The wait is over for University of Maryland basketball fans, we can all rejoice, Melo Trimble will be returning to College Park next season.
The quick 6 foot 3 inch terrapin guard has been a phenomenal player at UMD building up the program in more ways than people may truly realize.
In his first year Trimble was highly regarded as one of the best guards in the country, having flashes of true greatness in clutch moments such as a powering his team to victory against Frank Kaminsky’s Wisconsin Badgers. But Trimble’s sophomore season had many ups and downs.
After the best season in years at College Park big recruits flooded to the Terps in hopes of playing alongside the quick guard. Mainly UMD picked up Diamond Stone and grabbed Rasheed Sulaimon, the only player to ever be kicked out by Duke, in his senior year.
These two, along with multiple others, made it seem as if the terrapins would have a shot at the national championship under Trimble’s reign.
But with multiple weapons at his disposal Trimble seemed almost confused, he had an internal conflict of whether or not to take his shot and would end up missing half the time.
Last year he had Dez Wells at his side, a guard who could score at will and was always there to take the pressure off the young guard’s shoulders. But without Wells, Trimble seemed to struggle in a multitude of games.
Throughout the season you could see his confidence dwindling and the Terps starting to lose more and more games.
As the tournament rolled around Trimble played better than his usual season performance but it was not enough, as UMD was taken out by an extremely talented Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen.
Trimble definitely made the best decision for himself and UMD by deciding to extend his stay at College Park.
He is a fan favorite, loved by the basketball community and can get UMD’s joyous crowd up on their feet with just a single three-pointer.
He brings in strong recruits, Trimble was the first big recruit to arrive in Maryland in quite some time and he clearly played a large part in Stone’s commitment.
Finally, he will be a veteran leader for the young players like Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter arriving in the fall. It is extremely important that Cowan and Huerter are taught by Trimble so that they can live up to their full potential and make an impact on UMD’s legacy.
For Trimble he took his chance and chose the best option for a small guard looking to make it big in the NBA. After visiting the draft, seeing his stock, and finding his way he decided that his talents would not be going to the NBA but back to College Park.
So as I was vigilantly scrolling through twitter seeing UMD players Damonte Dodd and Andrew Terrell joke about Trimble’s decision; “I felt a marvelous sigh of relief upon seeing my favorite point guard will be back home next year.”
