Terps Running With The Big Dogs… And ‘Cats, Too
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By DERON SNYDER
Last year, in the first game of Mark Turgeon’s first season at Maryland, he shook hands with counterpart Buzz Peterson of UNC Wilmington.
Friday night, when Turgeon’s second campaign tips off at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., he’ll exchange pregame pleasantries with coach John Calipari of the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats.
The considerable difference in season-opening opponents is largely coincidental, but it exemplifies the basketball program’s sea change. A transformation is under way, one that has put Maryland and Kentucky in the same discussions since last summer (and not just previews of their matchup in the Barclays Center Classic).
Wednesday brought an exclamation point for the Terrapins: The NCAA, reversing its earlier decision, ruled that Xavier transfer Dez Wells is eligible to play. His immediate availability is expected to lift Maryland into the ACC’s upper echelon and the NCAA tournament.
But even if Wells had been forced to sit out the entire season, he still would get credit for boosting the program in September, when he chose Maryland over Kentucky.
