Maryland Basketball and the Possible Return (Arrival?) of Headbands, Shooter Sleeves

When a poster asked about Maryland's accessory rules in a comment thread earlier today, I was reminded of this post I wrote - but never published - right after Mark Turgeon was hired at Maryland. I figured now was as good a time as any other to break it out.

As a disclaimer, 99% of you won't care about this. But as an admitted uni-addict, I do. For years, basically ever since Gary Williams arrived in College Park (bless his soul), Maryland players have been barred from wearing any type of "accessory". Ever since Walt Williams took off his headband three games into the 1990 season, I can't think of a single player who wore so much as a Livestrong-esque wristband.

No headbands. No shooter sleeves. No sweatbands.  For whatever reason, it never happened. It's hardly a secret that it was a rule; a few players implied strongly (or straight out said) that they weren't allowed to wear various accessories, thus forcing fans to view their fully-exposed foreheads, forearms, and biceps.

But it's Mark Turgeon's program now. And if what he did at TAMU is any indication, he seems perfectly fine with all kinds of accessories. That includes shooter sleeves, t-shirts under the jersey, even dual shooter sleeves, arguably the least-classy accessorization possible, though I'm sure some will disagree (see pic). I haven't seen anyone wearing a headband, but let's be real: if he's cool with dual shooter sleeves, I think he'll be fine with a headband.

If Turge keeps his policy the same, then Maryland might finally see its players in some hot new Under Armour gear. Primary candidates for jersey accessorization are probably Terrell Stoglin, Nick Faust, and Pe'Shon Howard. Stoglin rocked a headband in most of his high school pictures, while both Faust and MVPe' were snapped in everything from t-shirts to shooter sleeves in their high school days - Faust wore a headband on at least one occasion, too.

So ... that's cool. I'm always in favor of some more swagger. Throw in a headband and a shooter sleeve to go with the very obvious confidence already coming from Terrell "I've always cooked Harrow" Stoglin, MVPe' Howard, and Nick Faust the Babyfaced Destroyer, and the swag emanating from Maryland's backcourt may just hit phenomenal levels. And, of course, it'll have the nice side effect of advertising UA's well-stocked basketball accessory backlog. Basically, if you got used to blank-slate players in College Park, you should probably prepare for a change.