Good article by Parrish. He makes it seem like MD will be an unstoppable freight train with the B1G and UA solidly behind them. Scary.
"Under Armour has the reigning NBA MVP (Stephen Curry) under contract, which provides credibility. And the fact that Under Armour is now a real player, and viable alternative to Nike, in the world of grassroots basketball is aiding Maryland's recruiting.
'And I'll never apologize for it,' Turgeon said.
In fact, Turgeon explained, UA is a big reason why he took this job in the first place.
'I was once a young assistant at
Oregon, and I watched [Nike co-founder] Phil Knight get involved with that football program,' Turgeon said. "I saw what that did. So when I was looking at Maryland, I said, 'OK, they've got great players. It's a great area. There are a lot of great players in the area. It's a great place to raise a family. And there's Under Armour.' I knew as Under Armour grows, our program would grow. It really was one of the top-five reasons I took the job.
'We get all the gear first, and kids like gear,' Turgeon added. 'And I do think, in grassroots basketball, Under Armour is only going to grow.'
Translation: Under Armour will continue to sponsor summer basketball teams and draw elite talent to various events it holds. And though it would be presumptuous and wrong to suggest Maryland will get all, or even most of the UA-connected prospects it wants, it's not unreasonable to assume that Maryland will have an inherent advantage with certain UA-connected prospects, not unlike the advantage, say,
Kentucky enjoys with Nike-connected prospects or
UCLA enjoys with Adidas-connected prospects.
'It's a huge advantage,'"
