Reloaded And Ready

Entering the 2023 Big Ten Women’s Basketball Media Days, Maryland women’s basketball found itself in a similar position as it did entering the 2022-23 season. With external questions surrounding a crop of newcomers and the chemistry of familiar and fresh faces playing together, the Terrapins started out the 2022-23 season projected to finish fourth in the Big Ten with a modest preseason No. 17 ranking in AP Top 25.

By season’s end, Maryland exceeded those expectations, tying for the Big Ten’s second-best regular season record and earning a berth in the Elite Eight. Three players earned All-Big Ten honors as the Terps reached their 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament and advanced to the championship’s second weekend for a third year in a row.

The questions that arose in last year’s preseason still exist for Maryland. The roster saw turnover as AP Second Team All-American Diamond Miller and All-Big Ten Second Team selection Abby Meyers were both drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft. Half of the roster is composed of incoming freshmen or transfers while other top teams in the conference retained their top players from last year.

But while the outside may doubt this year’s Maryland roster, the 2023-24 Terps have no doubts that they have the talent to make it back to the same heights they have reached throughout Brenda Frese’s 21 years in College Park.

“It was awesome to come in and have people doubting us, but I think that trend has to stop,” junior guard Shyanne Sellers said. “I think we’ve proved it time and time again.”

While Miller and Myers are now suiting up at the highest level of women’s basketball, a majority of the offensive firepower is back for another year. Four of the top six scorers for the 2022-23 Terps return to the fold who partook last year’s excellence, which included the Elite Eight appearance and nine wins over ranked opponents.

At the podium to open Maryland’s Big Ten Media Day, Frese said that it would take a total team effort to succeed this season and that the best is yet to come for all of the Terps’ returners.

“We don’t have first-round draft picks yet,” Frese said. “But the thing I will say that I’m most encouraged for is every returner from last season has come back better.”

Leading the offensive charge this season is junior guard Shyanne Sellers, a 2023-24 Preseason All-Big Ten selection, who made a big leap to record 13.9 points per game, finishing third on the roster in that department last year. 

“I love where junior Shy is at,” Frese said. “She understands the load she's going to have to carry for us this year. Just her maturation process has been incredible to be able to watch and that's what you want to see when you watch players in four-year careers. She took a major step forward. Now she's going to have an even bigger responsibility on her shoulders this season, but she's more than capable of it.”

As Sellers spoke on the studio set alongside graduate students Brinae Alexander and Faith Masonius, she said there isn’t any pressure on her to play the game or role of either departed star. Rather, her mindset of playing her own game and continuing to rely on her own strengths is what the team needs from her.

“I’m going to play my game,” Sellers said. “I know people are expecting me to try to take over, and I’m not Diamond and I’m not Abby. I don’t play their game. I play my game, and if that’s your scouting report of Shaynne’s just going to drive to the rim, it’s not going to work out well.”

Along with Sellers, Masonius and Alexander are both looking to expand their already integral roles for the Terps last season. Masonius started in all 35 contests last season while averaging 6.9 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game, while Alexander served as Maryland’s sixth player and fourth-highest scorer with an even 9 points per outing. 

Masonius was described as ‘the glue’ of the Maryland team as a selfless player both on and off the court, always making sure that the team is where it needs to be offensively and defensively.

“She’s a Swiss Army knife,” Alexander said. “She does it all. Talking, diving on the floor, hustle plays, cleanup plays, and I think every team needs a person like that, but it’s very great to have her as a teammate.”

Alexander, who will tip off her second season with Maryland after four years of playing at Vanderbilt, said the adjustment to a smaller role with a better team was difficult at first in her debut year with the Terps, but she grew into her position as a captain in 2022-23.

“It was a big difference coming from Vanderbilt, being a starter and being a leading scorer,” Alexander said. “It was definitely a different role, but I knew I was giving up some things to gain going to the NCAA Tournament, to gain beating ranked teams and being on a ranked team.”

With her first taste of success, Alexander was excited to play on the bigger stage with Maryland last season, and is excited that the best is yet to come this season.

“It was a dream come true,” Alexander said. “I never thought I would be in this position that I’m in now, so I am very thankful to Coach B and to my teammates for supporting me and helping me get to the NCAA Tournament. I think it was very fun, it was a great experience, and I can’t wait to go back.”

This season, the Terps will have another transfer who will be in a similar position to where Alexander was in last year. Maryland native and former Maryland Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year Jakia Brown-Turner joins the Terps after four productive seasons at North Carolina State, where she was named an Associated Press All-American Honorable Mention in 2020-21. 

After three ACC Championships, Brown-Turner adds another veteran presence to a roster already loaded with returning talent and has Maryland excited for what she’s capable of.

“We’re very excited to have her,” Masonius said. “She brings so much versatility on the court, and we’re just excited to get the games going and see what she can do at Maryland.”

Frese also welcomes a pair of top-100 recruits from the espnW HoopGurlz rankings, with five-star guard Riley Nelson joining as the No. 18 recruit in the class and the top recruit in the state of Maryland alongside four-star wing Emily Fisher.

Throughout preseason, Frese has been impressed with Nelson, Fisher and the other three incoming freshmen as they prepare for their first collegiate season.

“I'm really excited about our freshmen and their growth and their development,” Frese said. “They have come in I would say this summer and they spent really a great eight weeks in the weight room. They are all really really talented and clearly they've got some five-year vets in front of them, but the work ethic is there, the talent level is there. So I think the thing you'll see with our team this season is we've got a lot more depth that we're going to be able to go to.”

With the reloaded roster, Maryland will be tested early and often to begin the season with road matchups against perennial contenders South Carolina and UConn in non-conference play followed by the always difficult Big Ten slate. But in the eyes of Frese, she views these battles as a barometer of readiness for March.

And if last year’s slate against the same opponents with similar preseason expectations is any indication, Maryland hopes to replicate the results from the 2022-23 season.

“This team got a lot of experience last year with their Elite Eight finish and nine wins over ranked teams,” Frese said. “Our schedule this year is definitely going to prepare us for Big Ten play as well as for March. We have four of our four of the eight Elite Eight teams that we're going to play this year, and three are going to be on the road with South Carolina, UConn, Ohio State and then we have Iowa coming into our place. So it's a challenging schedule, but one that we're really looking forward to to see how it's going to prepare us for March.”