SYRACUSE, N.Y. – There is no hesitation. Yes, Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said, it’s the quickest she’s seen such strong chemistry form in her 30-plus year coaching career.
The No. 7 Terrapins (9-0) excel with 10 newcomers, including a program-tying record seven transfers. They entered the season as a question mark (albeit with a No. 18 ranking by Associated Press voters) hidden behind flashy Big Ten additions UCLA and Southern Cal. Both Los Angeles programs were part of three teams with two players on the field each. Preseason Coaches All-Big Ten Team.
“I don’t think a lot of people thought we were going to have this much chemistry this early,” senior guard Shyanne Sellers, Maryland’s only player to earn preseason accolades, said in an interview with Yahoo Sports.
Sellers is the lynchpin, a first-round WNBA prospect who has had varying success during four roller coaster years in Maryland. Facing a final collegiate season, she provided key assistance to the coaching staff as they turned the program around to where it was.
“She was a huge cog even after those visits, staying in touch with the players we wanted to be able to have,” Frese said.
Maryland hasn’t added the biggest names to the portal. Instead, USC (Kiki Iriafen, Talia von Oelhoffen) and UCLA (Charlisse Leger-Walker, Timea Gardiner) won big while Oklahoma (Raegan Beers), Iowa (Lucy Olsen) and Texas (Laila Phelia) filled in the gaps. Yet he found the right veteran pieces that would fit well and succeed together.
Christina Dalce, a 6-foot-2 forward from Villanova who was named Big East co-defensive player of the year a season ago, ranks in the 99th percentile in field goal efficiency (68%), versus 72nd percentile (44.1%). as a junior, according to Her Hoop Stats. She and Saylor Poffenbarger, a former 6-2 Arkansas SEC Freshman All-Star, control Maryland’s boards, averaging a combined 16.2 per game. Sarah Te-Biasu, a 5-5 guard from VCU who won Atlantic 10 Player of the Year a season ago, is shooting 46.2 percent from 3-point range.
Kaylene Smikle, a 6-foot second-team all-Big Ten guard from Rutgers, is already a standout, which already makes her omission from preseason Big Ten honors look ridiculous. The Terps’ first transfer commit of the offseason is averaging a team-high 17.9 points per game (eighth in the conference) on a 52.3/48.4/81 shooting split.
“We knew what we had, but everyone else had to figure it out,” Frese said.
Maryland resets its roster
When Sellers committed to Maryland as the program’s only top-100 recruit in the 2021 class, the 6-2 guard joined a roster that included Angel Reese, Diamond Miller, Ashley Owusu, Faith Masonius and Katie Benzan .
By the start of Sellers’ senior year, these players had either graduated (Benzan ’22, Miller ’23) or transferred (Reese ’22, Owusu ’22, Masonius ’24). Despite a career-best Elite Eight appearance as a sophomore, Sellers and the Terps bowed out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament in the first round – the earliest in Frese’s 22-year tenure. They finished with the fewest wins since 2003-04 and finished the year unranked for the first time since 2010.
The Terps faithful aren’t used to seeing losses pile up. Frese, who also coached for two years at Ball State and one year at Minnesota before joining Maryland in 2002, entered the season 23-24 with a mark of 620-177 in his head coaching career. The winning percentage of 0.777 beaten Great men’s college coaches Mike Krzyzewski (.766) and Tom Izzo (.712), as well as the NBA’s Phil Jackson (.704).
She led the Terps to their only national championship in 2006 and only missed the NCAA tournament twice. Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, the Terps have held near total control with a 168-34 (.832) record (including 22-5 in the conference tournament), six Big Ten championships and five championship titles. tournament.
Frese took advantage of the rare extra off-season days, in addition to the school’s “One Maryland Collective.” name, image and likeness dollars for the first timeto reset its historically dominant Maryland program. Sellers and junior guard Bri McDaniel were ready and more than willing to be deployed in the process.
“They lived in our offices,” Frese told Yahoo Sports. “They were definitely intentional about wanting to (get involved). I think that says a lot about these two and the desire to bring great teammates to this program. »
More than 1,300 players have accessed the portal, fueled in part by the latest year of additional eligibility granted under COVID-19 guidelines. Sellers would sometimes throw out certain names she wanted to play with, or start the conversation with a forward to gauge interest. If so, she would ask them to contact Frese.
