The Maryland men’s basketball team finished the regular season this year with 20-11 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the Big Ten.

The Terps finished sixth in the Big Ten, went undefeated at home during conference play and are now moving on to the NCAA Tournament. No. 8 seed Maryland will play No. 9 seed West Virginia at 12:15 p.m. on March 16 in Birmingham, Ala.

There is a feeling of optimism moving forward for the Terps. First-year coach Kevin Willard got players to stay after he was hired last March, setting the stage for a productive 2022-23 season. The staff is starting to recruit well, with a top-20 recruiting class coming in next year.

“The impressive part about what Kevin has been able to do is getting guys that have been there to buy in, not running everybody off and starting all over,” Fox Sports Radio host and college hoops analyst Doug Gottlieb said on Glenn Clark Radio March 10. “He got some guys to stick around, and they’ve become better because of it. So, I really like that element to it.”

Senior point guard Jahmir Young has been a fantastic addition for the Terps. He has averaged 16.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game this season. Due to the talent coming in with this new freshman class, it might be a good opportunity for Young to stay at Maryland for another year.

The Terps are set to welcome four freshmen to the program next year: DeShawn Harris-Smith, Jamie Kaiser, Jahnathan Lamothe and Braden Pierce. Harris-Smith is a 6-foot-4, 180-pound guard out of Paul VI. Kaiser is a 6-foot-6, 200-pound small forward out of IMG Academy. Lamothe is a 6-foot-4, 180-pound combo guard out of St. Frances. Pierce is a 7-foot, 230-pound center out of IMG Academy.

“There’s no reason that [Young] should leave. He’s the perfect guy where you go, and you learn to become a quality high-level scorer at a mid-major and then it translates to the high-major level,” Gottlieb said. “Come back for another year, and you’ve got a chance to be first-team All-Big Ten.”

Many teams, such as Penn State, are benefitting from fifth- and sixth-year players this year. The Nittany Lions have put together an overall record this season of 22-13 and earned the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid in more than a decade. Fifth-year guards Jalen Pickett and Andrew Funk are two of Penn State’s top players. Pickett leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.1 points per game. Funk is shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range.

Young has played four full years of college basketball, but he is still eligible to come back for a fifth year because of the NCAA’s COVID-19 rules. Young is not quite an NBA-level player yet, but the option to play in Europe and make money there is a possibility for him if he does not want to play a fifth year in college.

Gottlieb explains that if Young stays, he would feel more connected with all the fans and past players at Maryland. Young has only been a part of the team for one year, so if he spends two years there, he will become “part of the fabric.”

“Rushing overseas when you’re a 6-1, kind of mid-range scoring guard, that’s not necessarily the smart play when you can make a nice little living and become a part of the fabric of Maryland, and that sets you up for the real NIL, which is the rest of your life,” Gottlieb said.

For more from Gottlieb, listen to the full interview here:

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