![\"Brenda](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2207402977.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBrenda Frese has coached Maryland in three Final Fours. She knows what that weekend entails \u2014 buzz of excitement, the chaotic energy, the importance of doing every little thing right. And though Maryland hasn\u2019t been there since 2015, she\u2019s felt that feeling a lot over the last few seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because in order to compete for a spot in the Final Four, her Terrapins have to compete in the portal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like being at the Final Four every single day in March and April,\u201d Frese tells Hoops HQ. \u201cIt\u2019s the most intense part of the entire season because it happens so quickly and you have to make decisions really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
This season Frese was able to sign two impact players from the portal in 6-foot-3 senior guard Yarden Garzon (Indiana) and 5-foot-10 junior guard Oluchi Okananwa (Duke). Garzon, who averaged 14.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game last season, has been one of the country\u2019s top three-point threats since her freshman season, making 42.6 percent of her attempts during her time at Indiana. \u201cShe was someone that we saw for three years, and whenever you are scouting you come across players that you have in the back of your mind that you would love to coach if they went into the portal,\u201d Frese says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Terrapins had a previous relationship with Okananwa from recruiting her out of high school. Frese was impressed by her motor and ability to play both sides of the ball, something that was showcased during the ACC Tournament when the guard was named most outstanding player. Okananwa averaged 10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game at Duke. \u201cShe is such a dynamic player, who plays really hard on both ends of the floor,\u201d Frese says. \u201cShe\u2019s someone that can pick up full court and really defend, and then on offense she is so athletic that she can get downhill and is hard to stop from scoring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garzon and Okananwa were two highly sought-after players, but it wasn\u2019t a perfect portal window for Maryland. The Terrapins were also supposed to sign 6-foot-6 center Gracie Merkle, who averaged 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game last year at Penn State; Merkle announced her decision to play at Maryland on April 5, but then less than two months later, Merkle posted on her Instagram account that she had been released from Maryland, \u201cper her request,\u201d and would be returning to Penn State.<\/p>\n
It was one of the stranger occurrences of the offseason, and one that hurt Maryland\u2019s roster construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was disappointing,\u201d Frese says. \u201cI think rules need to be put into play. It\u2019s understandable if someone wants to return back, I guess that is OK to do, but the timing, because the portal was already closed, was super impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brenda Frese is hoping that portal additions and improvement from returning players will lead to success.<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Frese and her staff were forced to pivot, bringing in two international players instead: 6-foot-4 freshman forward Marya Boiko from Belarus and 6-foot-2 freshman forward Nicole Fritea from Romania. \u201cWe had to really use our contacts to bring them in,\u201d Frese says. \u201cThey are obviously different from Gracie, but they keep us uptempo. Both have great size and have come over and adapted really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frese likes her roster makeup, which includes returning 6-foot senior guard Kaylene Smikle, who led the team with 17.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Now it\u2019s time to bring everyone together, one of the most challenging aspects of today\u2019s college basketball world. Last season the Terrapins adjusted to having 10 new players on roster, including Smikle \u2014 who came in from Rutgers and was Maryland\u2019s top player \u2014 as well as Mir McLean (Virginia) and Saylor Poffenbarger (Arkansas). Frese expects both McLean and Poffenbarger to make big jumps this season after struggling with injuries throughout 2024-25.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maryland also brought in five freshmen, with guards Rainey Welson, Lea Bartelme and Addi Mack joining Boiko and Fritea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that with the portal there will be new rosters every year,\u201d Frese says. \u201cOur staff is really intentional about building team chemistry as soon as everyone gets to campus. You have to be really tuned in to teaching your culture and system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Developing a point guard will be particularly critical for Maryland after graduating three-year starter Shyanne Sellers. Frese expects to see three players competing for significant minutes at the position: Mack, a 5-foot-9 guard who finished second all-time in Minnesota state scoring history, Bartelme, who has played for the Slovenian national team since 2023, and Kyndal Walker, a Maryland native who redshirted last season. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be by committee, but all three have been really impressive so far.\u201d Frese says. \u201cI usually only have one point guard, so to have a variety of great ones is really exciting. I have no idea who is going to start because they are all competing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The point guards aren\u2019t the only players impressing Frese so far this offseason. She says the Terrapins are coming together organically, something that doesn\u2019t always happen, especially with so many fresh faces.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost enough to bring back that familiar Final Four-level energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have really shown a phenomenal pulse of understanding what it takes to be an elite team,\u201d Frese says. \u201cThey\u2019ve been really proactive, from the moment they got here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brenda Frese has coached Maryland in three Final Fours. She knows what that weekend entails \u2014 buzz of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":245547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-245546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115246171872471471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}