Questions abound for men's basketball before exhibition

Asked yesterday what his starting lineup would be for tonight's opening exhibition game against Northwood, Terrapins men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon playfully flipped an imaginary coin in the air before catching it against his hand.

He let out a thin smile. For a team that has seen as many personnel changes in the past six months as almost any other program in the country, Turgeon doesn't have many answers for what his rotation or starting lineup could be tonight. At one point, he even half-jokingly called Seahawks coach Rollie Massimino asking whether his depth-starved Terps could back out of their game against the NAIA's top-ranked team.

Turgeon will admit that his team's first appearance in Comcast Center might not look pretty. But after a drama-filled three weeks of practice, they're eager to face something other than questions about injury and eligibility, and even keener on seeing an actual opponent.

"We're nowhere near ready for a game, but we're going to play one anyway," Turgeon said.

With starting point guard Pe'Shon Howard out with a broken foot, Turgeon had to reshuffle his entire team just a week ago. The injury forced the coach to move guard Terrell Stoglin to the point and teach true freshman guard Nick Faust the position as a backup.

Add in the lengthy investigation of redshirt freshman center Alex Len, which concluded Wednesday, and the Terps have had a roller-coaster first 20 practices, a period of change surpassed only by their tumultuous offseason.

This week, though, Turgeon and the Terps looked ahead.

"We've had a really, really good week of practice considering all the emotional stuff this team is going through," Turgeon said. "We've gotten a lot better. Now whether we'll show up Friday, we'll see."

Len, who the NCAA ruled must sit out the first 10 games of the season, will be in uniform for the Terps tonight. Even though the 7-foot-1 center has had just two practices with the team since the end of the NCAA review, Turgeon said he will play.

The Seahawks will be the lone competition the Terps face in a public setting before the start of the season on Nov. 13.

"We're going to approach this game like a regular-season game," guard Sean Mosley said. "Once the lights are on and the people are in the stands, it's a game to me."

Mosley, Stoglin and Faust are all expected to start, but Turgeon hadn't decided what his frontcourt will look like, saying it will change "15 times between today and tomorrow." No matter who starts, forwards James Padgett and Ashton Pankey and center Berend Weijs will all garner major minutes.

"I want us to guard better, I want us to transition better, rebound better and act like we've been coached defensively a little bit," Turgeon said of his expectations for tonight's game. "They're really going to test us."

TERPS NOTE: Turgeon said Howard had an MRI earlier this week and a CT scan yesterday. He will see a foot specialist Monday, and Turgeon said he still expects the sophomore to miss 12 weeks.

He also said the team most likely will not appeal the NCAA's decision regarding Len, who a team spokesman said is classified as a redshirt freshman with four years of eligibility remaining.

ceckard@umdbk.com