COLLEGE PARK, MD – A nation-high four Maryland men’s basketball players were featured in the CBS Sports Top 100 and 1 college basketball player rankings for the 2021-22 season.

Senior guard Eric Ayala (22), junior forward Donta Scott (49), graduate guard Fatts Russell (59) and junior forward Qudus Wahab (78) were all included in the national rankings.

The Terrapins’ four selections were tied for the most of any team in the country, joined by Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis and Texas. In the Big Ten, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue trailed Maryland with three selections each.

Player capsules via CBSSports.com:

22. Eric Ayala
Senior leader. It’s as simple and cherished as that. The Terps are the tasty Big Ten dark horse, led by Ayala’s scoring from last season (15.1 ppg). If he can improve his accuracy from behind the arc (34% on 169 attempts) by five or six percentage points he’ll have a shot at being an All-American. Why? More than half his shots last season were 3-point attempts. – Matt Norlander

49. Donta Scott 
Scott started 27 games last season while averaging 11.0 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds. The 6-8 forward made 43.8% of the 3.6 3-pointers he attempted as a sophomore. That’s the fifth-best single-season 3-point percentage in Maryland history. – Gary Parrish

59. Fatts Russell 
Russell’s a known quantity in college hoops circles — he averaged at least 14.2 points per game in each of his three seasons at Rhode Island — but he has nonetheless impressed his new team at Maryland upon his transfer. The speedy 5-11 guard is a playmaker on both ends of the court as he leaves the Rams as the all-time leader in steals and sixth all-time in assists. – Kyle Boone

78. Qudus Wahab 
Here’s one of the more intriguing transfers. Wahab, a junior, was one of the most improved players last season (12.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg), but left Georgetown for would-be rival Maryland. He took 103 shots at the rim in 26 games, per Hoop Math’s tracking; that number will rise. Mark Turgeon‘s Terps have a lot of speed, toughness, shooting and age. In Wahab, they also now have size — and another quality big in the best conference of bigs in the country. – Matt Norlander

 

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