Maryland basketball is set to embark on a ten-day journey to Italy where the Terps will play three exhibition games and travel to four cities from July 31-August 10.
While their opponents have yet to be announced, the Terps will travel to Rome, Venice, Florence, and Lake Como during the trip and have a chance to jumpstart year two of the Kevin Willard era a bit early.
Having last made an international trip in 2018, Maryland will have a chance to strengthen its core and gain insight into the makeup of its team. While the three games are important, the 10 days of practice are what Willard is most looking forward to.
“I won’t even know who we’re playing, I don’t know what dates we’re playing. I’m just more focused on the 10 days of practice,” Willard said. “…I mean, again, the three games are great for them, they’ll enjoy it. But the ten days of practice for me is really where I want to set the tone for the season.”
The trip will give Willard and staff the chance to see live game action of a pair of impact freshmen in DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jamie Kaiser, both of whom are expected to play a large role in Maryland’s 2023-24 season.
Along with the freshmen, another crucial aspect of the trip will be to give experience to the newest members of the coaching staff. Having lost three assistants at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Willard has spent a large chunk of his offseason trying to get his new staff up to speed.
“I mean most of my summer has been trying to get the staff kind of on the same page and getting them to understand what we’re doing,” he said. “Luckily, I’ve been through this before, but I’ve never lost three in a year. So it’s been a little bit more time-consuming on the staff side and the player side.”
The 10-day excursion will allow Willard and staff to see all 13 players in action and in different roles. This experience will give some of the role players an extended period to fine tune their spot on the roster and improve on both sides of the ball.
With the trip beginning on July 31, here are three key questions that Maryland could answer during its first game action as a team:
1. How will the backcourt duo of Jahmir Young and DeShawn Harris-Smith mesh?
It is no secret the impact that Jahmir Young had on Maryland basketball in the 2022-23 season.
The Charlotte transfer averaged 15.8 points and nearly five rebounds a game in his first season in College Park, quickly emerging as the leader of a team that won 22 games and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Young announced his intentions to return to Maryland for his fifth season, which solidified what has the chance to be one of the best backcourts in the Big Ten, thanks to the addition of four-star guard DeShawn Harris-Smith.
The lefty tandem will have a chance to do serious damage in the Big Ten, but it will be interesting to see the balance between the two when it comes to the scoring output and playing on/off the ball. The former consensus four-star guard has arrived in College Park and shown how effective he can be scoring inside and out in practice, and now, he’ll get a chance to get comfortable against new opponents.
Harris-Smith has the potential to be one of the most productive freshmen in the country, which in turn will take some of the pressure from Young, who led Maryland in both points and assists a season ago.
Maryland’s trip to Italy will give Willard and staff its first real look at how the duo will gel on the court together.
2. Who will emerge as a productive piece off the bench?
At the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, the departures of Ian Martinez, Don Carey and Patrick Emilien left holes in the roster makeup of the Terps.
Willard made quick work of filling these holes through the transfer portal, adding Indiana forward Jordan Geronimo, New Mexico State transfer Mady Traore, and Loyola Marymount guard Chance Stephens, who suffered a ruptured patellar tendon during the offseason and will miss most if not all of the 2023-24 season.
Along with the transfers, incoming four-star freshman forward Jamie Kaiser will look to play significant minutes as a perimeter threat and has the potential to make the starting lineup from the beginning.
Off the bench, guards Noah Batchelor and Jahari Long are two pieces who saw action last season and, according to Willard, have taken offensive leaps.
The ability of Batchelor and Kaiser to stretch the floor as shooters will give the Terps an aspect of their offense that they routinely struggled with a season ago, and the two local wings will get the first crack at stretching the floor this year. The inconsistent shooting cost Maryland some games in the 2022-23 season, which is a trait that needs to be improved upon if the Terps want to truly compete in the conference.
Geronimo, the Indiana transfer, has athleticism that allows him to play multiple positions on the floor and impact the game both defensively and on the glass. His motor is one of the main reasons why he will see crucial minutes throughout the season.
While Willard and staff plan to play all 13 players during the three exhibition games in Italy, the experienced gained by some of the non-starters will pay dividends as the competition level improves.
3. How has Julian Reese improved heading into his junior season?
Down the stretch of the 2022-23 season, a focal point of Maryland basketball’s offense was centered around one thing: getting Julian Reese touches in the paint.
Reese scored in double-figures in 13 of his last 14 games, which included a stretch of four games with double-doubles.
His ability to control the interior and score at a higher pace gave Maryland an added wrinkle to its offensive attack in February and March. The only problem with the scoring output and overall impact of Reese was his ability to stay on the court with foul trouble.
In his first NCAA Tournament game, Reese scored in double-figures and essentially willed Maryland to a second-half comeback over West Virginia with 17 points. In the second round matchup, his dominance was altered by foul trouble which forced him to sit for a majority of the game, which ultimately resulted in a Maryland loss.
Reese has the tools and offensive makeup to be a reliable option in the paint, but will have to focus on his fouling if he wants to be a main cog in Maryland’s lineup.
Another key that will take his game to the next step is his free-throw shooting. In 34 games last season, Reese shot just over 53% from the charity stripe, a number that must be improved for a center who is constantly in position to draw fouls.
These two aspects, along with increasing his strength, will allow him to become a dominant force in the Big Ten and continue the flashes he showed down the stretch of last season.
His development will be interesting to see during Maryland’s journey overseas.
4. Will the starting lineup become more clear?
Willard noted that the upcoming trip will give the team a chance to bond more off the court as a new-look staff looks to enhance the team chemistry heading into the season. That includes the assistant coaches, who will each get a chance to coach the team in an exhibition game in an effort by Willard to delegate and get comfortable with his new-look roster.
The return of Jahmir Young, Donta Scott alongside Reese solidifies three starting spots while Deshawn Harris-Smith is expected to take over Don Carey’s role at the two. Who replaces Hakim Hart? That remains a question heading into the season.
Kaiser’s perimeter shooting and complementary skillset to a Jahmir-Deshawn backcourt as he gets comfortable to the pace of play in the Big Ten, but former Indiana forward Jordan Geronimo joins the program with Big Ten experience and a chance to showcase his athleticism while giving the frontcourt another body to help off the glass.
Willard even noted that Mady Traore, a frontcourt addition from New Mexico State, could get run at the five in a four-guard lineup. “I’ll try playing four guards with Mady. I’m gonna try to play 7-foot, 6-11,6-11, 6-6, and 6-6. So, the games will kind of be fun and we’ll be able to experiment,” he added.
Traore’s natural bounce and athleticism gives the frontcourt size off the bench, while second-year center Caelum Swanton-Rodger has noticeably added muscle mass to his 7-foot frame to provide depth behind Reese.
While the new and returning pieces build off their ten available practices leading up to their international tour, the next ten days will give Willard and the staff a chance to answer the biggest looming question before ironing out the rotation.
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