Busting Brackets
Fansided

Braving the Storm: Diamond Stone officially signs with the Maryland Terrapins

By Daniel Tran

facebooktwitterreddit

Looks like the Maryland Terrapins were able to the officially land the gem they wanted for their Class of 2015. Less than a month after verbally committing to the university, Diamond Stone signed a financial aid agreement to attend the University of Maryland. The purpose of signing the agreement rather than a traditional letter of intent is that if he decides to transfer, Stone will not have to burn a year of eligibility.

More from Maryland Terrapins

Though he verbally committed to Maryland a short time ago, Stone has had to deal with a number of vitriolic reactions from fans of his home state of Wisconsin. The Badgers were one of the final teams trying to secure his services this upcoming fall, but he decided to commit to Big Ten opponent Maryland instead because of the relationship he built with Melo Trimble and head coach Mark Turgeon’s history of developing NBA center talent like Alex Len and DeAndre Jordan.

That explanation would not be satisfactory enough for some people. During the McDonald’s All-American game, media was questioning Stone on whether his AAU team’s affiliation with Under Armour was the main motivating factor in him choosing Maryland over the home state Wisconsin Badgers. Some also claimed that Stone got a 3 on his ACT, preventing from being accepted in Wisconsin (he actually got a 20).

That kind of reaction probably played a role in a heated episode on twitter that began with Stone ribbing the Wisconsin Badgers for losing in the national championship game against Duke. It all begin with this jab of tweet:

Then he followed up with a little more salt in wound, giving props to Jahlil Okafor after the game.

Then came some less than friendly reactions from Wisconsin fans.

Diamond Stone, the fourth best player in the Busting Brackets Top 100, is still an 18-year-old quick to thumb out an unpopular opinion without thinking about the consequences it will bring, and trolling the Wisconsin Badgers after a heartbreaking loss is not exactly good form. But after going through all the unwarranted accusations of his intelligence in the week before, could you really blame him for trying to stick it to some people?

Hopefully for the Maryland Terrapins, all the pressure and heat will only make Diamond Stone shine brighter during his time with the university.  Playing with Melo Trimble and Jake Layman will certainly help his cause, and puts Maryland in a great position to improve on their successful first season in the Big Ten Conference.

HUGE H/T to the Washington Post

Next: Wisconsin Badgers: What Now?

More from Busting Brackets

Home/Maryland Terrapins