Revived Terrapin Target Omar Calhoun Trims List to Nine, Maryland Makes the Cut

It's a bit of a slow news day, so this is worthy of some filling out: as Ben G. posted about an hour ago, four-star, 6-3 guard Omar Calhoun cut his list to nine today, and Maryland is on it. The Terps are joined by impressive company, including UNC, Kentucky, UConn, Pitt, Villanova, Seton Hall, West Virginia, and Georgetown. This is a little surprising, because although Calhoun, who is from NYC and plays AAU for NY Gauchos, was recruited by the old staff at Maryland, the new staff is yet to offer him a scholarship. In fact, I had written him off awhile ago, so to see some measure of mutual interest still there is encouraging.

Calhoun's what I like to call a volume scorer: he's not a lights-out shooter or a Justin Anderson-type athlete*, but he just fills it up. He can score in any number of ways at each level of the floor: he can hit threes or mid-range shots, can penetrate, and is athletic enough to finish at the rim. In fact, in terms of pure scorers, he's probably one of the best in the 2012 class, perhaps even the best. He will score a lot of points in college. (*This doesn't mean he's bad at these things, just that when you read a scouting report of him, neither of these are going to be headliners like they were with Anderson or Nick Faust.)

He's a little undersized at 6-3, but that can be overcome in the college game. It would be a really short backcourt with him and Allen, but as long as the wings have length there shouldn't be a problem. His weight and ball-handling ability sound like his two biggest problems going forward, and neither of those should inhibit him from contributing relatively early. He's a universal four-star prospect: #55 on Scout, #38 on ESPN, and #32 on Rivals. 

With such big competition here, you'd be right to think that Maryland is a longshot. Initially, given the huge amount of options in 2013 and the lack of scholarships there, I was a bit skeptical about devoting the resources to an almost-surely-losing battle. But the Terps needs at least one wing-type in this class, and there's a relative dearth of high-level options if Arnaud Moto, Danuel House, and Jerami Grant don't pan out. Dalonte Hill should help here: he became K-State's primary NYC recruiter in his time at Manhattan, and landed three players from Gauchos. There's a relationship there.

The only problem is that he sort-of replicates what Seth Allen brings: he's an undersized 2-guard who can score. He's a bit more wing-ish, yes, and he does it better than Allen, sure, (or at least appears to) but Maryland should be conserving scholarships right now for big men, wings, and 2013 prospects. Calhoun is none of the three, at least not really (you could make an argument that he's an undersized wing, but he's more of a combo guard). Obviously you take him if he's interested, but my first reaction says he's not a "must-get" type of recruit.

I'll try to get him added to the big board as soon as I can.