College basketball season is here. Along with new head coach Kevin Willard, there are seven new faces on the Maryland men’s basketball roster this season. 

One new player played for Willard at Seton Hall, four players are from Maryland, and the other two live in other parts of the world. 

These players join returners, forward Donta Scott and Julian Reese, and guard Hakim Hart, among others.

The two biggest additions to the men’s basketball team are graduate student guards Don Carey and Jahmir Young, both Prince George’s County natives. Carey and Young are projected to be in the starting lineup along with Scott, Reese, and Hart. 

Maryland is Carey’s fourth school. Most recently Carey played for Georgetown for the last two seasons. 

“It was so close to home,” Carey said. “I played against Willard for two years, so I’m familiar with his style and how he coaches. Maryland is a great university to play basketball at. The winning culture here is real.”

Carey has experience facing Willard’s Seton Hall teams as a Hoya. Carey was 2-4 against Seton Hall in his Hoya career. 

Young spent his entire collegiate career at Charlotte where he was one of the Niners’ best players.   

“It was a great opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Young said. “Being able to play in front of my family was something I always wanted to do and I was able to do that growing up.” 

Junior guard Jahari Long followed Willard south to Maryland after spending his first two years of college at Seton Hall, which was hampered by COVID-19 and injuries. Long caught Covid early in his freshman season, taking him out of the rotation, and surgery to repair torn cartilage in his left knee cut his sophomore season short.  

“I picked Maryland because Coach Willard has displayed the trust and belief that I could get back to where I was before my injury,” Long said. 

Long is from Houston and loves the Houston Rockets, Astros, and Texans. Long’s favorite Rockets players are Steve Francis and James Harden. Francis is a former Terp from Takoma Park, Maryland.  

Center Caelum Swanton-Rodger, is the tallest member of the Terps at 6’11” and is one of two freshmen on the team. Swanton-Rodger is from Calgary, Canada. 

“I wanted to be at a school that had a rich basketball culture, great fan base, and of course Kevin Willard coming in who is a great coach, so it was really a no-brainer,” Swanton-Rodger said. 

Swanton-Rodger’s goal this season is to average eight points per game while solidifying his spot on the roster. 

The other freshman on the team is a Maryland native.

Guard/forward Noah Bachelor joins the team after playing his senior year at IMG Academy in Florida.

“This is my dream school so being here is definitely really special,” Bachelor said. 

Bachelor believes he will be an impact freshman and has set lofty goals of earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year or other Freshman first team award lists. 

A surprise walk-on also joined the team fairly recently.

Carson Dick is a walk-on junior guard from Glenelg, Maryland. Dick was a practice player for the team before officially joining the team this week. 

“Carson had great energy and personality [at walk-on tryouts],” Willard said. “He’s a lefty and takes a lot of bad shots and gets yelled at.”

Grad transfer Patrick Emilien is the other Canadian on the roster, and Maryland is his third school. 

“I picked Maryland because I got in contact with (assistant coach) Tony Skinn, and I was able to build a relationship with him,” Emilien said. “My sister also went to Howard University, so I was familiar with the area, and I knew how big of a deal Maryland basketball was, so as soon as I got that opportunity, I couldn’t say no.” 

Emilien is from Toronto, where French was his first language. Emilien and junior forward Arnaud Revaz, who is from Switzerland, will only speak French to each other on the court. 

Emilien played for Central Michigan and St. Francis in New York, where his teams struggled. The most successful team Emilien played on was his sophomore season at Western Michigan when the Broncos finished 13-19. 

“Right now, my focus is just coming together as a team and just winning as many games as we can,” Emilien said. “I think we are going to surprise some people.”