[Baltimore Sun] Maryland women’s basketball hopes overhauled roster brings back prominence in March
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Maryland women’s basketball hasn’t been truly tested yet. The Terps went to Croatia this summer to bond and scrimmage for the first time together, but have otherwise only gone against themselves and Division II Seton Hill in an exhibition on Sunday.
It was instead their scout team — made up of an all-male group of student managers — who opened Maryland’s eyes the widest. In those sessions, preseason All-Big Ten guard Shyanne Sellers saw what coach Brenda Frese had been preaching. Sellers witnessed a bevy of transfers settle in, run the floor and create space for others. She saw the few returning players learn their new teammates’ tendencies.
It was cohesive, smooth and efficient. It resembled what the Terps hope to be, not what they were last season.
“We saw everything come to fruition,” Sellers said. “We looked like a Maryland team.”
This year’s group has few similarities to the past — 10 of the roster’s 15 players are incoming transfers or freshmen. That was intentional. Last year, the Terps lost more regular-season games than they have in 20 years and failed to win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in more than a decade.
Frese needed to reinvent her team after those failures put a spotlight on what changes were required. She’s confident she made them.
“We were very intentional,” the coach said Monday at the team’s media day in the Xfinity Center. “We got to spend a season knowing where our strengths were and where our weaknesses were. We knew what we needed to go get if it was available. Fortunately for us, it was.”
Maryland’s 19 regular-season wins last year were its fewest since 2004, Frese’s second season in College Park. The Terps were a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament, also their worst since that season. They lost in the first round to 7-seed Iowa State, the first time Maryland went winless in March since 2010.
That team lacked size, Frese can say now. It was also without a true point guard. Sellers shouldered some of that responsibility, but the group never seemed to click as injuries piled up and inexperienced players were forced out of position.
Four of Maryland’s top seven in minutes played from last season are gone. Sellers, guard Bri McDaniel and forward Allie Kubek are the only returning rotation regulars. McDaniel, second on the team in scoring and third in minutes as a sophomore a year ago, hopes for another jump in her third season. And Kubek won’t be leaned on as heavily for rebounding and interior defense.
“Being able to go after where we felt we had some deficiencies last year, I think you can see that with the size, the rebounding, the depth, the 3-point shooting, the scoring ability, having an ultimate true point guard,” Frese said.
The coach hopes those shortcomings will be filled by a quartet of key transfers: Kaylene Smikle (Rutgers), Saylor Poffenbarger (Arkansas), Sarah Te-Biasu (VCU) and Christina Dalce (Villanova). They all bring at least three seasons of college experience and long lists of accolades from their previous teams.
Smikle averaged 17 points per game over the past two seasons with the Scarlet Knights and was an All-Big Ten second-team selection last year. Poffenbarger, a Middletown native, was seventh in the country in rebounding. Te-Biasu was named the Atlantic-10 Conference Player of the Year. Dalce was the Big East co-Defensive Player of the Year.
“They add so much value to us,” Sellers said. “All of them bring something different.”
In Smikle and Te-Biasu, the Terps gain a pair of scoring threats and distributors on the perimeter who can take some focus away from Sellers and McDaniel. Poffenbarger and Dalce solve Maryland’s size deficiency and will combine with Kubek for an imposing frontcourt trio.
Each of the four newcomers carried larger loads for their previous teams than they will in College Park, but they don’t envision fitting into smaller roles as a source of friction.
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“Everybody is really unselfish,” Te-Biasu said.
It’ll be a race to get this new group jelling. Maryland, the preseason No. 18 team in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, is two weeks out from its season opener. The Terps host No. 11 Duke in their third game of the year. They’ll see the preseason Nos. 3, 4 and 5 teams shortly after.
Building a daunting schedule was purposeful, just like constructing the roster to handle it was. Failure sent Frese searching for answers. She knew where her team lacked, scoured then pounced, and returned with what has a chance to be the best transfer portal haul of the coach’s career.
“There’s seven transfers and five spots,” Dalce said. “I like that mentality — everyone trying to fight for a spot at all positions — because it makes you work harder. Everyone has the mindset of getting to the Final Four. We know what we can bring.”
Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.
Season opener
No. 18 Maryland at UMBC
Monday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+
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