Maryland’s New-Look Roster Experiences The NCAA Tournament For The First Time

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Graduate student Jahmir Young transferred back home to play for Maryland with one goal in mind: compete and earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.

The Terps were the third team to hear their name called during Selection Sunday as he and a number of his teammates got a taste of what it's like to be part of March Madness for the first time.

It's something that, for him, took nearly five years to accomplish, but the satisfaction and relief of hearing the Terps' name made that wait all the better.

"I feel like we had a good year, especially for the new guys coming in, a new coach," Young said. "I'm really just trying to soak it all in, soak in this moment. Just being able to compete in March madness is special…It's like a dream come true."

Maryland touched down in Birmingham on Tuesday, holding tournament practices for the first time on Wednesday on the campus of the University of Alabama - Birmingham, and inside Legacy Arena.

The Terps took a roster of turnover last season and under the guidance of new head coach Kevin Willard, brought in a cast of new faces to propel them to a 21-12 record and an 11-win Big Ten campaign.

"I've talked about this a lot about being really selective in the transfer portal," Willard said. "Your first year in a program is really, really important. You want to lay down the foundation for what the future is going to be. You can bring kids in and try to knock it out of the park right away and then year 2, year 3, you're really struggling.

"We brought in kids who I thought were extremely high-character and good players, but we all wanted to try to bring Maryland basketball back to a level that we could sustain."

This season's roster not only includes a number of first-time NCAA tournament participants with incoming transfers, but existing players on the roster who didn't get to experience the thrill of March Madness last season.

Among those existing faces is sophomore forward Julian Reese, one of a number of players who stuck through the coaching change and has benefited greatly as a result.

From a player who averaged 5.7 PPG in 17.7 minutes a game as a freshman to the leading big for the Terps, averaging 11.2 PPG, 7.3 RPG and 1.2 BPG, he took Willard's new philosophy to heart and has turned into a force among the Big Ten's best frontcourt players.

"This is exactly what [Willard] planned on, what he said to me and the guys, that we're a successful team and can win some games," Reese said. "He knew that it wouldn't be like a rebuilding year, a year that we don't care about winning games. I feel like we made that statement this year and we got it done."

Reese's emergence down low has opened the door for others to come and contribute in the frontcourt as well.

Enter Patrick Emilien, a 6-7 grad student who is now with his third program in Maryland after playing at Western Michigan and most recently, St. Francis (NY). Emilen, like Young, had been waiting for his moment to play in March madness for nearly five years.

The journey has been a long one, but it's paid off now that he and the Terps are NCAA tournament bound.

"I really wanted to play at the highest level that I could get to," Emilien said. "Thankfully, [Maryland] gave me the opportunity. I just wanted to experience what it was like to play against the best talent in the country…[Willard] is a very charismatic coach. After the first Zoom call, he told me his plan. 

"He told me we were going to go to the tournament and there was nothing that was going to stop us from making it."

Emilien has fit in well within Willard's current rotation and has contributed well off the bench, averaging around 3.0 PPG and 3.0 RPG in just under 18 minutes a game.

The plan from the start was always to make the NCAA tournament and the buy-in from returning and new players was resounding as work began in the offseason, almost immediately leading to instant success on the court to start the season.

Through the rigors of the Big Ten and one of the hardest non-conference schedules Maryland has put together in recent years, in less than 24 hours, the Terps will take the court with NCAA patches on their jerseys, taking on West Virginia to start the Round of 64 nationwide.

"We talked about the end goal of the season the entire time," junior Jahari Long said. "We were very excited, especially at the beginning of the season when we got to play with each other, and as time went on, we grew closer. 

"We've just been hype the whole time. We're excited."