COLLEGE PARK, Md. — As the world was learning about how great freshman point guard Melo Trimble was last season, with Maryland clawing its way back into the NCAA Tournament field for the first time in five years, there was an open secret around College Park.
The best player in the program wasn’t even playing yet.
That knowledge may have been overshadowed by the arrival of freshman phenom Diamond Stone and Duke transfer Rasheed Suilamon, but 2015 brought another new member to the Terps’ starting lineup. If you didn’t know who Robert Carter Jr. was coming into the season, you certainly do now. Maryland’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder might be the key for the now second-ranked Terrapins’ chances at a deep run in March.
“He was a guy I felt I had to have, had to get,” head coach Mark Turgeon said at the time of Carter’s transfer.
But Carter is a far more complete player and athlete now than he was when he first arrived on campus. How he got to this point in an interesting case study in sports science, nutrition and analytics.
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“When I decided to come to Maryland, I knew we had a chance to be good with the recruiting class that was coming in,” Carter says after a nine-point, seven-rebound, 18-minute tuneup in a 31 point win over Bowie State earlier this week. “But things fell into place even better. I had no expectation that we were going to be a top five team to start the season. “
Carter joined Maryland after a solid freshman year at Georgia Tech. Just as a mass exodus of transfers were leaving College Park, Carter swam against the stream, seeing an opportunity. As part of his decision, though, he would lose his sophomore year of eligibility and be forced to sit out.
That year might have been the most important part of Carter’s development.
“I wouldn’t let Robert call it a year off,” says KyleTarp, Maryland’s director of basketball performance. “It was a ‘get better’ year.”
Just as the Maryland program took on a new shape, so did Carter.
According to the 2013-14 Georgia Tech roster, Carter was 6-foot-8, 250 pounds as a freshman in Atlanta. He posted a solid 11.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, but was more of a classic post player, banging bodies inside. The key to unlocking his potential came in transforming his body type to one that could accomplish more than a traditional big man is expected to do.
Thankfully, Carter had a foundation that allowed for that transition, one that began years ago.
“When I was growing up my father just tried to teach me everything,” Carter says. “He didn’t know how tall I was going to be, so he put me at point guard, he let me handle the ball, I shot the ball, dribbled the ball, different things like that. And as I continued to grow, got to middle school, high school, I started to play in the post, develop that aspect of my game. It was just the best of both worlds.”
But to unlock Carter’s full potential, Tarp needed to physically remake him.
“The first thing we did was identify areas and determine what we needed to do to improve them,” says Tarp.
Before any weights or exercises, that meant cleaning up Carter’s diet. Tarp focused on increasing Carter’s hydration, cutting out excess sugars and other calories, and putting him on a better schedule for when to eat.
“When you finally decide to eat right, just knowing what to eat, that’s more than half the battle to lose weight,” says Carter. “My nutrition got really tight and the weight just started to come off. Then we added physical conditioning and weight training, different things like that. It all just came together.”
By the time this year rolled around, Carter stood at 6-foot-9, 235 pounds, visibly leaner and stronger than he had ever been. Tarp says he’s the strongest guy on the team, but that ultimately it’s not about how strong or fast you can prove yourself in a drill.
“We’re not training for the test, we’re training for the game,” explains Tarp, who then relays the fundamental question that defines his training and nutrition decisions.
“Can we create an athlete that can be more successful in Coach Turgeon’s system?”
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Basketball is at a turning point, as teams at all levels of the sport are following the combination of the analytics revolution and the Golden State Warriors-ification of the game. And while no team has anyone quite like Steph Curry, everyone is in search of their Draymond Green.
There are a number of oversized wings across college hoops, including even the Terps’ own Jake Layman, whose 6-foot-9 frame makes him a tough guard. But few have the low post training and discipline to create Green’s overall presence in the way that Carter does.
“He’s the strongest guy on the team right now in the traditional sense, but he can do a lot of things that 6’9”, 235-pound guys can’t usually do,” says Tarp.
In last month’s enormous home win over #3 Iowa, Trimble struggled, going just 2-7 from the floor and dishing out only three assists. Despite fouling out late in the game, Carter scored a game-high 17 to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Coming out of the under-8 minute timeout tied at 50, Carter had a steal and knocked down a pair of jumpers, putting Maryland in front. Out of the under-4, he blocked an Anthony Clemens three-pointer that would have given Iowa the lead, then fed Jake Layman for a layup, ensuring the Terps would never trail again.
And he did all that while locking down national player of the year candidate Jarrod Uthoff to a season-low nine points on 2-13 from the floor.
Carter has scored in double figures in 20 of Maryland’s 25 games, tied with Stone for the most on the team. He’s grabbed seven or more rebounds 14 times. But perhaps more impressively, and more to indicative of the versatile performer he has become, he’s had at least one assist, block and steal in the same game nine times, scoring at least eight points and grabbing at least four boards in each.
“I feel like I’m a little different from everybody, so we fit together that way,” says Carter. “Everybody’s a little different, but we all jell together in our own way.”
When Diamond Stone was limited to 15 minutes because of foul trouble, Carter pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds in a 62-56 overtime win against Northwestern.
When Wisconsin jumped in front in the final 10 minutes of their meeting in Madison, Carter came up with three blocks, a rebound and an assist in 42 seconds, helping Maryland pull away.
Against the formidable front line of #18 Purdue, Carter stretched the floor, burying a pair of early threes and finishing 4-6 from deep as the rest of his team missed all 12 of their long-range shots. His 35.1 three-point percentage is actually better than Trimble’s, trailing only Sulaimon among the starting five.
And that’s why Carter is so important. Maryland may have the most talented starting five in the country. But when one of them struggles — any one of them — Carter has the skill set to help fill the void. It was all on display in his best offensive game of the year, a blowout of Ohio State.
That’s crucial as the team looks ahead to the NCAA Tournament. Even if they snag a 1 or 2 seed, the Terps will likely need to beat six consecutive 20-win teams to bring the first national championship since 2002 back to College Park. You can be sure that not every player will put together six good games. But Carter provides insurance against the inevitable.
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The year spent waiting, spent getting better, practicing without the reward of playing, might be the best thing that ever happened to not just Carter, but the Terps as well.
“I thought the send out year for me was going to be a big year for me to be able to get my body right, get to know this team and lead them this year,” Carter says.
Tarp also believes it got his mind right. Carter’s leadership has shown up through his passion for working hard and improving himself.
“I’ve never had anybody as consistent as Robert in terms of his effort and his enthusiasm,” says Tarp. “He’s one of the most fun athletes I’ve been around.”
If Carter can help lift the Terps to their full potential, there will be plenty more fun in College Park this year.
