Men's basketball picked to finish ninth in ACC

Following the only coach to bring a national championship to College Park is pressure enough for new Terrapins men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon.

And given the roster he inherited from his predecessor, Turgeon won't face many of the same high expectations often saddled on Gary Williams' former teams.

The Terps were picked to finish ninth in the ACC's preseason poll yesterday, the lowest ranking for the program in the 42-year history of the poll. North Carolina garnered the top spot almost unanimously, with Duke trailing right behind.

Only Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Boston College, all programs in the middle of massive rebuilding projects under relatively new coaches, were picked to finish worse than the Terps.

Turgeon, of course, is already used to the little respect the Terps have received across the country.

"I've heard it a lot," Turgeon said at the team's Media Day last week. "And then you pick up the [preseason college-basketball] magazines and they seem to agree with everyone. … What the magazines have come out and said hasn't hurt our recruiting."

"I don't care where we're ranked; at the end of the day, it's where you finish," guard Sean Mosley said at yesterday's ACC Media Day in Charlotte, N.C. "A lot of teams that are underdogs usually finish on the top, like my freshman and sophomore year. Ever since I've been at Maryland, we were always an underdog, but we've found some way to get through and use it as motivation to work hard each and every day at practice."

Still, Turgeon will lead a team featuring no proven post threats and just one player who has started more than 15 games.

"I've taken over programs that were in bad shape," Turgeon said. "This program is not in bad shape. OK, it's not. It's not where we want it to be and it's not where it was 10 years ago, but it's not in bad shape. So we're closer to where we need to be."

With forward Jordan Williams off to the NBA, no Terps earned preseason All-ACC honors. North Carolina led the way with preseason Player of the Year Harrison Barnes, along with fellow preseason All-ACC members John Henson and Tyler Zeller. Duke guard Seth Curry, Miami guard Malcolm Grant and Virginia forward Mike Scott filled out the preseason All-ACC list.

Terps freshman guard Nick Faust, a highly touted recruit who decided to stay with Turgeon this spring despite Gary Williams' retirement, received one vote for preseason rookie of the year. Duke guard Austin Rivers won the newcomer honor handily, with 57 of the 59 votes.

ceckard@umdbk.com