We've reached the 10-game mark of this Maryland basketball season, which means it's time again for an appreciation of Maryland's best player, now and always: point guard Melo Trimble.
In Trimble's freshman season, he made it clear in his first 10 games that he'd be a great player. In the first 10 of his sophomore season, he's made it equally clear that he's one of the best players in the entire country – and still the unquestioned greatest player on a Maryland roster that is now full of them.
Before the season, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said he expected Trimble to be a "more complete player." In an interview with Testudo Times, Trimble explained he didn't leave school for the NBA after last season because he "needed to get better at certain aspects of my game - my passing ability, defense, just being a stronger and more experienced player."
So far, so good.
FG% | 2P% | 3P% | FT% | REB | AST | STL | PTS | |
2014-15 | 44.4% | 46.8% | 41.2% | 86.3% | 3.9 | 3 | 1.3 | 16.2 |
2015-16 | 53.4% | 64.0% | 40.5% | 83.1% | 2.4 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 15.8 |
That's a grab bag of goodies. He's been miles better around the basket, and his assists per game are up 70 percent.
Take these numbers with a grain of salt because they include seven out of 10 games against non-power conference opponents, while last year's include most of a season's worth of Big Ten competition.
But only a mild grain of salt, because Trimble's offensive rating only fell from 116 to 110 between non-conference and conference play last season. His stats will get a little bit worse as the Michigan States and Purdues of the world show up on the schedule, but not much worse.
Trimble's advanced indicators look really good, too. He has a 128 offensive rating, up from 117 last year. Against top-50 opponents, his ORtg has jumped from 105 to 138, which is enormous.
Oh, and there's this:
The three high points? Trimble's 24-, 23- and 25-point games against Georgetown, North Carolina and Connecticut. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games, and Trimble is as big-time as it gets.
He's got two-thirds of a season left to make a deeper mark at Maryland, but the one he's already made is pretty special. If he isn't already the definitive player of Turgeon's tenure at Maryland, he's well on his way. What happens next is up to him.