When Maryland point guard Melo Trimble hit a game-winning 3-point basket at Wisconsin Jan. 9, it was probably tough for most fans to envision Trimble back with the Terps for his junior season. 

Trimble, after all, was the biggest key to Maryland's recent transformation under head coach Mark Turgeon, who often lauds Trimble as simply being a "winner." Trimble could get to the basket and the line for easy points, shoot the 3-pointer, handle the ball, distribute and make those around him better.

But a switch flipped for Trimble during the second half of the season. He didn't shoot well. He wasn't exploding to the rim. He wasn't getting to the line as much. As Trimble struggled during conference play, Maryland's offense bogged down at times, and the rest of the pieces on the team didn't fit together as well as was originally hoped.

After Maryland finished 27-9 overall, winning two NCAA tournament games in the process, Trimble decided to test the NBA waters. He attended the NBA Combine and worked out for teams, but he didn't like what he heard in terms of where he would go in the draft. In May, Trimble decided to return to College Park, Md., for his junior season.

"I'm here to get better and also, of course, [I have] something to prove," Trimble said at Big Ten media day in Washington, D.C. Oct. 13. "I'm just happy to be here with the group of guys and to have Coach Turgeon be my coach again. Like I said, just have something to prove. Last year wasn't a year I wanted to have. Me coming back this year, I'm really focused, and I'm confident about myself, and I know I'm going to play the way I want to play.

"A year ago, we had a lot of weapons on the team, but this year, it's a lot different. It's my team. I'm the leader of the team."

Trimble is the only starter from last year's team to return. Seniors Rasheed Sulaimon and Jake Layman graduated. Junior Robert Carter Jr. and freshman Diamond Stone left school early to play professionally. But Trimble remains, and he is undoubtedly the leader of the team, which includes five freshmen, a graduate transfer and seven holdovers.

The freshmen include guard Anthony Cowan and wings Kevin Huerter, Justin Jackson, Micah Thomas and Josh Tomaic. Cowan, Huerter and Jackson figure to play a lot this season, while Thomas and Tomaic are probably more long-term projects for Turgeon. Meanwhile, L.G. Gill, a graduate transfer from Duquesne, has a chance to start at the four spot.

Guards Jaylen Brantley and Dion Wiley, wing Jared Nickens and big men Damonte Dodd, Michal Cekovsky and Ivan Bender all return.

But Trimble is the one who makes the team go.

"Obviously, with Melo, we have a better chance to be successful," Turgeon said. "The ego in me, if we had lost all five starters, I still would have expected us to be good. We probably would've had a few more growing pains. Melo can put us on his back early in the season and help us win a couple games we probably wouldn't have won if he was gone.

"Melo's in a real good place. He knows he made a good decision. He's playing better than he's ever played, and that's saying a lot."

The roster Turgeon has in place has a chance to be more flexible and versatile than last year. The Terps were forced to play big lineups last season, because that's where their depth was. Talented big men like Carter and Stone needed minutes, as did a defensive stalwart like Dodd and a high-ceiling center in Cekovsky. That pushed Layman to the three spot, though he was likely much more suited for the four spot in college ball.

The Terps didn't have the necessary guard depth to play small ball, in large part due to Wiley's knee injury that knocked him out for the season. Maryland couldn't spread the floor quite as well as it would have liked, which meant Trimble struggled to create his own shot the way he did as a freshman.

This year, Turgeon has the option to go big or play small ball.

"I can go big with [Cekovsky] and Damonte or L.G. Gill and Damonte or whoever. And I'll go small with Justin Jackson at the four and play guards," Turgeon said. "The strength of our team is obviously our guards this year. As a coach, you've got to put the best players on the floor. But the versatility is very important, and I think this team, if we can stay healthy, can play both ways."

Part of what makes the guards the strength of this Terps team is Cowan's entry into the fray. A local recruit out of St. John's College High, Cowan is a natural point guard and ball-handler, who Turgeon says is "going to do great things for us this year." Maryland hasn't had any point guard depth to spell Trimble of those duties during a game the past two years.

This year, that'll change. Turgeon spoke excitedly about how much Cowan "really pushes" Trimble during practice, and he mentioned the opportunities that will arise when the two play together. Turgeon likened the amount of ways he can use Trimble to the way a football team moves a wide receiver all around the field. Turgeon thinks Trimble will be able to score in more ways than in years past.

Trimble is all aboard.

"With Anthony being there, I can also go off the ball, which is something that I haven't played since I was in high school," Trimble said. "It's different, but I think it's going to help the offense flow. He's a really good passer and can also shoot. But he's more of a pass-first point guard, which is something that's good for our offense."

Multiple ball-handlers on the court and more guard depth opens the door for smaller, faster lineups; this roster may very well be more fit to run than last year. Younger, more athletic lineups may also mean more opportunities to press.

Turgeon could conceivably trot out lineups with Trimble and Cowan in the backcourt, Nickens and Jackson on the wings and Dodd at center for defense -- or some similar permutation -- and let the Terps run.

"I thought we ran pretty well last year. But we're faster," Turgeon said. "Our guys like to run. I think we're going to be really hard to guard in transition, meaning on misses. We'll get Melo going downhill and Anthony -- we've got shooters all around them. I think we're going to be tough to guard in transition, so I'm excited about that.

"Are we going to press more? We don't know yet. We'll see. We've got some good depth. We're still trying to build it, but the pieces are there."