Maryland announces surprise signing of Swiss forward
With potential additions to its roster dwindling domestically, Maryland announced the signing of Switzerland forward Arnaud Revaz Monday morning.
Revaz will join the Terps ahead of the upcoming season and has four years of eligibility remaining. He most recently suited up for the JL Bourg basketball club in France and is a member of the Swiss national team player pool as well. He's fluent in English, German and French.
Revaz, 20, is a 6-foot-10 stretch forward who averaged 6.7 points and 3.5 rebounds in the French Pro A U-21 division last year. He’ll provide much-needed depth in the frontcourt, where the Terps are painfully thin after losing Jalen Smith, Ricky Lindo, Joshua Tomaic and the Mitchell twins since the beginning of last season. 7-foot-3 sophomore Chol Marial and Alabama graduate transfer Galin Smith are the only players on the roster taller than 6-foot-8 besides Revaz.
“We are really excited to welcome Arnaud to our program,” Terps coach Mark Turgeon said in a press release. “He will bring a great skillset and versatility to our team, having the ability to shoot 3’s, dribble, pass and score with both hands around the basket. His natural ability and feel for the game are impressive qualities for somebody who picked up the game at such a late age. He has improved immensely over the last few years and will be a great fit in our system as he joins our program in College Park.”
Revaz is an unusually late addition, as the team has already begun offseason workouts and is scheduled to start the season in just a couple months away. But Maryland has added players this late in the cycle before under Turgeon, including Lindo and another international big man whose success Revaz hopes to replicate.
“I’m super excited to get to America and join Maryland as I start a new chapter of my life,” Revaz said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to play basketball and get my education at a great university. I have a similar story to Alex Len in that we both started playing basketball late and I’m aware of the success he had at Maryland. After four years with JL Bourg, a wonderful club to whom I owe a lot, I feel ready to take on new challenges with my teammates at Maryland.”
Revaz began playing basketball at 15 when he was 6-foot-7 after he was discovered by a retired professional player. Before that, he competed in the heptathlon as a track and field athlete, specializing in the high jump. In his first showing on a big stage, he averaged 9.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in the U-18 European Championships in 2018.
It will be at least a week before Revaz joins his teammates in College Park as he was invited to attend a U-23 Swiss national team camp that starts today.
Maryland still has two scholarships available for the upcoming 2020-21 season. The program announced the additions of three walk-ons last week.
