Four Maryland basketball players appear in ESPN rankings
By Chris Bengel
With the college basketball season just days away, ESPN put out a top 100 players list.
Four Maryland basketball players appeared in the rankings.
Melo Trimble, Jake Layman, Diamond Stone, and Rasheed Sulaimon all made ESPN’s list. The rankings included 16 players from the Big Ten.
Among the Big Ten representatives were Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes, Michigan’s Caris LeVert, and Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine.
Trimble was the highest ranked Terrapin at No. 4 overall in the rankings. ESPN credits Trimble’s ability to get the free-throw line and his stellar three-point shooting (41.2 percent).
Trimble averaged 16.2 points-per-game/3.9 rebounds-per-game/3.0 assists-per-game for Maryland during the 2014-15 season.
Layman was ranked No. 29 on the list after a very impressive junior campaign. The Massachusetts native averaged 12.5 ppg/5.8 rpg/1.4 apg for the Terps in his most successful season to date.
ESPN brings up Layman’s added weight, which gives him the ability to score from in the paint and the perimeter.
Stone (No. 48) and Sulaimon (No. 99) round out the Terps that appeared on ESPN’s top 100 rankings.
Stone is among several freshmen big men that appeared on the list. The Wisconsin native is a very polished offensive scorer that is going to give Maryland even more of an inside presence.
Sulaimon comes to College Park as a graduate transfer from Duke. The former Blue Devil is a talented shooter from beyond the arc and an above-average defender.
Maryland has an abundance of talent that the Big Ten and nation as a whole will have to deal with during the 2016-16 season. The Terps are being tabbed as the No. 3 team in the preseason polls, so it’s very clear that this is a team that is viewed as a threat to win a national title.