Rasheed Sulaimon will hopefully fill the scoring void left by Dez Wells. Robert Carter will provide a 6'9" 250lb force that averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds for Georgia Tech two years ago. Diamond Stone should be a nice compliment to Carter in the paint as one of the highest recruited freshman in the country. Jared Nickens will be the young sharp shooter the Terps will look to make the big shots in clutch situations. Melo Trimble will do what Melo Trimble does and just go HAM for the Terps in every facet of the game. But lost in all the fervor of transfers, recruits, and preseason number one seedings is someone who needs to be the heart and soul of this team if they are to live up to the preseason hype. That person is Jake Layman.
Jake Layman decided to return to Maryland for his senior year, which follows the track record of his loyalty to the program. Not but one year ago Layman witnessed all the members of his recruiting class, plus Nick Faust and Roddy Peters, transfer leaving the Terps in a tough situation as far a backcourt depth was concerned. Layman may not have had any intentions of transferring, but there has always been rumblings about him leaving for the NBA ever since he arrived in College Park. After enduring two years of not making the NCAA tournament, seeing his team significantly regress in his sophomore year, and subsequently having five key contributors leave the program, Layman had every right to call it a career at Maryland and try his luck in the NBA Draft. But he didn't. Layman returned to have the best statistical season of his college career, and the Terps showed everyone that the transfers were of no consequence to their ultimate aspirations. Layman has been there through the thick and thin of Mark Turgeon's tenure and he needs to provide the statistical, and more importantly, the emotional leadership that is necessary for a deeper run in the NCAA tournament in 2015.
Layman has the largest investment in the Terps success out of any player on the roster this season. A big season means a bigger spotlight on his eventual foray into the NBA Draft, and it means that his decision to stay for his senior year was not in vain. It means his four years of dedication to this program came to fruition in the form of a Conference Championship or Final Four appearance. But Layman will not see these successes if he does not embody the Terps' drive to get there. He has seen what adversity looks like in an NCAA program, and he has fought long and hard to overcome that adversity by sticking with a program that now finds itself at the subjective top of College Basketball. In order to live up to that billing Layman must channel the likes of Greivis Vasquez and Juan Dixon and be the personified image of Maryland's drive for success on the court. Layman needs to demand the ball in pressure situations. He needs to be the guy who gets the big basket when all seems lost. He needs to pick other players up when they think they are having a bad game. He needs to be that emotional leader on the court because he is the only guy on the roster who knows what a struggle it has been for this team over the past three seasons. If he can be that kind of leader, Jake Layman and the Terps may be cutting down the nets on their way to Houston come March.
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