Terrapin Station
Fansided

Maryland Basketball: Ira Lee down to five schools

By Chris Bengel

Mar 23, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon during practice the day before the semifinals of the South regional of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 23, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon during practice the day before the semifinals of the South regional of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Ira Lee trimmed his list to nine schools last week and Maryland made the cut.

On Tuesday evening, Lee narrowed his college choice down to five schools. Maryland was included once again along with Arizona, California, Oregon, and Texas.

Georgia Tech, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and USC failed to make cut on Lee’s latest list.

According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, the Prolific Prep (Calif.) big man is rated as the No. 53 prospect. Lee is also being tabbed as the fifth-best center in the 2017 class.

The Terrapins appeared to get involved late in Lee’s recruitment. Mark Turgeon and his staff just offered Lee on July 23, but made the cut on both Lee’s most recent lists.

Arizona currently holds the lead with 10 out of the 11 Crystal Ball predictions for Lee.

Maryland clearly is making the frontcourt their top priority with the 2017 class. On Monday evening, Bishop O’Connell (Va.) center Nate Watson released his list of his final four schools and the Terps were included.

In addition, Maryland is also involved in the recruitment of big men Ikechukwu Obiagu (Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy, Ga.) and Billy Preston (API, Tx.).

By the time the 2017-18 season begins, Michal Cekovsky will be the only big man with any type of collegiate experience. Damonte Dodd and L.G. Gill are the likely starters this coming season, but they’ll both graduate following the 2016-17 campaign.

The Terps lost their starting frontcourt of Robert Carter and Diamond Stone from last season.

Next: JaJuan Dulaney could finally start

It’s very likely that Maryland will do anything they can to land Lee and Watson if not both.