The Terrapin men's basketball team officially added freshman center Steve Goins to its roster yesterday after the NCAA clearinghouse deemed the 6-foot-10 center eligible to play this upcoming season.
Goins, who averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks per game last season at Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago, committed to this university last June.
Scout.com ranks Goins as the 27th best center of the 2008 class, and, although not a finished product, he will likely have to log minutes right away for the Terps due to the team's lack of frontcourt depth.
Neither coach Gary Williams nor Goins was available for comment.
Last season's starting post players, James Gist and Bambale Osby, both graduated, and reserve forward Shane Walker transferred to Loyola (Md.). Those departures left the Terps with just two players (sophomores Jerome Burney and Braxton Dupree) who are 6-foot-8 or taller. Goins is now listed as the tallest Terp.
The Terps would have gotten more size from transfer center Gus Gilchrist, who took classes last spring and practiced with the team, but the nomadic big man transferred again in June, this time to South Florida, before ever suiting up with the Terps. Gilchrist left after the school lost two appeals which aimed at extending his two and a half years of eligibility.
If Gilchrist was still on the team, the Terps may not have recruited Goins. The Terps also lost center Terrence Jennings to Louisville after Jennings had give Williams an early commitment. Jennings is rated as a five-star recruit by Rivals.com.
Division I teams are allowed up to 13 scholarship players. Currently, the Terps have 12, meaning there is room for Korean-born forward Jin Soo Kim, who is expected to be added to the team once the NCAA Clearinghouse grants him eligibility, as well.
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