Journey To The Tourney

Thirteen of 15 student-athletes on the Maryland men’s basketball roster will experience their first NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed Terps take on No. 13 seed Grand Canyon in Seattle on Friday. 

For many on the team, including transfers Tafara Gapare, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel, Rodney Rice, and Jay Young, the journey to their first dance has been adventurous. It required transferring schools — for some, multiple times. However, it also entailed overcoming challenges, betting on oneself to perform in a new environment, and believing Maryland was the place to build something special.

Take a look at the journey each of Maryland’s five 2024-25 transfers underwent to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time and what it means to them to finally join the dance. 

Maryland is Tafara Gapare’s third collegiate school in three years. However, his journey is far more extensive. It started in another country and encompasses unprecedented challenges and setbacks he had to overcome. 

The junior forward is a native of Wellington, New Zealand. He spent his entire youth there, learning the game of basketball and being trained by Kenny McFadden. A former professional basketball player, McFadden has coached many others who moved to the United States to pursue basketball at the next level. One of those athletes is Steven Adams, a center for the Houston Rockets. 

Gapare came to the U.S. for the first time during his prep school year and reclassified from the class of 2023 to the class of 2022. On Dec. 31, 2021, he visited Maryland on his first college recruiting trip. However, at the height of his recruitment, he lost his former coach and mentor, McFadden. Gapare admits his loss might’ve clouded his judgment at the height of his recruitment.  

Ranked as the No. 1 player in Connecticut by 247Sports, the 6-foot-9 forward opted to commit to UMass. But his 2022-23 season with the Minutemen was met with personal and team struggles, as his team also finished with a losing record. 

Gapare entered the transfer portal and landed at Georgia Tech for the 2023-24 season. An injury over the summer set him back, and although his numbers slightly improved, he once again endured a losing season. Gapare still scratched the surface of reaching his potential and felt he could contribute elsewhere, ideally to a winning program. 

He entered the portal again, choosing Maryland to complete a full-circle journey. He just experienced his first winning season at the collegiate level and will now encounter his first NCAA Tournament. 

“I’m grateful to be able to make it to the big dance and experience the competitiveness,” Gapare said. “I hope to gain more knowledge of the game, soak up the experience and go win this championship.”

Ja’Kobi Gillespie has only been in the transfer portal once. However, his destination in College Park required immense confidence in himself. He starred for a Belmont squad that finished with back-to-back respectable years during its first two seasons from 2022-24 in the Missouri Valley Conference. 

Gillespie received zero offers from Power Five schools to play basketball, although he received interest from SEC and ACC schools to play football. He had a knack for making highlight-reel-worthy plays and believes his athleticism came from training for football year-round. 

He regarded Belmont as his best basketball offer and became a Bruin. Gillespie made the MVC All-Freshman Team and All-Bench Team in his first season. As a sophomore, he averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 steals on 56.1 % shooting. His stat line earned him MVC All-Conference Second Team, All-Defensive Team and Most-Improved Team honors. 

Gillespie entered the portal after his standout season. But Maryland stumbled across the 6-foot-1 guard by accident. Coaches were eyeing his teammate at Belmont, Cade Tyson. However, Gillespie kept popping up on the film and making plays. Director of Player Personnel Ricky Harris looked at Gillespie’s Instagram page and discovered he had mutual connections. Harris made some calls, and Gillespie became a Terp. 

The junior guard wanted to play in a bigger, more competitive conference, so he transferred up a level to the Big Ten. Despite pre-season questions about his ability to adapt to a more physical level of play, Gillespie has silenced all doubters. He earned an All-Big Ten Third Team honor with per-game averages of 14.7 points and five assists on 41.2 % shooting from three. 

Gillespie had played on two 20+ win teams with the Bruins but never made the NCAA Tournament. His belief in himself and Maryland’s basketball program made the latter happen. 

“I’m grateful to finally go to the big dance after being in college for three years,” Gillespie said. “That’s one of the reasons I came to Maryland.”

Selton Miguel’s journey closely resembles Gapare’s. Maryland is also his third school, and he also moved to the U.S. from another country. But what separates him from Gapare and others is the length of his journey. 

Miguel is a native of Luanda, Angola. Although he moved to the States to attend high school, he continues to serve his community back home. He followed the blueprint of Bruno Fernando and his older brother Rifen. Fernando came to the U.S. to attend high school before starring at Maryland from 2017-19. The Miguel brothers attended West Oaks Academy before starting their collegiate journeys.

