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Maryland gets even stronger with addition of Rasheed Sulaimon
When Duke captured its fifth national title last month in Indianapolis, dismissed Blue Devils guard Rasheed Sulaimon had to watch the celebration from home on television.
Next spring, Sulaimon may have the chance to experience the joy his former teammates felt albeit while wearing a different uniform.
Maryland announced Monday that it has landed Sulaimon, bolstering a roster that was already one of the five strongest in the nation. The 6-foot-5 Houston native will be eligible to play his final collegiate season right away assuming he is able to earn his sociology degree at Duke this summer as expected.
Sulaimon is a high-risk, high-reward addition for Maryland because of the way his once-promising Duke career ended. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski dismissed him in January, explaining in a terse statement that Sulaimon had been "unable to consistently live up to the standards required to be a member of our program."
One month after Sulaimon's dismissal, the Duke Chronicle reported that two female students had accused him of sexual assault during the 2013-14 school year, but neither formally reported the incidents to the police or Duke's Office of Student Conduct. Sulaimon has since denied those allegations and insisted that his dismissal was a result of his poor attitude as his playing time dwindled.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon felt comfortable offering Sulaimon a second chance since he has known the former Duke guard since he was in seventh grade. Turgeon recruited Sulaimon heavily while coaching at Texas A&M before losing him to the Blue Devils.
“He was a very polite and poised young man and I recruited him while I was at Texas A&M because of his commitment to both academics and athletics," Turgeon said Monday in a school-released statement. "We competed against Rasheed on multiple occasions in the ACC and I was reminded of his dynamic playmaking ability. During our conversations with Rasheed and his parents, Kenny and Angela, Rasheed expressed the importance of proving that he is committed to being a great student-athlete and a selfless teammate. I have full confidence that Rasheed will embrace this opportunity at the University of Maryland."
If Sulaimon can avoid further off-court trouble, he could be the final piece Maryland needs to contend for a championship next season.
They have an elite point guard in rising sophomore Melo Trimble, a skilled combo forward in NBA prospect Jake Layman and a pair of good big men in coveted freshman Diamond Stone and Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter. The only potential hole was at shooting guard, where the Terps would have counted on reserves Dion Wiley and Jared Nickens to replace Dez Wells had they not found help on the transfer market.
Sulaimon projects as the heir apparent to Wells because of his knack for creating off the dribble and his ability to defend the opposing team's best perimeter scorer.
A former McDonald's All-American who averaged 11.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a freshman at Duke, Sulaimon might have been a first-round draft pick had he left school the following spring. His playing time and production diminished the following two years as other talented wings eclipsed him in Duke's rotation, leading to issues behind the scenes.
Now Sulaimon has a second chance to salvage his career and compete for a championship.
"I am extremely grateful to the University of Maryland and Coach Turgeon for this opportunity to further my education and continue to play the game I love," Sulaimon said in a statement. "I’m looking forward to starting this next chapter at Maryland."
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
