Maryland’s Brenda Frese likes what she’s seeing so far

It was a much-needed time of fostering connection, after the team had welcomed in seven transfers and three freshmen during the offseason. While Maryland was coming off of an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024, it was still an uncharacteristic season for the program. Their 14 losses were the most since Frese’s first season in College Park, 21 years ago.

But so far in the 2024-25 season, Maryland is more balanced, more consistent and more cohesive. That preseason team building, Frese told The Next, is no small reason why.

“I think when you can build that chemistry off the court so quickly, it bodes well for the chemistry on the court because you have relationships built around trust,” she said. “And I think you see that, where these guys are really trusting each other on the court as well.”

Adding talent like Kaylene Smikle, who averaged over 17 points per game in her time at Rutgers, Christina Dalce, who was the 2024 co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East at Villanova and Saylor Poffenbarger, who averaged a double-double last year at Arkansas has created an array of options for the Terps to turn to. Frese also added even more experience with grad transfers Sarah Te-Biasu (16 ppg, 3.9 apg, 2.0 spg at VCU last season) and Mir McLean (12.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg at Virginia last season), and additional height with 6’6 forward Amari DeBerry coming over from UConn.

It’s all added up to a 5-0 start, including impressive wins over Duke and Syracuse, as the Terps look to compete atop the newly-expanded Big Ten.

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Over those 10 days in Croatia, the team zip-lined, shopped and played in a couple games. Any team would benefit from the extra practices and games on their schedule, but few could benefit more than this year’s Terps that brought in 10 new players and could use all the extra time to mesh that they could get.

High year-to-year turnover has been a theme now in College Park over the past few off seasons. After the 2022-23 season, Frese lost Diamond Miller and Abby Meyers to graduation, brought in Jakia Brown-Turner from NC State and added five freshmen. After this past season, the Terps graduated three players and lost four to the portal but added the seven transfers and three freshmen. It’s a reality all coaches deal with now, though few have had quite this level of change year after year.

“These rosters now are going to turn over every year, and there’s going to be new faces that are coming in,” Frese said. “Whether it’s this year with the Croatia trip, every year we go away and do a weekend getaway, so we’re really intentional about the bonding and the team building immediately from the moment they get on campus.”

Some years, those efforts prove more successful than others. This appears to be one of those years.

On Nov. 10 against then-No. 11 Duke, Maryland led wire to wire in an 85-80 win. A few days later at Syracuse, the Terps overcame an early 10-point deficit to pull off an 84-73 road victory.

“A year ago, who knows, we might not pull that game out,” Frese said of the win over the Orange. “You can kind of get a pulse of your team, and this group is really competitive. They’ve been that way from Day 1 of practices, and you can feel that in games. They didn’t even flinch against Duke. They came out and punched first and really were in command that entire game.

“It’s a mentality that I really like about this team. They’re really competitive.”

Smikle has helped to catalyze that competitiveness. The 6′ junior has elevated her game even further in College Park. Through five games, she’s averaging 18.6 points and has scored at least 20 points in the last four contests.

“The kids that have come through our program that have been those draft picks, all-Americans, that’s where we’re at,” Frese said of Smikle. “She can score the basketball at three levels. Really, really competitive. I’m excited to see how this unfolds for her because she’s a massive piece to this program.”

Smikle’s emergence has helped alleviate some of the pressure off of senior Shyanne Sellers‘ shoulders. While Sellers ranked in the 96th percentile in offensive win shares last season per Her Hoop Stats, Frese is counting on a more balanced attack to make Maryland harder to slow down.

So far, that formula has worked out well. And in the two decades Frese has spent building one of the most consistently successful programs in the sport, that balance is an attribute most commonly associated with her best teams.

“When you have that kind of balanced scoring, those have always been our successful teams here,” Frese said. “Those are the teams competing for Big Ten titles, going far in the NCAA Tournament and having a lot of success. Those are how championship teams are built and how they win a lot.”

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