Maryland basketball’s Melo Trimble to play in Australia in 2018-19

After spending a year in the G League, Melo Trimble will spend the next year of his professional career overseas, as the former Maryland point guard signed a deal with Australian NBL club Cairns Taipans.

Trimble spent the previous year playing for the Iowa Wolves, which is the G League affiliate for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, and averaged 16.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in 48 games.

He spent this past summer playing for the Chicago Bulls’ Summer League team, which is where Taipans head coach Mike Kelly scouted Trimble. Like Trimble, this is Kelly’s first year with the Taipans, as he was hired in April after serving as an assistant coach for league champion Melbourne United.

According to Fox Sports’ Olgun Uluc, Trimble is expected to replace former Dayton guard Scoochie Smith as Cairn’s starting point guard. This move doesn’t appear to be a good sign for Trimble’s NBA career, but Kelly said he will make sure he helps his new player acclimate to the international game and achieve his ultimate goal.

“We’ll help him adjust to leading our team in the international game, and he’ll also benefit from the CQUniversity Sport Science arrangement we have,” he said. “That will help him develop his game and his body to get to the NBA, which is his goal. I love having players that are trying to get to the next level. We’ll help them get there, and they’ll help us win.”

In other news

The Board of Regents is expected to announce “up to five additional members” to the university commission that will investigate the culture of Maryland football.

Freshman linebacker Nihym Anderson will transfer from Maryland football. He’s the first Maryland player to leave since the ESPN reports.

After being the first team out of the 2017 NCAA Tournament and losing its head coach, Maryland volleyball enters 2018 with a revamped roster.

Maryland field hockey comes in at No. 4 in the first NFHCA poll. The Terps’ schedule features seven teams in the top 10.

And NCAA men’s basketball is replacing the RPI with a new metric called the NET. You can read more about that here.