From the moment Baba Oladotun, Kaden House, Adama Tambedou and Austin Brown arrived for freshman orientation, Maryland men’s basketball had a quartet that seemed to travel as one. The four first-year Terps keep showing up together, whether it’s a meal at Iron Rooster or Noodles & Company, or just another day around the program. Coordinator of player development Seth Allen noticed it quickly enough to stamp them with a name: “The Wolfpack.”
That bond matters because Maryland’s season may hinge in part on how fast those freshmen can help. Assistant head coach Lyle Wolf sees the same thing whenever he looks at the group.
“Wherever you see one, you see the other three,” he said. “All four of them have their unique skill sets on the floor, but they're very unselfish and they're willing to help the team win. And you don't see that a lot from high-caliber, especially highly-ranked high school athletes.”
The early signs have been encouraging in Maryland’s two exhibition wins over Power Four opponents. In the Oct. 11 win over Georgia Tech, the freshmen combined for 62 minutes and 35 points, a useful snapshot of how quickly they may be able to plug into coach Buzz Williams’ rotation.
Oladotun, the five-star forward and the second-highest ranked recruit in program history, didn’t have a clean scoring night against the Yellow Jackets. He finished with six points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field and missed five free throws.
But the bigger picture showed why Maryland is so excited. He finished with two steals and got to the line nine times in 24 minutes, which says plenty for a 17-year-old still adjusting to the college game.
“The overall speed and physicality, that’s something that’s a lot different than high school,” Oladotun said. “It’s been definitely a shock, but … we have a great strength program here and I’ve been eating a lot, spending a lot more [time lifting] weight. I think I’ve adjusted pretty well.”
There were raw edges, sure. That comes with the territory for a player who reclassified into the 2026 recruiting class and is young enough to spend two years developing in College Park before making a jump to the draft at the same age as other one-and-done prospects. Even so, the talent jumps off the page now.
Associate head coach Devin Johnson said Oladotun’s feel for the game stood out immediately.
“[Oladotun] might be a better passer than a scorer, and that's what impressed me. At 16, being able to get your own rebound and push it up the floor and see the floor, his ability to see the floor and pass the ball is unbelievable,” Johnson said.
“We've never had that before. We've never had his talent before.”
House, Maryland’s lone freshman guard, has also made a case for early minutes, especially because of his defense. That’s the part of the game he points to first when describing what he wants to bring to the Terps: “defense,” “toughness,” and “winning.”
Against West Virginia on Oct. 18, he looked like someone who could be in the mix right away. House logged 27 minutes, more than any other Maryland reserve and even more than starting guard Mike McNair Jr. His pressure on the perimeter fits the type of backcourt defense Williams values, and it could earn him a role from the start.
“I’m playing defense well, but I need to be better off being in the right spot every time,” House said. “I know you can’t be perfect, but I need to try my best to be perfect.”
House also chipped in 24 points across the two exhibitions, including a perfect 2-for-2 from three-point range against Georgia Tech. He said his high school shot wasn’t always a strength, but he believes it’s come along since he got to Maryland. That matters, because the Terps need more shooting after finishing last season at 31.6% from beyond the arc, fourth-worst in the Big Ten.
If House and Tennessee transfer Bishop Boswell can help stretch the floor, Maryland’s guard group could give the offense a much-needed boost.
Brown is another freshman who could tilt that part of the game. He didn’t knock down a three in either exhibition, but the confidence to let it fly was there anyway, with two attempts in 14 minutes against Georgia Tech and one more in four minutes against West Virginia. Oladotun called Brown “one of the best shooters in the country,” and Johnson went even further, saying Brown can “shoot the lights out of the ball.”
Tambedou, meanwhile, brings a different kind of value. Maryland already showed it could rebound at a solid level last season, ranking seventh in the Big Ten with 35.4 boards per game even while starting center Pharrel Payne missed 23 games because of injury. With Payne healthy and Tambedou joining forward Tomislav Buljan, the Terps could push toward the top of the conference on the glass.
That’s the sort of impact Johnson sees in Tambedou’s game. Entering his 15th season coaching under Williams, Johnson compared him to Henry Coleman III, the Texas A&M forward who started 109 games and averaged 5.8 rebounds per game across four years.
Tambedou’s numbers back up the comparison. He averaged 10.9 rebounds, including 4.5 offensive boards, per game in the Pro16 circuit last season. Against Georgia Tech, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward grabbed three rebounds, two of them offensive, in 10 minutes and looked like another body who can help Maryland in the frontcourt right away.
There’s no guarantee all four freshmen seize major roles immediately. But Maryland’s season will be shaped by how much of the “Wolfpack” can contribute now, not later.
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