Is Maryland the favorite to land Texas A&M transfer?
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As Maryland head coach Buzz Williams begins the process of rebuilding the Terrapin roster, one of his former players entered the portal today. Pharrel Payne is a 6-9 forward who averaged 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game this season for the Aggies. And given the fact that he entered the portal with a "Do Not Contact" tag, Maryland fans think that could mean good news for the folks in College Park.
NEWS: Texas A&M big man Pharrel Payne has entered transfer portal with a “Do Not Contact” tag, his agency ADS Sports tells @On3sports.
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 2, 2025
The 6-9 junior averaged 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game this season. Began his career at Minnesota. https://t.co/Pnoy7BrTOI pic.twitter.com/k974mrlKDL
Given the familiarity between Williams and Payne, along with the fact that the Terps are in desperate need of talent at all positions, this could be the perfect fit for both sides.
In addition to the potential of landing Payne, there are still two big question marks lingering with Derik Queen and Rodney Rice.
Queen, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the 2024-25 season, hasn't made any official announcement as of yet. But given the fact he's a projected lottery pick in this year's NBA Draft, the prevailing belief is that he won't return to Maryland.
Rice entered his name into the portal this week, serving as a huge (but not unexpected) blow to the Maryland basketball program. Unlike other departures, there's still some hope that Rice could have a change of heart and ultimately withdraw his name from the portal. There's no doubt that head coach Buzz Williams is already hard at work exploring that possibility.
Question marks aside, it's clear that Williams has his work cut out for him if he hopes to build a championship roster for next season. In order do do that, he'll need to make some big additions via the transfer portal in the coming days.
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Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. In January of 2025, he took over as Publisher for Maryland On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.
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