Mark Turgeon and Maryland's basketball team will be back in action next week, as the Terps head to the Bahamas for a summer tour. Maryland will play against the Bahamas All-Stars on Tuesday, August 6; the Commonwealth Giants on Wednesday, August 7; and the Grand Bahamas All-Stars on Friday, August 9.
The Giants are a Bahamian team that finished tops in the John Archer division of the NPBA last season. The other two are all-star squads. Maryand, of course, has a Bahamian player on their roster in the form of Shaquille Cleare. There is no word yet on radio/television coverage of the event, but it seems unlikely at best.
Here are a pair of quotes Turgeon gave to umterps about the event:
"We are excited about this great opportunity for our young team to have this inavaluable experience in playing in the Bahamas," said Turgeon. "This is a terrific experience to learn about another culture, and to doing it together as a team over the summer helps with our overall chemistry as we begin to prepare for the upcoming season."
"I like the intensity and focus we've had over the summer," Turgeon said. "We have done some great work on the court over the last month and I am really looking forward to seeing how we respond in the Bahamas. We will play three talented teams and it will give us a good indication about the type of progress we have made."
As Maryland tries to move forward from the Alex Len area, this will be a good testing ground for some new faces (Roddy Peters, Evan Smotrycz and Damonte Dodd) and some old ones trying to fill a bigger role (Charles Mitchell, Cleare, Dez Wells). We will keep you updated as the tournament progresses.