BALTIMORE, Maryland January 11, 2016 - You understand, of course, that Maryland has had a long history of Great Players at the Point Guard Position. Names like John Lucas, Steve Blake, Greivis Vásquez, Brad Davis and, going back a ways, Gene Shue, all hang from the rafters at the Xfinity Center, where the University of Maryland basketball teams play their home games, and where they honor the all-time greats with gigantic red banners bearing their names and numbers emblazened in white. And yet, it seems natural, logical and, indeed, actually compelling to add the name of Melo Trimble to that list right now, without waiting another second. Melo Trimble is that good. He is eye-popping, jaw-dropping and absolutely incredibly good; so good that you're almost tempted to say that he defines what it is to excel at the complicated and pivotal position of point guard.
The uninitiated might ask, naively, just what a point guard is and what the difference is between a good point guard and a point guard like Melo Trimble? Well, a point guard is a player on a basketball team. A typical college basketball team has between 12 and 18 players on it, of which only 5 are on the floor and 'in the game' at any given time. A point guard is charged with getting the ball across the mid-court line in ten seconds or less, then getting his team 'into' its offensive set so that it can get off a decent shot within the 30 seconds that the rules allow for. A good point guard is able to get the ball across the mid-couort line without significant assistance from the rest of his team. A good point guard has his team into its offensive set within 6-9 seconds of the moment his team gets control of the ball. A good point guard is adept at making passes to teammates who are in a position to shoot the ball immediately upon taking the pass from the point guard. A good point guard seemlessly transitions his team into their defensive set once his team has either scored a basket or lost control of the ball. A good point guard, however, is rarely, if ever, responsible for losing control of the ball or doing anything that changes the possession of the ball from his team having it to the opponent having it. Doing this is called a "turnover," and turnovers are an anathema to the idea of a good point guard. Trust me on this.
Melo Trimble has begun to define a higher plain for point guard play. Just as there is a noticeable difference between the play of an average point guard and a good point guard, there is now a noticeable difference between the play of a good point guard and a point guard like Melo Trimble. When the opponent shoots the ball, a good point guard knows instinctively where to be so that when his team either gets the rebound or makes the steal, they will know at once where the point guard is so that they can pass the ball to him to start the rush up the court. Melo Trimble, however, seems to know where each of his individual teammates prefer him to be so they can target him with that first critical pass. You cannot write that instinct down in a book or define it, because it is nothing more than instinct, you either have it or you don't. Trimble has it. Most don't.
A good point guard is able to dribble through most presses, while knowing which presses should not be dribbled through. More than any other point guard, Melo Trimble is able to do all that, plus he seems able to pass the ball over a press to a teammate at the offensive end who is ready to take the ball to the basket immediately or pull up to shoot appropriately. You'd have to watch Maryland play the last two years to know the difference between a good point guard against a press and Trimble against a press. Suffice to say, not many teams press Maryland. In the NCAA tournament last season, West Virginia intentionally knocked Trimble down so many times that he got a concussion and couldn't play anymore. After he was out of the game, they pressed Maryland and beat them. Doing what they did, however uncouth, was he only way they were going to win.
A good point guard's first pass in a normal offensive set gets the entire team moving against whatever defense is deployed against them. Melo Trimble's first pass, more than any other point guard, not only sets a teammate up to shoot immediately, it also gets front court teammates moving to the boards to grab a rebound if the shot does not go in. Saturday afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin, Maryland was playing the Wisconsin Badgers and ESPN was televising the game. Dan Dakich, one of the most respected basketball analysts anywhere, repeatedly praised Trimble. After a play where Trimble feigned a drive to the basket, then backed away while feeding a pass to Diamond Stone moving to the basket, a pass which Stone caught and quickly jammed through the cylinder, Dakich said simply, "Wow! That was brilliant! You cannot teach that!" On another occassion, Dakich called Trimble "the best I've seen" at point guard.
