What a great event held by Scott Eisgrau and the Sports Boosters last night. I was honored to have been asked to CoHost with Stan Charles. the 2 1/2 hour dinner and casual interview with Terrapin head coach Mark Turgeon. It was funny because I had prerecorded the show Wednesday night and many of the people there were listening to it on the drive to the show. remember this was a true Maryland turnout from Baltimore.
The key comments from Coach Turgeon:
Without saying who, Coach Turgeon said he was expecting his 4th verbal for 2012 at any moment.
He said he had no idea in advance about the addition of Syracuse and Pitt but had an inkling something was up when Commissioner Swofford quizzed him about Texas A&M’s intentions.
Turgeon said he welcomed making the conference stronger even at the expense of some added tough games. Referring to recruiting , he believed that some of the Big East mentality of many recruits will now turn to an ACC mentality. When I asked him about the possible loss of the annual home and home against Duke ending, he agreed that it could very well happen. His key point was that the perception of the ACC has not been that of a superior conference in the past few years, but with the new additions the ACC had regained its notoriety.
His comments on some of the members of the current team:
–Alex Len—definitely has a bright future, a very intelligent kid, and he loves that he is so BIG and gives that presence on the court
–Sean Mosley–I asked him will he be a scorer this and he emphatically said yes. Sean has been nailing his shot and he is really going to rely on Sean. Sean will see some time at the 4 position as well.
–Berend Weis—tremendous attitudeand has put on 10 lbs which has been touigh for him to do. A surprise to Turgeon–better then he thought
–Ashton Pankey–playing better with each passing day. Not showing injury effects. A leader on defense, showing his great basketball upbringing.
–Nick Faust–just a great kid who will be asked to contribute immediately.
I asked him about his broad approach to recruiting now that he is at Maryland. His response was that he tries to recruit 2 or 3 guys at similar positions and arranges his pursuit in an orderly manner that is being conscience of who he might want first. However the difference with his position at Maryland is that every one he is pursuing is top notch and any verbals are welcome. He spoke at length about his assistant coaches and how with everyone recruiting is the constant top priority.
Turgeon was asked about following legends (Williams and Gillespie) and he responded about how confident he was in his own ability, that this didn’t bother him in the least.
Scheduling–excited about opening the Barclay Center in Brooklyn against Kentucky, talked about a possible home and home with Texas in the future, talked about perhaps playing Midnite Madness at Midnite but doubted it would happen, figures an 18 game ACC Conference Schedule with Maryland in some sort of Northern division.
Turgeon was joined at the event by his chief of staff Dustin Clark. He said that Dustin takes care of all of the details and scheduling as Turgeon likes things to run perfect.
As I think about more of what he said, I will post it tomorrow and certainly speak about it on Kelly &Associates Insurance Group Terp Talk on Saturday Morning at 8AM on 1580 AM in DC and terptalk.com. In summary, Mark Turgeon is a special guy, a tireless recruiter, a superb Xs and Os man, a regular guy and someone we are lucky to have as Coach at Maryland. Well done Kevin Anderson!!!!!
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