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Hard work, maturity have Wiley on track for major role with Terps

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- This time a year ago many were excited about what sophomore guard Dion Wiley could bring to a Terps team that was ranked No. 3 in the polls to start the year, but that all drastically changed when Wiley tore his meniscus in a preseason practice just a week before Maryland’s season opener.

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The prognosis would result in season-ending surgery and a redshirt for Wiley, which was gut-wrenching for his coaches and teammates that had seen him put in the work during the offseason to transform his body and improve his game.

But while Wiley’s injury put a damper on the start of Maryland’s 2015-16 season, the Oxon Hill, Md., native didn’t let his misfortune slow down the progress he had made as a student-athlete.

“I looked at it as a blessing in disguise when I first got hurt,” Wiley told TSR at Maryland basketball media day Oct. 25. “I didn’t really get down on myself or ask why. I just got to work and started working on myself and how to better myself.”

From his freshman to his sophomore year, Wiley had already lost more than 20 pounds and was looking like a quicker, more-athletic version of his already-talented self. But now that he has overcome adversity and has another year of college under his belt where he got to sit back and learn more about the game of basketball, Wiley is feeling even more ready to have an impact in College Park this season.

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Dion Wiley (No. 5) is back to full health after missing all of last season due to injury.
Dion Wiley (No. 5) is back to full health after missing all of last season due to injury. (USA Today Sports)
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“I just feel as though I got more mature and mentally I’m more prepared for everything,” Wiley said. “This injury is the biggest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life. After going through this injury, I know I can get through anything now.”

Terps head coach Mark Turgeon shared similar sentiments at media day and believes the time off the floor for Wiley was just as helpful to his development as a season playing would have been.

“[Wiley] didn’t want to get hurt but sometimes it’s really a good thing for him because he can sit back and really study it and mature in a different way,” Turgeon said. “So I think he’s much further along because of that.

“He’s going to play more this year as a [redshirt] sophomore than he would have last year as a sophomore in the end. He’s got more opportunity to play and help us this year. I think anytime you have the opportunity to go through something and then you can sit back and just watch it with no pressure, knowing you’re not going to play, guys really learn a lot about basketball. We used to redshirt guys when they were freshmen, now I don’t think that’s a good time to redshirt them. I think once they’ve gone through the experiences and then you can redshirt them they learn a lot more. We didn’t want to go through it but we did and I think it’s really going to help him.”

Turgeon added that he believes Wiley is at about 85-to-90 percent in terms of health right now, but that he is leaner than ever and expected to play a major role for the Terps this season.

“He’s done an amazing job with his body,” Turgeon said of Wiley. “I think he weighed in at 202 the other day and I believe the first time he weighed in here (as a freshman) he was 241. That’s pretty amazing what he has done. He shoots the ball well, handles it well. He’s very good with the ball in his hands. You didn’t see that as much in his freshman year as you’ll see it this year, but he’s a really good passer, if not our best passer, especially coming off ball screens or handoffs. He’s good and we’re expecting Dion to have a great year. We just want him to get back to feeling comfortable and that takes some time but he’s much further along than I thought he would be.”

Turgeon might believe that Wiley still has some progress to make before returning to full health, but the sense from talking to the third-year wing himself is that he will have no limitations on the court to start the season.

In fact, Wiley dismissed the notion of any minutes-cap for this season and said he has never felt better.

“We’ve been going hard with two-a-days and I haven’t had any setbacks or anything, so I guess not,” Wiley said when asked if he would be brought along slowly to start the year. “When I last played in a game I was probably like 220 pounds and wasn’t really in shape. But now I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life and this is the lightest I’ve been in a while, since like 11th grade, so I’m ready to get going.”

Turgeon said Wiley will be used primarily as a two-guard this season, but in smaller lineups he could slide over to the three. But Wiley claims his biggest improvement throughout the offseason was in his point guard skills, and the 6-foot-4, 200-plus pounder could also see some time at the one if the Terps want to go with a very big lineup.

“I really learned more about the point guard position from watching Melo [Trimble] and Rasheed [Sulaimon],” Wiley said. “Watching them come off ball screens, how they handle pressure and watching them defensively. I handle the ball more now; my handle is a little tighter. I also can see the floor more. I see the floor better and my decision making has become better.”

But perhaps even more important than improved ball skills to Wiley’s evolution as a player is his newfound self confidence.

After starting a game early in his freshman season, Wiley made headlines by requesting that Turgeon take him out of the starting lineup because he did not feel comfortable in that role yet. But that reluctance is no longer there anymore for one of Maryland’s leaders.

“I’m a lot more confident than I was my freshman year,” Wiley said. “I didn’t feel like I was ready to start yet. I wasn’t mature enough. Now I feel as though I’m more confident in myself. It’s shocking that it has happened this fast. I guess I’m more of a leader now. I have to lead these guys out here now.”

Turgeon hasn’t been able to say enough this preseason about how proud he is of Wiley’s hard work. The local product was a big piece of the 2014 recruiting class that got Turgeon’s success in College Park rolling, and it appears this season Wiley is primed to start having a major impact for the Terps.

“Dion has grown up so much,” Turgeon said. “Academically he has come a long way and he still has a long way to go but he’ll graduate from Maryland and that’s a great story in and of itself. Just the way he acts off the floor now is great. He has matured as a player and a person, which is great.

“It’s one of the all-time great stories to be honest with you, but we’re just getting started with it. I’m happy he’s back; happy he’s healthy. It was a tough injury--a really tough injury--and he worked hard to get where he is. Hopefully we can keep him healthy and keep making him better.”

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