5 Star Center Diamond Stone Committed To Maryland Last Night

ESPN - Stone, a 6-foot-10 center out of Dominican High School in Milwaukee, is ranked No. 7 in theESPN 100 for the 2015 class. He chose the Terrapins over Wisconsin, Connecticut and Oklahoma State. Connecticut seemed to have momentum coming out of the summer, while in-state Wisconsin had the buzz in the fall. Over the past couple of months, though, Maryland made a strong push to overtake both schools. One factor in the Terrapins’ favor was the Under Armour connection; the shoe company sponsored Stone’s AAU team.With Stone in the fold, Maryland will have one of the best inside tandems in the country next season. He will combine with Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter, who sat out the 2014-15 season. Potential NBA draft pick Jake Layman also returns in the frontcourt.  The Terrapins also bring back leading scorer Melo Trimble, a guard who averaged 16.2 points as a freshman.

This is ridiculous. Maryland got in late to recruiting him and then made a strong push and landed him. I didn’t say a word about him all season and tournament because I didn’t want to get Harrison Twin’d, but damn, they actually landed him. Not the number 7 center in the country, but number 7 player overall. Some sites have him in the top 5. Is going to step in next season and play with Melo Trimble, immediately making them one of the top 1-2 combos in the country. Add in a returning Jake Layman and Robert Carter who was the number 33 recruit in 2012, who averaged 11 and 8 for GTech two seasons ago before transferring and sitting out this last season. With Maryland only losing one impact player in Dez Wells, this team is looking scary good going into next season. Huge, huge get for the Terps. Could not be more excited.

PS: Goes without saying, but Diamond Stone is such an outrageous name.