The program player

Mark Turgeon never made what he thought of Nick Faust a secret.

Following Gary Williams' retirement as coach of the Terrapins men's basketball team, Turgeon arrived from Texas A&M as his replacement amid the Terps' most chaotic offseason in decades.

All-ACC center Jordan Williams had just chosen to forgo his final two years of eligibility and enter the NBA Draft.

Commits Sterling Gibbs and Martin Breunig had jumped ship, opting for more certain futures at Texas and Washington, respectively.

All that left Turgeon scrambling to establish an eight-man rotation made up of scholarship players.

Faust, the shining star of the recruiting class, decided to stay. And while his performance through six games so far this season has been rocky, Turgeon's expected revival of the Terps will likely mirror the development of his prized freshman.

"We couldn't lose Nick," Turgeon said before the season's start. "A&M hadn't hired a coach yet, and if we had lost Nick, I may have gone back to A&M. You think I'm joking, it was close.

"I think we were down to seven guys and Nick gave us eight. We had to have Nick."

Like the new-look Terps (3-3) under Turgeon, Faust's development isn't going to happen overnight.

That much has been obvious so far for the freshman. He came here with the expectation that he'd assume the role of a sharpshooting, slashing wing, but after Pe'Shon Howard suffered a broken foot in the preseason, Turgeon had to find a quarterback for his offense.

The obvious choice was sophomore combo guard Terrell Stoglin, who manned the point some last season and is clearly the Terps' most explosive offensive talent.

But it soon became apparent that the high-scoring Stoglin was better suited to play off the ball, which left Turgeon with only one real option to run the point: Faust.

The transition's been, well, pretty ugly for the rangy Baltimore native, who will help lead the Terps against Notre Dame in the BB&T Classic at Verizon Center on Sunday.

For every explosive charge to the basket or flashy, no-look pass, there have been plenty of unsightly mistakes.

A lauded shooter in high school, Faust has been unable to find any semblance of a stroke from the perimeter so far.

He's knocked down just three of his 22 3-point attempts, and more often than not, those shots either clang off the backboard or miss the hoop completely.

He also has two more turnovers than assists.

And in more than 30 minutes per game, Faust has shot just 25 percent from the floor.

It's obvious that he wants to take over. He wears his emotions on his sleeve on the court, and the frustrations of his early-season inconsistency are painted on his face as he walks to the bench during nearly every stoppage.

At one point in the second half of Tuesday's loss to Illinois, Faust knocked down jumpers on consecutive possessions, and he looked to be finally getting into the flow. Then came three straight ugly shots, and the Fighting Illini soon took their first lead of the game.

In the ensuing media timeout, Turgeon didn't hide his annoyance with Faust's decision-making, chewing him out in the team huddle.

But just as it's way too soon to expect anything out of Turgeon — which is lucky for him, considering the Terps' ugly losses to Alabama and Iona in Puerto Rico — it's still too early to expect much more from Faust.

Even if he were playing a position with which he had experience, his huge role as a freshman on a weak team is a lot of pressure for any rookie.

Now he's trying to run an offense that, for stretches of time this season, has looked nothing short of lost.

"Making the transition from shooting guard to point guard is definitely a big thing," Faust said before Tuesday's loss to Illinois. "Me trying to lead the team, playing a big role [at] a big position, it was hard at first. I'm starting to get a hang of it now, the flow of the offense.

"I'm just trying to do whatever to help us win. I have to make the adjustment quick."

The best thing for Faust will be the line of cupcakes coming up on the Terps' schedule. The Radfords and Samfords of the basketball world will give Faust a chance to refine his game against teams that can't match his athleticism.

Before he gets to them, though, he and his teammates will have to deal with the Fighting Irish (5-3) for one final opportunity against a power-conference team before they get to ACC play.