Maryland’s Melo Trimble Declares For NBA Draft


Maryland point guard Melo Trimble is leaving College Park. The Terps star has declared for the 2017 NBA Draft.


The Melo Trimble era at Maryland is coming to an expected early end.

The Terps’ junior point guard has chosen to give up his final year of college eligibility and to declare for the 2017 NBA Draft. It comes one year after he decided to test the NBA waters without signing with an agent, ultimately withdrawing his name to return to school. This time around, though, Trimble will sign with an agent and end his three-year run helping improve Maryland basketball.

“I am confident and excited to pursue an opportunity to play in the NBA,” Trimble said. “I am proud of what my teammates and I were able to accomplish these past three seasons at Maryland. I developed many great relationships and friendships and together we able to create some very special moments for Maryland basketball.

The leading scorer for head coach Mark Turgeon in all three of his seasons, Trimble went to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments after the program had endured four straight years without an appearance in the Big Dance. He twice earned first-team all-Big Ten recognition for his performance. The Upper Marlboro, MD, native is one of four players in team history to record 1,600 points, 400 assists and 150 steals, joining Greivis Vasquez, Walt Williams and Johnny Rhodes.

Trimble arrived to Maryland as a McDonald’s All-American, which was the first such recruit for the school in 13 years. Led by Trimble and Dez Wells, the Terps finished second in the Big Ten in Trimble’s freshman year. His debut season was actually his best one, as he shot just 31.7 percent from 3-point land and struggled with turnovers in 2016-17. With this year’s draft loaded with elite point guard prospects, Trimble may be more of a late-first or early-second round pick.

While Trimble’s departure hurts because he was the team’s go-to guy, Maryland has a lot of young talent that is expected to return in 2017-18. Freshmen Justin Jackson, Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter were the team’s next top scorers this year for a team that went 24-9 and fell to Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Florida center Bruno Fernando and Baltimore guard Darryl Morsell will join the fray as freshmen next season to help the team try once again to reach the NCAA Tournament.

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