Maryland Basketball: Where does Maryland go post-Trimble?

The Maryland basketball program lost an extremely talented player in Melo Trimble last week.

With Trimble set to take his talents to the NBA, the Terrapins have to ponder what’s next.

Maryland was definitely prepared to absorb the loss of Trimble next year. Anthony Cowan was the team’s primary point guard and ball-handler throughout the bulk of the 2016-17 campaign.

Cowan proved to be a very talented facilitator and also didn’t shy away from scoring the basketball himself. The former St. John’s College (D.C.) star averaged 10.3 points and 3.7 assists during his freshman season.

As impressive as Cowan was, he wasn’t the only freshman that made some noise for the Terps.

Forward Justin Jackson and guard Kevin Huerter also produced in big-time spots for Maryland. Jackson led the team in rebounding (6.0) to go along with his 10.5 points while Huerter averaged 9.3 points and shot 37.1 percent from three.

Maryland also still has Jaylen Brantley and Dion Wiley in the fold at the guard position.

However, one of the true x-factors could be four-star incoming Mount Saint Joseph (Md.) guard Darryl Morsell.

Without Trimble, Morsell could see some time backing up Cowan. On the other hand, the incoming freshman could also play some two-guard considering he’s one of the most versatile guards in the 2017 class.

In addition, the Terps are still in the running for 2017 five-star guard MJ Walker. They’ve also been linked to Bryant transfer Nisre Zouzoua as well.

The frontcourt is definitely the biggest position of need for Maryland as they move forward.

Damonte Dodd and LG Gill are gone and Michal Cekovsky missed a significant amount of time this past season due to injury. Ivan Bender will be back and four-star recruit Bruno Fernando will be joining the squad.

As things currently stand, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Mark Turgeon sought out a graduate transfer in the frontcourt. Even if Bender, Cekovsky, and Fernando all produce, that still leaves Maryland extremely thin in that area.

Cekovsky averaged 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17 games while Bender averaged 4.8 points and 3.2 rebounds.

As was mentioned a few weeks back, Turgeon needs to do his due diligence on Duke transfer forward Chase Jeter. Even if Jeter seems destined to play closer to his Las Vegas home, it’s something worth pursuing given his tremendous potential.

Regardless, Maryland is going to have to exhaust all possible transfer options when it comes to the frontcourt. In addition, Jeter wouldn’t be eligible for the 2017-18 season anyway, so the frontcourt issue would still exist.

Next: Darryl Morsell will play in Jordan Brand Classic

This is definitely going to be a roster full of talent and potential even without Trimble. However, there’s still a few tweaks that need to be made in order for this to be an elite roster.