Freshmen Terps shuffle minutes

It's like a game of musical chairs, just without the music.

With six true freshmen and another redshirt freshman, it's sometimes a mystery as to which Terrapins get the most minutes on the court in coach Gary Williams' rotation.

Through eight games, Braxton Dupree leads the group of freshmen with 13.8 minutes per game. The freshmen have all seen playing time - some plenty more than others, as expected - but it's also a guess as to who plays when and who gets in first.

"We really don't have a set rotation right now," freshman swingman Cliff Tucker said. "So everybody's just trying to work their way up so they can be in the main rotation once Coach gets to that."

Many of the freshmen's minutes have fluctuated so far. Take Dino Gregory, for instance. The 6-foot-7-inch, 227-pound forward averaged 8.7 minutes in the Terps' first three games but has seen just 11 total minutes in the past five games, including two "Did Not Plays."

Against UCLA and Missouri, guard Adrian Bowie averaged 13 minutes. But against Illinois and Virginia Commonwealth, Bowie only averaged seven minutes.

Tucker, who has been arguably the biggest spark off the bench lately, has seen his minutes go from as high as 28 to as low as four. He said knowing he only has a limited amount of time on the court puts more pressure on him to perform well.

"Yeah, there probably is a little more pressure," Tucker said. "When you go in there, you really don't have that much time. You have to go in there and do something in order to stay on the floor. So it's kind of a little bit of pressure - you just gotta take advantage of the opportunity."

Lately, forward Jerome Burney has earned praise and minutes. After playing for a combined 13 minutes in his first two games, Burney has averaged 10.7 minutes per contest in the past three.

Burney is getting his first chance to make an impact after missing all of last season with injuries.

"Jerome Burney didn't hurt us at all when he was out there on the court [in 10 minutes against Illinois]," Williams said. "He made a great follow-up on that one play. We need his size, and once again, he had two broken bones last year. People think that that doesn't affect your development as a player, but it does. You miss that competition no matter how hard you train - that's 35 games you didn't play last year. That can be tough."

As evidenced by the varying amounts of playing time, Williams has tried different lineups throughout games and has constantly tinkered with rotations.

"The reason they get there, where they go in first, is from what they did in practice," said Williams, who noted he doesn't get carried away by just one encouraging performance.

At times, the freshmen have been a spark, such as Bowie's performance against Missouri: six points and a number of hustle plays that didn't show up in the box score. But what did show up were his six turnovers.

"Adrian Bowie played like a freshman. You've got to live with that," Williams said after that game.

When Williams moved Dupree to the starting lineup in place of senior forward Bambale Osby, he did it because he wanted some experience off the bench. And even as a starter, Dupree isn't guaranteed a lot of minutes. He played just 12 against VCU.

"We have a big part of the team, too, just as everyone else," Dupree said of the freshman class. "We make up more than half the team. We're trying to learn, just like everyone else. Every time I step on the floor, I need to play with a lot of energy."

Who knows how long the guessing game of freshmen minutes could last? It could go until the end of December, or even longer. It's up to the players to prove themselves on repeated occasions in practice and in games to garner more minutes.

And there's no doubt those minutes are up for grabs.

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