All of this is all well and good. But the real difference between Trimble and other good point guards is how often Trimble scores for Maryland while staying within the Maryland offense. "Scoring" point guards, or, more often, "shooting" point guards, are problematic for many teams. Most of these guards shoot too much and score way too little for the amount of shots they take. Point guards, for the most part, are expected to take fewer shots than anyone on his team. It is thought to be his job to set other players up to shoot, but not to shoot himself. Trimble seems able to score in huge bunches without taking an overabundance of shots, and this is despite the fact that many of Trimble's shots are from beyond the three-point arc. You will look at a Maryland box score after a game and see that he made at least 50% of his shots from the floor. There are more than a few nights when he makes almost all of his shots from the floor. Try to imagine how incredible that must be. He has the ball more than any other player. He decides when he will shoot and when he will pass. If he is making really good decisions, all or most of his shots will go in, all or most of his passes will make it successfully to his teammates, and he will have cirtually no turnovers. Plus, a whole lot of his passes to teammates will lead to immediate shots by the teammates, and these will be shots that go in the basket. When that happens, most times the passer - the point guard - is awarded an assist. In Saturday's crucial game, Trimble led Maryland in both scoring (21 points) and assists (10).
For Trimble, last week was an aberration. He scored but four points in Maryland's home rout of Rutgers. He told Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon that his leg was "tight," and at halftime Turgeon made the decision to hold him out of the rest of the game. On Saturday, as noted above, Maryland played at Wisconsin. It was a real Big Ten battle: close from the start, with each team clawing and scraping, trying to pull out the victory. Typically in these games the home team prevails. Saturday, the home team lost. Why? Melo Trimble.
Maryland seemed to pull away from Wisconsin as the game moved into its final stages. From a very close score, the Terps ran out to a 58-50 lead when Trimble set up Diamond Stone for a slam. At this point, there was 4:44 left to play. But, almost predictably, back came the Badgers. Bronson Koenig hit a couple of free throws, Zak Showalter made a lay-up, Showalter hit a three, Koenig hit a three. Wisconsin scored ten points during a short stretch that saw Maryland score only two Robert Carter free throws. Now the score is tied and there is only 23 seconds left. Trimble begins to dribble the ball up the floor and as he does he glances to his right at Turgeon. Turgeon gestures to him and all of Maryland's other players. By the gesture, all of Maryland's players know Turgeon isn't going to call a time out. They all know he wants Trimble to shoot the ball. Trimble dribbles away about 16 of those 23 seconds while standing back by mid-court, then he begins to move toward the basket. Zak Showalter of the Badgers is sticking to Trimble like glue and Showalter is a very good defender. But Trimble feigns left. Then, he feigns right. At the last he steps back a bit and lets fly a very long three point shot. Showalter, who did very credible work on Trimble, reacted by leaping up and at the Maryland player. You don't really picture Trimble as a leaper. He is a stocky 6'5" young man. But if you see the wire service picture of that final shot, you will be absolutely astounded at how high in the air Trimble was when he let go of his shot. His feet are above what would be the belt on Showalter's uniform.
The long soft shot went in without so much as kissing the rim of the basket. Later, Trimble says he knew it was going in when he let it go. You have to love the young man and the way he carries himself in these situations. He isn't rubbing it in anyone's face or bragging. Instead, he gets a wide smile that depicts pure joy. The Maryland players that are first to greet him, after Nigel Hays' shot for Wisconsin at the final buzzer misses by a wide margin, are Jared Nickens and Diamond Stone. Nickens wraps his arms around Trimble and lefts him off the ground. Stone, who is a good half-foot taller than Trimble, pats Trimble on the head. All three look like kids on Christmas morning.
This moment is why some of us love college basketball so much. Every game matters a lot. Melo Trimble is the best point guard in the country. He is why Maryland - now 15-1 and 4-0 in the conference - is ranked as high as they are: No. 3 now, maybe No. 2 by tomorrow when the new rankings are published. Trimble is playing on a higher plain, and enjoying every second of it. Maryland is also on a higher plain and they are just floating right now. It is a joyous thing to see.
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