Maryland Basketball Recruiting Round-Up: Ben Stanley Chase, Aussie offers, Big-Time Statement

The most notable news this week came when Hampton big man Ben Stanley entered his name on the transfer portal. The Terps were one of the first schools to reach out to Stanley, who grew up in Baltimore and could be eyeing a move back home after emerging as one of the Big South’s top players last season. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 22 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in his redshirt sophomore season while shooting 57.4 percent from the floor, which was good enough for him to finish third in the conference’s player of the year voting behind Carlik Jones, who recently transferred to Louisville, and teammate Jermaine Marrow. He was part of college basketball’s highest scoring duo with the Pirates, but he’s not your typical low-major gunner. In fact, it’s his toughness and athleticism that could translate the most at the Power Conference level, two things the Terps could use as their search for frontcourt bodies continues.

Maryland has been on a hot-streak when it comes to recruiting Baltimore natives recently, and it could continue with Stanley. It’s unclear whether he’s set to graduate early, thus making him immediately eligible, but if not a move closer to home could increase the chances the NCAA grants him a waiver to play next season. It would also allow him to be closer to family during this unprecedented time. The Terps’ competition includes Georgetown, Providence, Western Kentucky, Illinois, Xavier, Oregon, USC, Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia and San Diego State, according to his AAU coach.

There’s some question with how he would fit next to Donta Scott, and whether they could play in the frontcourt alongside each other in the Big Ten given their respective heights. Stanley views himself as a potential NBA player so he might prefer a place without an incumbent starter at his position, but the Terps could sell him on getting a chance to play on the wing or a small-ball lineup with either him or Scott at center. He’d almost certainly be the team’s third best big man at the very least even if he came off the bench, which would guarantee him enough opportunity to prove he can play at the Big Ten level and beyond.

If Stanley isn’t eligible immediately, Maryland also has to decide whether it wants to tie up a scholarship to a player who has to sit out a year and might not become more than a rotational player. That doesn’t seem like much of a choice right now with three open scholarships and very few options to fill those spots remaining, but the Terps haven’t yet made a big push for another big man transfer, Manhattan’s Pauly Paulicap, who appeared like a good fit when he entered the portal last week. Paulicap, a graduate transfer, is fielding mostly mid-major interest at this stage.

-- Maryland also extended offers to a pair of 2021 prospects from Melbourne, Australia this week. The Terps were the first program to jump into the mix for 6-foot-6 combo guard Joshua Duach, and joined a list of suitors that includes Arkansas, Mississippi State, Utah and Wake Forest for 6-foot-10 big man David Okwera. Under Mark Turgeon, Maryland has had success recruiting across the globe, but Australia would be new territory for the Terps. It could work in their favor that Melo Trimble emerged as one of the biggest names in the country’s professional league the last couple years.

-- Turgeon provided an update on his team’s talks about racism in a lengthy video this week, which caught the attention of fast-rising class of 2021 forward James Graham, who called the video a “big-time statement” from the Terps coach. Graham has been one of the hottest names in recruiting over the last few months, and the Terps were the program to get the ball rolling with the first non-mid-major offer to the 6-foot-9 forward since 2018 in early May. Since then, a number of programs have jumped in the mix, including Michigan State, Marquette, Memphis, Oregon, Auburn, Xavier and Florida State. He’s added offers from Wisconsin and Indiana this month. There’s some tough competition for Graham, but Maryland clearly has his attention, which is a good thing considering he’s one of the staff’s top targets in next year’s recruiting cycle.

-- Maryland offered class of 2023 five-star center Gus Yalden this week. Yalden plays for the same AAU program as Graham but is slated to attend the Asheville School in North Carolina next year.

Yalden was actually born in College Park, but the well-traveled big man spent his formative years in Nebraska before moving to Wisconsin to pursue hockey in fifth grade. After failing to make the hockey ‘A’ team, he began playing basketball in middle school, quickly developing skillset and footwork that’s drawn him comparison to NBA all-star Nikola Jokic.

The Terps have pulled a five-star big man out of Wisconsin once before when nobody gave them much of a chance to do so, but this one could be just as tough if not tougher. Yalden named Wisconsin and Indiana as his favorite colleges and holds offers from both. He also listed 13 college coaches he’d like to play for last year and didn’t include Turgeon, while Greg Gard, Mike Hopkins, Gregg Marshall, Will Wade, Steve Wojciechowski, Johnny Dawkins and Pat Kelsey made the cut along with many of the usual suspects.

-- Maryland also offered New Jersey native Zion Cruz, who recently transferred from Hudson Catholic (NJ) to Oak Hill Academy (VA) where he’ll likely draw interest from blueblood programs. The 6-foot-3 combo guard is ranked as a top-25 player in the 2022 class, and the Terps will have their work cut out for them if they want to make any noise in his recruitment.

-- A couple of new names who could have a chance at landing an offer in the future include class of 2021 Putnam Science Academy (CT) shooting guard Sean Durugordon and class of 2022 East Rockingham (NC) power forward Tyler Nickel. The Terps are in contact with both of them and they’ve each seen their recruitments pick up steam towards the high-major level since the spring despite not being ranked by major recruiting services.