The 6-foot-4 guard played at Kansas State from 2020-22. He was a solid contributor from the jump, finishing as one of three players on the team to play in every game as a freshman. He was also one of the team’s top defenders. However, after enduring two losing seasons, Miguel entered the transfer portal. 

Miguel transferred to USF, the state in which his voyage in the U.S. began. His first year with the Bulls netted a familiar outcome — another losing season. Still, his numbers improved, and a coaching change was enough to keep him around another season.

During the 2023-24 season, it all clicked. Head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim and Miguel led the team to a program-best 25-8 record and its first regular-season conference championship. That season, the Bulls were even ranked in the AP Poll for the first time in program history. Miguel was selected as the American Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player. Additionally, he was chosen to the All-AAC Second Team. 

Despite all its success, USF didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. Miguel entered the portal once more. As a veteran player, he would’ve been an asset anywhere. But he wanted to be somewhere that had the best chance of making the postseason, so he chose Maryland to fulfill his one goal.  

“After five years, I’m grateful to finally make it to the dance,” Miguel said. “I’m grateful to be here because one of the main reasons I came here was to have an opportunity to make the tournament.”  

Rodney Rice has added a new dimension to Maryland’s offense this season. Although he will be playing in his first NCAA Tournament, his father knows a thing or two about the big dance. Rice Sr. was a sharpshooter for Richmond from 1985-88. During his senior year, he led the Spider to the Sweet 16. 

Rice Jr. grew up 30 minutes from Maryland’s campus in Clinton, where he attended DeMatha Catholic High School. He played under Mike Jones, who joined Virginia Tech’s staff in 2021. The connection led Rice to join the Hokies. 

However, the 6-foot-4 guard’s career at Virginia Tech was brief and accompanied by unforeseen challenges. He broke his ankle the summer before he reported to campus, forcing him to miss the first 16 games of the 2022-23 season. He finally made his collegiate debut midway through the season but broke his finger during practice after the game. Rice played in just eight games as a freshman. 

Jones, who recruited Rice to Virginia Tech, left during the offseason for a job at Maryland. Still, Rice vowed to remain with the Hokies. Everything pointed to a second-year breakout until a month before the start of the 2023-24 season, when he abruptly stepped away from the team.

The sophomore returned to his home in Maryland, taking a gap year from college. He prepared for a second chance and saw College Park as a potential future destination with familiar faces. At the time, Jones was still an assistant for the Terps, and David Cox, one of the first to recruit him to Rhode Island, was on the Terps’ staff. 

Those relationships led Rice to Maryland, where he blossomed into a star. With an average of 13.9 points and just over two rebounds and assists per game, he was rewarded with his first trip to the tournament. 

“I’m excited to be in the big dance,” Rice said. “I’ve been watching March Madness ever since I was young, so it definitely is a dream come true to compete on the biggest stage in college basketball.”

Gapare and Miguel’s journey to three different schools is striking, but Jay Young’s collegiate undertaking is even more remarkable. Young is attending his fifth school, where he is finally going dancing after enjoying the game at Memphis, UCF, Baton Rouge Community College and Grambling State. 

According to 247Sports, Young was an unranked prospect coming out of high school. He took his talents to Grambling State but never saw the court for the Tigers. He redshirted and pivoted to the junior college route, attending Baton Rouge Community College.

The 6-foot-2 guard balled out at the junior college level for two seasons before transferring to UCF. Current Maryland assistant Kevin Norris was on staff there and had previously shown some interest in Young coming out of high school. 

Still, things didn’t work out for Young in Orlando. After a year, he entered the transfer portal and ended up at Memphis. They had a promising season, but it wasn’t good enough to make the dance. After another season at a different school, he entered the portal again. Around the same time, Norris left UCF and joined Maryland’s staff. That led Young to become a Terp and reunite with Norris.  

Young’s journey, being around so many different programs and individuals, has allowed him to lead in ways he previously couldn’t. Like Miguel, Young — a veteran player — has been chasing an NCAA Tournament appearance. Five schools in five years later, he has finally achieved his goal. 

“It feels good to finally make it there,” Young said. “I’m just glad I'm with this team. Hopefully, we can get over that hump and make the natty.”