COLLEGE PARK — This will be the 100th season of men’s basketball at the University of Maryland, and the celebration began late Monday with the “Midnight Mile” at Kehoe Track & Field complex at the College Park campus.
“Obviously this is a great season for us … 100 seasons of Maryland basketball,” coach Mark Turgeon said Tuesday at its annual media day.
Entering his eighth season, Turgeon said he took the Maryland job because of the influence of former coaches Lefty Driesell, who began Midnight Madness here in 1971, and Gary Williams, who led the Terps to their only national title in 2002.
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But the season begins under a cloud of controversy as the program had to report records to a federal grand jury in New York that is looking into corruption in college basketball, according to published reports.
“Well, some of the things that came out last week was the first time I heard about it,” Turgeon said.
Turgeon added the school is cooperating fully and did not further comment.
All-Big Ten Conference guard Anthony Cowan, Jr., 6-foot-10 forward Bruno Fernando, forward Ivan Bender and guard Darryl Morsell lead the returnees. Cowan is from Bowie and Morsell hails from Baltimore, respectively.
Cowan averaged a team-high 15.1 points and 5.1 assists per game last season.
Maryland hosts Lynn University in an exhibition game Oct.30, and begins regular-season play at home on Nov. 6 against Delaware.
The Terps were picked to finish eighth out of 14 teams in the Big Ten Conference by Street & Smith’s Magazine.
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