“I wanted to make sure we had the right group this year,” said Sellers, whose 5.9 assists per game are a career high and rank 22nd in DI.
Once Frese and his coaching staff had a semblance of who they were trying to bring to campus on official visits, Sellers and McDaniel reached out to talk. In many cases, connections were embedded. Sellers played with Dalce on Team USA’s 3×3 team that won the 2023 FIBA 3×3 U21 Nations League. Even more crossed paths on the AAU circuit.
Three incoming transfers previously played at UConn, another boost for quick chemistry. Poffenbarger, who enrolled early in college, and Mir McLean, a 5-11 all-American guard from McDonald’s most recently at Virginia, were freshmen at UConn along with 2021 national player of the year Paige Bueckers. McLean and Amari DeBerry, a 6-6 forward and former McDonald’s All-American, played together briefly in 2021-22 before McLean transferred midseason.
“Everyone comes from different situations and just wants to win,” Sellers said.
Terps move up in the rankings
Maryland regained national attention with its transfer class, leading voters in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll to reward the Terps with a No. 18 preseason ranking. The team quickly confirmed the promise of the team with results.
A week into the season, Maryland upset then-No. 11 Duke, 85-80, in front of their home crowd at the XFinity Center. Smikle led the offense with 23 points and made a perfect 3 of 3 from beyond the arc. Dalce pulled down 14 rebounds (seven offensive) for a double-double. Sellers dished out five assists while McDaniel (15 points) and Poffenbarger (seven points, four rebounds) contributed from the bench in a game with seven players for at least 20 minutes.
“The person you’re replacing has more energy than us on the field,” Smikle said. “Having 15 people who have such energy and competitiveness that they don’t want to give up keeps us coming back every time.”
Three days later, they took their first real road trip and held off a feisty Syracuse team, 84-73, after the outmatched Orange tied the game at four with less than four to play. Smikle (22 points, 10-of-10 free throws) led four players in double figures. Once again, seven players played at least 20 minutes.
“It’s easy to fall apart within teams when they’re racing,” Sellers said. “Now we have shown in consecutive games that they can hit us and we will hit back immediately.”
Maryland first fostered its team chemistry during an 11-day tour of Croatia from June 24-July 4. He gave them 10 extra practices and two preseason games, plus a “ton of connections,” Frese said. The vendors continued this over the next few months to make sure everyone felt welcome. She lit up the team’s group chats with open offers for meals, pool days, and general hangouts. McDaniel and Allie Kubek, a 2022 transfer from Towson, are alongside him in the team’s leadership core.
“They know what the standard is (and) they can confirm it in the locker room,” Frese said. “They know what things are important to us as a coaching staff, and you’re able to accelerate that (chemistry). I think it also helps when there are transfers who have spent three or four years in the college system. So it’s not like you’re bringing in freshmen and there are so many unknowns.
Maryland’s first non-conference schedule was light, featuring only two Power Four teams (Duke, Syracuse). Only one other game was within 22 points at the final buzzer (George Mason by 10). The Terps will face No. 4 Texas (7-0) in the Coretta Scott King Classic on Jan. 20 at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.
The Big Ten challenge won’t be as casual. Each team in the oversized 18-team conference will play 16 teams once and one school twice. The Terps open conference play Saturday against Purdue and face No. 12 Ohio State (7-0) as a doubleheader (Jan. 23 away, March 2 at home). No. 1 UCLA leads nine Big Ten teams ranked in the AP poll. Three are in the top 10.
The Terps have not participated in the sport’s final weekend since back-to-back Final Four appearances in 2014-15. Backed by the right group of veteran transfers who have gelled faster than ever in Frese history, Maryland has quietly moved into the list of contenders.
“It’s also a credit to the players we brought in,” Frese said. “They are all winners. You can see they are extremely competitive. They have done this at their other schools, to very high levels. And I think it’s pretty cool.
Yet she also doesn’t hesitate to add one more caution that all experienced coaches give their teams this time of year.
“It’s still a long season,” Frese said. “It’s a long season.”
