Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Maryland makes savvy recruiting hire

Gary Williams found a solution to his much-maligned recruiting issues. It’s name? Orlando “Bino” Ranson.

Sure, Williams also has Keith Booth, a former Terrapins star, and Rob Ehsan, was started as a Maryland graduate assistant. But this Baltimore Sun story paints Ranson as the key. The longtime Terps fan helped build AAU in Baltimore and could be the difference in getting prized recruits to stick around College Park instead of heading to out-of-state schools.

Do names like Rudy Gay, Michael Beasley and Kevin Durant ring a bell? Perhaps those Baltimore-area talents would’ve been wearing Terps uniforms.

“The work other coaches might have to do for relationships, Bino already has the groundwork. They call him Uncle Bino,” AAU coach Carlton “Bub” Carrington told the paper. “If Bino was at Maryland, then Donte Greene and Malcolm Delaney [Towson Catholic, Virginia Tech] would have been at Maryland. Easy.”

Ranson, 35, is a former combo guard at Southern New Hampshire University, comes to Maryland after stints at Xavier, James Madison and Marist. And while he disputes the notion that Williams’ recruiting hasn’t capitalized on area talent, he says that’s just how it goes sometimes.

But other AAU coaches foresee big things. It’s music to the ears of Terrapin fans everywhere.

“Maryland’s recruiting in the city hasn’t been what it should be,” said fellow AAU coach Darrick “Baseline” Oliver. “Bringing in [assistant coach] Keith Booth helped a lot. With Bino in there, you’ll get a lot of elite players at Maryland. It might be the best move they’ve made in a long time.”

Mike Miller’s also on Twitter @BeyndArcMMiller, usually talkin’ hoops. Click here for more.