The Turgeon Compromise

Sunday night’s loss to Florida State has officially put Mark Turgeon’s head coaching tenure in question.  The loss to the Seminoles marked the second straight game in which the Terps lost by 20 or more points and allowed the opposing team to shoot over 60% from three, over 50% from the field, and hold the Terps to under 35% shooting from the field.  Not a good sign for a third year coach looking to make his first NCAA appearance.  If these games are a harbinger of what this ACC season is to be for the Terps, Turgeon may not have too many friends in College Park come March.  But friends are a fickle bunch in college basketball, and there are coaching triumphs outside of winning that can keep the natives from getting restless for a while.  Two of the most important of these triumphs are recruiting and building team chemistry. 

Think about it.  If you are landing big time recruits there is always hope that the next season will be better regardless of where you stand this season.  Recruiting may not always work, however, which is where building chemistry comes in.  If the fans can see that you have built teams in the past that could overachieve or compete in the face of adversity to reach post season play or win a championship, there is always hope that you can create the same magic with a different group of players in the future.  Turgeon has opted for the recruiting route to buttress the burgeoning fissures that have been forming throughout his tenure that question his ability to create team chemistry within his talented group of recruits.  I can sympathize with their sentiments, but a look at the lack of intangibles Turgeon has on his team may keep the Terps fans’s discontent in perspective long enough to grant Mark Turgeon some leeway, regardless of how this year plays out.

Jay Williams decided to place the blame for the baby seal clubbing he was witnessing on Sunday night on the intangible aspect of “leadership”.  Williams stated that Maryland does not have a bona fide leader, or go to guy, that can carry them through tough stretches in games.  While I agree with him, as I hold back my vomit with every fiber of my being for saying that, there are underlying deficiencies in the composition of this roster that have hindered Turgeon’s ability to develop any form of chemistry or leadership. 

Deficiency #1:  Lack of Seniors.  Here are the list of seniors Mark Turgeon has had the pleasure of coaching over the past 3 years: Sean Moseley, Berend Weijs, John Dillard, James Padgett, Logan Aronhalt, John Auslander.  Yikes.  Deficiency #2:  On the current roster, only Nick Faust and John Auslander have played more than one full season together under Turgeon, and Auslander is averaging a whopping 2.8 minutes per game.  Deficiency #3:  Turgeon has three first year players in regular rotation in Roddy Peters, Jonathan Graham, and Evan Smotrycz.  So out of the nine players in Turgeon’s rotation there are no seniors, five players with one year playing together, three new players, a three year Junior starter, and all of whom (except for Faust) have played with a grand total of one four year senior starter in their career (Faust has played with 2).  This shows that this team has not previously had the strong senior leadership or the proper amount of time necessary to coalesce as a group and learn how to play with one another effectively.  This may be the cause of some of the horrendous plays we have seen in the more team based areas of the past two games, i.e. transition defense, defensive switches, moving without the ball, setting up plays on offense, and overall mental fortitude.  Some point to the idea that Turgeon may not be a good enough coach to maximize the talent that he recruits, but that is the compromise we may have to accept in order to land these recruits.  

I do not believe Turgeon is a bad coach.  I do think that he may be a better recruiter than he is an “in-game” coach, and that is something that Terps fans may have to come to terms with.  We killed Gary for not being able to land the big recruits, especially the ones that came out of Maryland.  We finally get a guy who has been able to recruit beyond our wildest dreams.  Now we are beginning to get restless because he is not able to win in the short term with a young team with limited experience, but that is the compromise we must accept.  Turgeon has worked the recruiting angle well enough to get at least one more year, especially with a top 10 recruiting class coming in.  Terps fans must see this team for what it is: Highly talented, but under experienced, and realize that Mark Turgeon has us pointed in the right direction with recruiting.  Now, can he get us going in the right direction with coaching?