On June 15, minutes after midnight and the official start of recruiting for players in the class of 2013, Nate Britt, a rising junior on the Gonzaga hoops team and also the DC Assault AAU team, received his first recruiting call from coach Mark Turgeon. Britt did not recognize the number but answered it and was surprised to hear Turgeon’s voice. The Terps have a very plentiful talent base locally with both the Baltimore and DC area, but it has been difficult to get the local talent to stay. With Turgeon, it seems the tides are changing. Britt is one of the top players for the class of 2013. Britt has drawn interest from a lot of the top schools including Duke, North Carolina, Arizona and Villanova and also locally with Georgetown, Virginia, and Maryland.
It is interesting and frustrating at the same time that the last All Met Player of the Year from the Washington Post to go to Maryland was over two decades ago with Johnny Rhodes from Dunbar in 1991. Gary Williams never could seem to get the local talent to stay or to play the game with the AAU circuit. Turgeon has made an emphasis on the talent rich pool of DC and Baltimore. Now hopefully strides will be made to sign the talent.
Damon Handon, director of operations for DC Assault, had this to say on Maryland keeping it local.
I definitely think that other schools are going to have to work harder. They’re trying to put a fence up around the area.
Britt has time to shine and improve his game even further. He will make the decision which is best for him but it is good to see Maryland actually in the game to land the top flight local talent.
