AP As Maryland continues the process of preparing for their first season as a member of the Big Ten, one of the key players for Mark Turgeon is senior forward Evan Smotrycz. Smotrycz, who began his college career at Michigan, averaged 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest in 2013-14 for a team that finished 17-15 and missed out on postseason play.
Unfortunately for Smotrycz and the Terrapins, his prepartions for the 2014-15 season hit a bump in the road Friday afternoon.
According to Daniel Martin of CSN Baltimore, Smotrycz suffered a sprained left ankle at the end of practice. As a result he’ll miss out on the team’s Midnight Madness scrimmage, with the basketball program stating via its Twitter account that Smotrycz will be re-evaluated on Saturday.
Smotrycz is Maryland’s leading returning rebounder from last season, with Jake Layman (5.0 rpg) and Dez Wells (4.3 rpg) being next in line. Among the other front court players Maryland will look for contributions from this season are senior Jon Graham, sophomore Damonte Dodd and freshman Michael Cekovsky.
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- lenbias34pt - Oct 18, 2014 at 12:39 PM
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Evan defends like he doesn’t want to hurt the opponents feelings. Considering his lack of athletism, it’s pretty clear why Smotrycz was more part of the problem than the solution last season.
A team counting on a # of Freshman and still I’d say Evan’s is the biggest issue coming into this year. Hopefully Dodd (Soph super athlete) will take the majority of Evan’s minutes with the freshman. Unless after 4 years of college ball – and disappointing 2 different college coaches – Smotrycz has awoken and evolves into a Bill Lambier type defender as opposed to a witness to dunks and layups.
Darn shame, because the young man is a talented Offensive player.
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- annapterp - Oct 18, 2014 at 11:19 PM
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Agree he can’t play defense to save his life. He’s a bench player and not a starter. Hopefully the freshman Cekovsky will take the minutes from him as they get into the season and he becomes a super sub which should be his role.
