Maryland's signing of junior college guard Tyree Evans today got me thinking about just how much the Terrapins have leaned on the JUCO well to find spare parts (or more) in recent years.
It's quite a bit. And some extended research in my home library (and sifting through Al Gore's Invention) uncovered this score for junior college transfers coming into the ACC since the 2001-02 season:
Florida State: 6
Maryland: 5 (well, now 6 with Evans)
Everybody else: 6
If you include the waning Big East years for Miami and Virginia Tech, those schools move up to five and four JUCO transfers, respectively.
There's nothing inherently wrong with JUCO kids; certainly, both Parrish Brown and Bambale Osby were good guys and were probably better players than anyone would have guessed when they came to Maryland in the last few years. (Brown, in fact, was probably better than his playing time indicated, though that's an argument for another day).
But it's pretty safe to say the guys you'll collect going the JUCO route at this time of year will probably fall into one (and often two) of four categories:
* Late bloomers that you can't expect to entirely bloom.
* Problem children with so much baggage they could be selling luggage in a duty-free shop in an airport.
* Guys who just aren't very good but will bring one discernible asset (often height) into the equation.
* Players who left high school with academic issues that might or might not have been solved in the last two-plus years.
In other words, they're usually floating around for a reason.
Yes, there are occasional stars (see Francis, Steve) to be had. But that's like hitting the lottery in the ACC. You can't count on it. You almost can't even hope for it.
To wit: Osby was the first one-time junior college transfer to average double figures in the league since Devin Smith did so for Virginia in 2004-05. Other successful JUCOs this decade: Florida State's Tim Pickett and Maryland's Ryan Randle and Jamar Smith.
Make no mistake: The Terps have done about as well as could be expected with their JUCOs, especially their big men.
But it certainly makes you wonder why a program like Maryland --- which did, as coach Gary Williams will point out, win a national championship this decade --- needs to go this route and find quick fixes rather than reel in an extra guy each year from high school.
Five ACC schools (Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest) have not added a JUCO since 2001-02, so far as I can tell.
(Adding a walk-on who transferred from a smaller four-year school like Matt Causey at Georgia Tech or Wes Miller at North Carolina doesn't count).
Neither Virginia's Dave Leitao or N.C. State's Sidney Lowe has used the JUCO route. The only junior college transfer to come to Virginia Tech under Seth Greenberg is Marcus Travis, and Travis was both a walk-on and a Blacksburg native. Clemson's lone JUCO under Oliver Purnell was a one-year stint by Lamar Rice, and Miami's Frank Haith has added a junior college player in back-to-back years.
It seems odd the Terps would be occupying the same spot in a basketball matter as Florida State, no disrespect to Dave Cowens, Charlie Ward or the 1972 Seminoles intended. Yet that's how it is, reinforced by the reality Evans and his checkered history are en route to College Park.
It could work out for Maryland, which has really only whiffed on Sterling Ledbetter in recent years. But you've got to figure the well will run dry at some point. At the very least, scrounging the JUCO ranks for help isn't the best way to build stability and continuity into a program.
The scoreboard listed above is most telling. A recent national champion probably shouldn't be on there.
Then again, it probably shouldn't have three NIT appearances in four years, either.
That's a problem Evans has been brought in to help fix. Whether he and his new teammates succeed will probably be the barometer for deciding whether the continued JUCO reliance is a good idea.
--- Patrick Stevens
