The start of the college basketball season is less than three weeks away, and hundreds of new faces around the country will be making their collegiate debuts.

Maryland’s top class of 2023 recruit, guard DeShawn Harris-Smith, is expected to be one of the best first-year players in both the Big Ten and the country. Tobias Bass of The Athletic ranked Harris-Smith as his No. 11 freshman in the country heading into the 2023-24 season.

“At Big Ten media day, Kevin Willard called Harris-Smith ‘the most physically gifted player I’ve ever coached,’” Bass wrote. “The 6-5, 215-pound freshman embraces contact with a college-ready body and has an incredible motor. He rebounds well from the guard spot and is a more than capable shooter. He is very good at attacking defenders downhill coming off ball screens.”

Harris-Smith, a Paul VI Catholic product, was as a consensus four-star recruit and the No. 32 player in his class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. The physical lefty is seen by many as an NBA prospect, and his high school coach Glenn Farello said he was on the “Mount Rushmore of our best leaders in our program.” (Read more about Harris-Smith’s journey here.)

The Woodbridge, Virginia, native will don No. 5 in his first year as a Terp. As a likely immediate starter, Harris-Smith will team up with another star freshman and a trio of All-Big Ten-caliber ret

“The Terrapins also have another potential star freshman in Jamie Kaiser Jr.,” Bass added. “Kaiser is an elite catch-and-shoot prospect with great size at 6-foot-6, 205 pounds. In August, Kaiser Jr. finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in a 105-40 victory over Bassano PRC All-Stars. Maryland brought back 60.8 percent of its scoring, including three starters in Donta Scott, Julian Reese and Jahmir Young. There is an opportunity for these two to play an impactful role in this potential top-20 club.”

Kaiser is also a DMV native, hailing from Burke, Virginia. He was also a consensus four-star recruit and the No. 65 player in his class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. Wearing No. 12, Kaiser should immediately provide the Terps with much needed shooting help from beyond the arc. He could slide in at the three as a starter alongside Young, Harris-Smith, Scott and Reese.

The Terps are looking to score another blue-chip local recruit in Derik Queen, the five-star Baltimore native who’s long been Maryland’s focus of its 2024 recruiting. Queen, the No. 13 player and third-ranked player in the class, arrives Friday in College Park for his second official visit to Maryland and the likely his final trip anywhere.

Here’s the latest on Queen.