Coaches were able to hit the road beginning Friday and Maryland has been active on the trail.
Head coach Kevin Willard and assistant Grant Billmeier made the trip to Putnam Science to check out four-star forward Mouhamed Dioubate. After officially visiting Wake Forest over the weekend, he’s now set to officially visit Maryland beginning this Friday, a source tells Inside the Black and Gold. He’ll then check out Virginia Tech beginning October 1 then visit Alabama and Kansas State. Within his top five, Dioubate is open but it’s Maryland who his capitalizing on the proximity to home angle. Maryland will roll out the red carpet this weekend as they look to lock down Dioubate, who is viewed as a three or four in College Park, and get the ball rolling in the frontcourt.
The discussion around the frontcourt targets often brings up top-ten prospect Derik Queen, who is now back at Montverde Academy and with the start of his junior season, he’s started scheduling official visits. Queen will head to Indiana for an official visit in late September and next up, Queen will officially visit Maryland. The staff made the trip to Montverde on Friday and have attempted to get the Baltimore native on campus the first weekend of October for his official, but I’m hearing that late October is the more likely timeframe that Queen makes it back to College Park.
No school has hosted Queen more than Maryland. Queen’s mother made a solo trip to campus to kick off summer only for Queen himself to make the trip to campus one month later for his first unofficial visit to Maryland. With assistant Tony Skinn leading the charge for the Terps, the commitment of former teammate Jahnathan Lamothe in College Park is another angle that helps Maryland’s chances here. Much of the talk surrounding Queen over the last year is his strong desire to pick a school close to home, another angle that boosts Maryland’s chances. There were rumblings that Queen could make a move back to the area this year instead of suiting up for Montverde Academy once more, but that didn’t come to fruition. Even with heavy hitters involved, a source close to Queen previously said the Terps are the early team to beat.
“I just don’t see him going all the way out to Arizona or a west coast team. I think he wants to be closer to home and Maryland offers what he’s looking for.”
Queen is also eligible to reclassify into the 2023 class and enroll next season, but the details of that decision will come into focus over the course of the next few weeks.
Elsewhere, assistant Grant Billmeier also trekked through South Kent (CT) to check on four-stars Papa Kante and Elmarko Jackson. While Jackson included Maryland in his top eleven and shows no signs of making any decision soon, Maryland continues to recruit him despite an uphill battle to sign a fourth coveted guard this cycle. Kante, meanwhile, has Maryland in his top five and there’s been steady confidence that the staff can land the frontcourt target ahead of his fall decision.
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