Maryland Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for the Terrapins

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - MARCH 23: The Maryland Terrapins bench celebrates as they take on the LSU Tigers during the second half of the game in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vystar Memorial Arena on March 23, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

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Last season was a great one for Maryland Basketball, one in which they bounced back quite well from their first below-.500 Big Ten finish in program history in 2018.

Last season Maryland Basketball went 23-11, including a 13-7 record in Big Ten play. In his eighth season coaching the team, head coach Mark Turgeon led Maryland to a second-round exit in the Big Dance. This was a welcome occurrence for Maryland faithful, as the team missed the NCAA Tournament completely in 2018.

Defense was the calling card of the 2018-19 Maryland Terrapins and despite some significant departures, expect more of the same this upcoming season.

The 2019-20 Maryland Terrapins will be without dominating center Bruno Fernando, leaving quite a bit of slack for sophomore Jalen Smith to pick up. Smith had a great year while co-existing with Fernando, so all signs point to him being able to have a great year next to incoming big men Mahki and Mahkel Mitchell, and whoever else Turgeon uses to fill the frontcourt gap, including recovering center Chol Marial, who had surgery to repair stress fractures in his legs.

Fernando’s departure leaves Maryland trying to replace 8.4 field goal attempts and 10.6 rebounds per game. Despite the absence of a big-time player like Fernando hurting the team, the fact that Maryland returns four starters from last year’s second-round team leaves little reason to worry.

With a legitimate shot at winning the Big Ten this season, it will be fun to see if Turgeon can get this young group to make a leap.

Here’s a full season preview for the Maryland Terrapins.

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