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Maryland basketball ranked No. 21 in preseason AP poll

Maryland basketball will begin the 2021-2022 season ranked No. 21 nationally according to the preseason Associated Press top-25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon.

Mark Turgeon's team is ranked in the preseason AP poll for the second time in three seasons.
Mark Turgeon's team is ranked in the preseason AP poll for the second time in three seasons. (USA TODAY Sports)

Mark Turgeon's team returns a trio of starters in senior guard Eric Ayala, junior guard/forward Hakim Hart and junior forward Donta Scott. Ayala is the team's leading scorer from a season ago (15.1 ppg), while Scott is the team's leading rebounder from a season ago (5.9 rpg). Scott also shot 43.8 percent from beyond the three-point arc last season which was the fifth-highest single-season 3-pt percentage in program history (min 40 3FG).

While the Terps lost dynamic junior wing Aaron Wiggins to the NBA and senior guard Darryl Morsell opted to transfer to Marquette, Maryland was able to reload the roster through the transfer portal and by signing a couple of four-star high school prospects.

Rhode Island graduate transfer Fatts Russell is the Terps' expected starter at point guard this season. One of the best point guards in the Atlantic 10, Russell already has strong ties to former high school teammate Donta Scott and longtime friend Eric Ayala. He will be the straw that stirs the drink for Turgeon.

Turgeon also brings in one of the nation's premier big men in Georgetown transfer Qudus Wahab, who averaged 12.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season in the Big East.

Utah transfer guard Ian Martinez should see a number of minutes at both the one and the two this season, while Old Dominion graduate transfer guard Xavier Green looks to take over the perimeter defensive stopper role previously held by Morsell.

In all, five teams from the Big Ten were ranked in the preseason AP poll, as the Terps were joined by Michigan (No. 6), Purdue (No. 7), Illinois (No. 11) and Ohio State (No. 17).

Maryland has now been ranked in two of the past three preseason AP polls, as the Terps were tabbed the No. 7 team in the country prior to the start of the 2019-2020 season in which they won a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.

The Terps will open the 2021-2022 season in College Park on Nov. 9 at 7:00 pm ET versus Quinnipiac.

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