Derik Queen is ready to take the plunge.
As expected, the Maryland freshman announced early Saturday morning on “SportsCenter” with Scott Van Pelt that he will enter the NBA draft early. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound center from Baltimore is projected by some publications as a lottery pick when the annual event begins June 25 at 8 p.m.
“It is a lot of off the court stuff, just me and my teammates being around each other all the time,” Queen said of what he will remember most from his time in College Park. “Making jokes, locker room. They’re my guys. Just gonna miss the moments.”
The second-highest recruit to sign with the Terps behind only Diamond Stone in 2015, Queen lived up to that billing, frequently in spectacular fashion. In his college debut, he scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in a 79-49 walloping of Manhattan.
With that performance, Queen became only the second freshman in college basketball since the 1996-97 season to record a 20-20 game in his debut, joining Kansas State’s Michael Beasley (32 points and 24 rebounds) in 2007. That was the first 20-20 outing by a Maryland player since Joe Smith (31 points and 21 rebounds) against Texas in the 1995 NCAA Tournament.
Queen’s 26 points in a 83-78 setback at No. 8 Purdue on Dec. 8 were the most by a Terps freshman in a true road game since Terrell Stoglin and Justin Jackson posted 28 points each in 2011 and 2017, respectively. And his showing of career-best 29 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a 90-81 victory over Rutgers on Feb. 9 in front of 47 NBA scouts helped him become only the third freshman nationally since the 1996-17 season to produce a 25-15-5 line in a single game.
And Queen will be forever etched in Terps lore after banking a fadeaway jumper before the final horn sounded that cemented a 72-71 win against Colorado State on March 23 that sent the team to its first Sweet 16 since 2016. He became only the fourth freshman in NCAA Tournament history to hit a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot and the first since Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs did so in the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Queen amassed 594 points, surpassing the previous freshman record of 582 held by Smith during the 1993-94 season, and totaled 12 20-point games, which trailed only Smith’s total of 15 among Maryland rookies. Queen led all freshmen in double-doubles with 15, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and earned a spot on the conference’s first team.
Queen joined Stone as the only players in program history to enter the NBA draft after just their freshman years in College Park. Stone was taken by the New Orleans Pelicans in the second round of the 2016 NBA draft.
For much of the season, former Terps coach Kevin Willard had prepared fans by voicing that he thought Queen would be a one-and-done player. So Queen’s decision was not a shock to those close to the program.
“You can’t look at these kids and say, ‘Oh, you have to be so dedicated to this school,’ when it’s about your family and who is expressing the most interest,” said former forward Walt Williams, who was selected seventh overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 1992 NBA draft. “A grown man at 29 or 30 years old is going to make a decision that is in the best interest of him and his family. Why wouldn’t we think that a young man will do that as well?”
Former Maryland coach Gary Williams said that Queen is ready to make the leap to the professional level.
“He plays a little different game than a lot of other guys,” he said. “He looks at the game as more of a seasoned player than a guy who is 20 years old. Some of the passes that he makes and some of the moves he makes are really good. Like all players who are 20, there are some things he can get better at. He’ll get stronger as the years go by, but it’s one of those things. … You have to be a little selfish at times, and that’s OK. The threat of an injury is always there.”
Fans might have been hoping that the university’s recent decision to hire Buzz Williams away from Texas A&M on Tuesday to replace Willard — who had gone to Villanova two days earlier — would convince Queen to consider one more season. But redshirt sophomore shooting guard Chance Stephens and sophomore shooting guard Lukas Sotell are the only other players with eligibility remaining on the roster after Julian Reese and Selton Miguel exhausted their eligibility and Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Rodney Rice and several others entered the transfer portal.
Even former forward James Gist acknowledged that he was one of those fans wishing for an encore from Queen.
“He’s one of the best players in the nation, and that would be great,” said Gist, who was chosen in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2008 NBA draft. “But he’s got to go while he’s hot. He had an amazing year. Despite everything that’s going on right now, he’s done what he was supposed to do, and he’s the type of player that you don’t come across very often. We were fortunate enough to enjoy him for a year, and we saw what he did. So in my opinion, go live the dream.”
Walt Williams echoed Gist’s sentiment.
“I’m falling out of my chair seeing some of the moves he made and how he plays out there,” Williams said. “He’s a great talent, but at the end of the day, if he has to move on, you can’t fault him for that at all. He’s going to play at the next level, and it’s just a matter of when he’s going to do that.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Originally Published: April 5, 2025 at 12:16 AM EDT
