seed in the dance written all over them and if Myles Rice is the guy that we think he’s going to end up being, then they’re going to give somebody a headache in the second round of the tournament if they get there.

Related Links