Kevin Willard’s first season for Maryland men’s basketball gave reason for DMV talent to stay

By: Jack Parry and Michael Rovetto

Kevin Willard laid the foundation for the future success of Maryland men’s basketball during his inaugural 2022-23 season in College Park. Subsequently, his master plan to improve the program’s recruiting in the “DMV” area is becoming a reality. 

Following the Terps worst season in nearly 30 years, many doubted Maryland’s ability to remain competitive in the Big Ten. So much so, Maryland was predicted to finish 10th in the conference’s preseason media poll. 

Maryland finished fifth in the Big Ten and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Going into the tournament as an eight-seed, the Terps won their first round matchup against nine-seed West Virginia, 67-65. But they couldn’t keep up with one-seed Alabama in the second round, losing 73-51. 

Before the Terps surprised the rest of the league, Willard vowed to bring homegrown talent to Maryland. Now some of the most talented athletes in the world have a reason to stay close to home.

“Our first couple recruits, we really tried to get local kids, just to kind of let the fanbase know that this area is huge to us,” Willard said before the season. “We’re going to recruit it, we’re going to bring kids in, we’re going to make sure that they’re the stars.”

A few months prior, Maryland landed the No. 1 overall player in Virginia in the Class of 2023 in four-star guard Deshawn Harris-Smith. He followed four-star forward Jamie Kaiser — also from Virginia — and four-star guard Jahnathan Lamothe from Baltimore. 

The DMV area is rich with basketball talent but many athletes have historically evaded Maryland’s men’s basketball program, a recent example being Michigan star big man Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson played high school ball at nearby DeMatha Catholic. But he, like many others before him, decided to continue his basketball journey elsewhere.

In a 2020 tweet, Dickinson seemingly took shots at Maryland and its recruiting in the area.

​“Imagine if the two HM programs in the DMV actually recruited kids in this area for basketball,” Dickinson tweeted. “They’d be top 5 in the country every year.”

It’s unknown an exact reason — or even if there are multiple reasons — why Maryland has struggled to bring DMV talent into its men’s basketball program. But what is known is that Willard’s commitment to the DMV didn’t just extend to the future; a lot of players from the area became big pieces of the team this season.

Already on his second full-time head coach — and third overall — in two seasons, it was unsure what sophomore forward Julian Reese’s role would be. From the start of the season, Reese was the team’s starter at the center position even though he wasn’t recruited by Willard. 

While Baltimore isn’t considered by most as part of the DMV, it’s not far from it. Reese, a Baltimore native, stepped it up this season and started to show how great of a player he can be. Reese averaged 11.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 63.2% from the field and was an All-Big Ten honorable mention. He registered seven double doubles, and really made a big impression on his head coach throughout the season.

“Julian is one of the best big guys in the league,” Willard said, “I don’t think I trade Julian for anybody.” 

Before the season started, Willard looked around the country for talented transfers to bring in for his first season. And the biggest name he acquired was graduate student guard Jahmir Young from Charlotte, a proven scorer who was the perfect fit for what Willard wanted to start building in College Park. 

Young is from Upper Marlboro, and played with Dickinson at DeMatha Catholic right down the road. He talked about the desire to perform well in front of his family at Maryland.

“We can do something special and I want to do something special, and in front of them, that would just be amazing,” Young said.

Many wondered if Young could still produce against higher-caliber opponents in the Big Ten, but shut down those doubts, exceeding expectations en route to an All-Big Ten second team selection. He averaged 15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while leading the Terps in scoring. Young also dropped 20 or more points nine times this season, including a masterful 30-point, 11-rebound performance against Ohio State in early January.

This season may have not yielded any trophies for Maryland, but making the NCAA Tournament under a first-year head coach has already had an impact on the team in the start of the offseason. 

Young announced in late March that he will be returning to Maryland for his final year of eligibility, while Loyola Marymount freshman guard Chance Stephens announced his transfer to Maryland on Saturday.

Dickinson has also entered his name into the transfer portal, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw. Not only do the Terps have his high school teammate in Young, but they just hired Mike Jones as an assistant coach, who was Dickinson’s head coach at Dematha Catholic. 

So with new recruits coming in, Young and Reese coming back, and some more potential action in the transfer portal, head coach Kevin Willard’s first season in charge could lead to Maryland becoming a prominent program that the best talents out of the DMV just simply can’t ignore in the future.

“It’s a good first step,” Willard said, reflecting on the season. “I mean, we have a lot more steps that we need to take as a program, and we will get there.”