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Maryland basketball received some good news on the recruiting trail Tuesday, and a little bit of expected bad news too.
Mark Turgeon’s staff secured official visits for two of its top targets in the 2018 class. Four-star small forward Keldon Johnson and five-star center Moses Brown both locked in visits for late September.
Johnson, the No. 2 shooting guard and No. 15 overall player in his class, locked in a Sept. 23 visit to College Park. Less than a week later, Brown, the No. 2 center and No. 10 overall, will make the trip down from New York on Sept. 28, according to his 247Sports profile.
Johnson was expected to take one of his official visits to Maryland, after seeing College Park during a team camp in June. Though he picked up an offer from Kentucky on an unofficial visit Tuesday, the Terps are still very much in the running. Maryland’s newest assistant coach, Kevin Broadus, has taken the lead on Johnson’s recruitment, having recruited his older brother Kaleb when Broadus was Georgetown.
Johnson will take two visits before staying at Maryland, seeing Texas on Sept. 1 and Florida State Sept. 8. Brown has just one other visit currently scheduled, going to see Louisville on Sept. 2.
On other fronts, five-star point guard Immanuel Quickley’s final four is four no more. Quickley announced he’s no longer considering Maryland in a televised interview Wednesday night.
The Terps slowed down on recruiting Quickley in recents months, so it’s not surprising they’re officially out of the running. This isn’t usually the type of announcement that warrants a television interview, but can’t knock the hustle. Do you.
In terms of other point guards targets, Maryland has recently focused its attention on four-star Devon Dotson. He took an unofficial visit to College Park at the beginning of the summer, but the Terps haven’t yet secured a follow-up. Dotson is set to begin an official visit to Kansas on Aug. 25, as Bill Self’s staff is currently considered the frontrunner for his services with Florida also in the mix.
Maryland’s 2018 class is already No. 8 in the country, with two top-50 commits in four-stars wing Aaron Wiggins and power forward Jalen Smith. On paper, Johnson’s and Brown’s games work complementary to Wiggins’ and Smith’s, though it will be tough for Maryland to continue to fight off the blue-bloods on the trail.
In other news
Volleyball brought in its best recruiting class ever, but its schedule will put this team to the test.
Women’s basketball ran through pool play in the World University Games, en route to a quarterfinal berth against Canada on Friday.
As opening week draws near, InsideMDSports projected the Terps’ depth chart. This is high on Piggy, but the in our eyes the quarterback competition seems a little closer. Other than that this is pretty consistent with what we’ve witnessed at the team’s open practices.
New Timberpup Melo Trimble is hosting a youth basketball camp this weekend. He’ll be in Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday, before hosting the camp at his alma mater Bishop O’Connell on Sunday.