Maryland Basketball: Terrell Stoglin Understands Not Starting In Terps' Opener

The Maryland Terrapins beat North Carolina Wilmington on Sunday in their first game of the season, but the big story that came from that game was Terrell Stoglin, arguably Maryland's best overall player and unarguably their best scorer, wasn't in the starting lineup. He came into the game very shortly thereafter and played the most minutes of anyone on the team, but it seemed like Mark Turgeon wanted to send a message by not starting him. According to Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times, it had something to do with defense.

“I heard all last year I couldn’t play defense, so it’s something I wanted to work on and get in better shape, and I felt like I did a great job today,” Stoglin said.

 Turgeon played point guard himself at Kansas and he has pretty high standards for the position. I think Pe'Shon Howard probably fit that mold much better than Stoglin does, but with the broken foot Howard suffered, Stoglin is all that is left. But the important thing is that Stoglin realizes that Turgeon is coming from a helpful place.

“He feels at all times I should be ready, I should have a great attitude,” Stoglin said. “I need to be more vocal, he says. Everything he tells me, I’m just going to try to do and just become a better basketball player. What he has to say is to help me, not hurt me.”

It takes a strong player to be able to handle that kind of adversity and criticism, particularly when you were expected to be the best player on a team before the season began.