With the season opener against Bucknell set for Nov. 2 at Xfinity Center, Maryland men’s basketball is finally shifting from offseason questions to real answers. And in the frontcourt, the biggest answer starts with Pharrel Payne.
Payne is the centerpiece, the player who can shape what this team becomes in year two under Buzz Williams. Maryland’s roster has been rebuilt around him, and the early read is clear: the Terps are deeper, bigger and far better equipped inside than they were a year ago.
That matters because Payne was already the difference-maker. The 6-foot-9 forward put up 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game and was Maryland’s best player in the 10 games he managed to play. He’s one of 11 players on the preseason all-Big Ten team, and if Maryland reaches its ceiling, he has the kind of profile that can push him into All-American territory.
For Payne, the added bodies around him bring both comfort and relief.
“A lot of relief there,” Payne said, “just knowing and looking to my side that I got a guy that’s always going to be on the court with me that can help as well as guys on the bench that are coming off the bench ready to play.”
That support system begins with New Mexico transfer Tomislav Buljan, who looks like the most natural fit next to Payne. Buljan arrives with a résumé built on production and mileage: the 23-year-old Croatian spent 2021-25 as a professional in his home country and Spain before landing at New Mexico last season, where he averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds per game and set a school record with 141 offensive rebounds.
The offense may not flow through him, but he brings exactly the kind of possession-preserving edge Maryland needs. He has shot 48% or better from the field since turning pro, and in his lone public preseason game with the Terps, he went 0-for-6 while still grabbing seven rebounds.
That kind of rebounding, along with his physical style, has already drawn praise from the coaching staff. Payne even described Buljan’s toughness as “borderline the same” as his own.
Robert Jennings II is another name that should matter. The Oklahoma State transfer may not have arrived with the same buzz, but he has a path to real minutes as a high-energy rotation piece.
Jennings earned a medical redshirt after getting hurt early last season, so his most useful reference point is his 2024-25 run with the Cowboys, when he averaged 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16.5 minutes per game. He drew fouls, defended and fit what Williams wants out of his bigs.
“One thing Coach Buzz always emphasizes to me is that I do a lot of things good, and he says that because you can put me on the floor with a lot of different people in a lot of different positions,” Jennings said. “I’ve played the five in college at a high major program, so I’ve had to figure out how to be an undersized big, but also I’m agile and athletic enough where if I have to switch on a two or three or one, you can also do that with me.”
George Turkson Jr. is the clearest sign that the rotation has changed. He logged double-digit minutes in 14 games last season and even started four Big Ten games, but with Maryland’s new depth, he may not be able to count on the same role this time around. He can still provide useful minutes at center or either forward spot, especially over the course of a long Big Ten schedule.
Maryland also put real resources into the future. Freshmen Baba Oladotun, Austin Brown and Adama Tambedou are all part of the frontcourt conversation, though not in the same way.
Oladotun came in with plenty of attention, but he had a quiet showing in Maryland’s two public preseason games. He played only two minutes in the second half and overtime against West Virginia, so the 17-year-old may need time to adjust to the physical side of college basketball.
Brown and Tambedou looked a bit more ready in their limited chances. Brown brings a 3-and-D profile on the wing, while Tambedou offers size and aggression inside.
The final piece is Alex K’Medehouto, the biggest mystery on the roster and the last player Maryland added. The 7-foot junior averaged 3.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game over the last two years at the junior college level, and he profiles as an emergency option more than a nightly rotation piece. That said, the Terps are far less likely to need that kind of stopgap help this season than they were a year ago.
At the moment, that’s the real story of Maryland’s frontcourt: Payne at the center of it, a lot more help around him, and a depth chart that looks nothing like last season’s.
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National sources and agents are casting doubt on Marylands ability to land some of the more coveted candidates unless the school is willing to make major changes to its NIL budget. In that light, Jeff Monken has emerged as a sensible fit to watch, with the Army head coachs track record and recent visits with major programs giving his candidacy a different kind of credibility as Maryland works through a search that may be defined as much by finances as football. [Read more 🡒]