Meet Derik Queen, Maryland’s best freshman in 30 years—and a throwback in every way

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — After a half-decade of college basketball featuring only a handful of game-changing freshmen, this season has been a lot different. From Duke’s loaded haul, led by Cooper Flagg, to Texas’ Tre Johnson, the Ace Bailey/Dylan Harper tandem at Rutgers, VJ Edgecombe at Baylor and many more, first-year players are making a widespread impact across the sport.

One of the most productive among them is Maryland’s Derik Queen. The 6-foot-10 big man from East Baltimore is proving to be as versatile as any player his size, averaging 16.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Against tougher competition, those numbers climb even higher—23.7 points and 13.0 rebounds over his last three games—as he helps push Maryland to a ranking that matches its win total: 20, with a home game Thursday night against USC (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1). 

The last time the Terrapins had a first-year player win at least five Freshman of the Week honors in league play, as Queen has, the year was 1994 and that player was Joe Smith, who stuck around College Park for two years before going  No. 1 in the 1995 NBA Draft. 

Even if Queen won’t wind up being top-end pick material like Smith, he almost definitely won’t be on campus two years. Through 20 games, it’s pretty obvious he’s a lottery-level talent. Maryland coach Kevin Willard thinks he won’t drop out of the top 10, telling CBS Sports he thinks Queen’s being discriminated by scouts — even as his stock continues to rise. Part of it is because Queen turned 20 in late December, which is abnormally old for a first-year college player. Listed most recently at 244 pounds, he’s down almost 20 since last summer. A little more conditioning, a lot less bad food and constantly drinking water. He seems to transform for the better by the week. 

“If he was European and white he’d be the first pick in the draft,” Willard told CBS Sports. “He gets a little penalized because he doesn’t have the greatest athleticism. He has better ballhandling skills than most guards, he’s like a 15-year-vet in the fact he knows and understands the game.”

Only two frosh rank top-two on their team in the five major statistical categories. One of them, Flagg, seems destined to be the No. 1 pick. The other is Queen.

“I’m never gonna be the fastest person on the court, I just try to run my speed,” Queen told CBS Sports. “I’m getting better at it, but I’m not athletic like everyone, fast like everyone. So, I just try to play my speed, and it looks like I don’t play hard, but I feel like I do.”

Queen is an irresistible watch, aided by something of a signature sartorial look. He told me he doesn’t enjoy the feel of compression sleeves on his arms, so he’s worn baggy workout shirts under his jersey for years. 

“I don’t think I missed a day wearing it in practice,” he said. “I think it’s drip swag.”

Adding to said swag, Queen’s shorts are hiked to levels last seen prominently circa 1988, and his ever-visible mouthpiece chewing makes Steph Curry’s compulsion seem tame by comparison.

But there’s reason for that.

“When I don’t chew my mouthpiece it’s hard to hear me on defense,” he said. “If it’s in, my teammates and coaches don’t know what I’m saying.”

Queen began playing basketball shortly before he was 7-years-old, he says. By the time he was in seventh grade, it was clear he was the best kid in school — and in his area – after playing in a D.C.-area tournament wherein he and his team just blasted the competition. Everyone knew he was the best player there, and that’s effectively where his reputation in greater D.C. and Baltimore began. 

Queen improved at a progressive rate by constantly playing pickup at the playground less than 200 yards from his house on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, typically going against kids two or three years older. His neighborhood court had a triple rim on one side Queen hated, but it helped hone his mid-range shot. The surface “was concrete with cracks and messed up cement.” 

Queen was pegged as a five-star prospect by his freshman year, and he was soon recruited to play at prestigious Montverde Academy (Florida), but his mother Lisa wouldn’t let him leave home that young. She was comfortable with it by the time Queen was a junior. 

Future NBA picks Flagg, Liam McNeeley, Asa Newell and others were his teammates on one of the best high school teams in recent history, which included two national championships. (Queen and McNeeley talk multiple times per week and give each other feedback on their team’s games.) 

That winning helped Queen ramp up for what’s been an especially smooth transition to college basketball. Being a bit older has helped him adapt and made Maryland a factor as a result. But despite his success, he’s practically humble to a fault. You can look for a quote of him speaking up on his game in this story but you won’t find it. People who know him well say he’s got beyond-his-years wisdom. As for that humility, Queen knows he’s been playing well, but still isn’t at the level he wants. When we sat and talked in January, he reflected more about the bad West Coast trip to Washington and Oregon than most anything else.

“I think I’m just a little bit behind, because I still kind of make elementary school mistakes,” Queen said.

His gift of vision and anticipatory passing can sometimes backfire. He told me he sometimes will fight off his instincts because he’s ahead of the play, ahead of his teammates. What might be there for a 27-year-old NBA player doesn’t translate at all times on a college court.

“He’s by far the best player I’ve ever coached,” Willard said. “What makes him so unique is he’s such a good kid. There’s no bullshit. He just loves to hoop, he comes in the gym every day smiling, joking, works hard. He’s so fun to coach because he’s so talented on the court and so fun off the court. It’s been a blast.”

The 49-year-old Willard has coached Iona, Seton Hall and Maryland for 18 seasons. He’s never had an offense as efficient as this one (120.9 points per 100 possessions), and although his starting five is among the most balanced and reliable in the country, Queen is the center of the operation because no one is used in more ways in Willard’s system.

“It’s like having a 6-11 point guard,” Willard said. “We can ISO, we can post, we can run offense through him. He knows every play from every possession. Tell me the last 6-11 guy in college who could do that?”

It’s all coming together, which could lead to Maryland being one of the trendy teams when March hits. The Terrapins are checking off achievements practically by the week that they haven’t done in a long time, including getting off to their best start to a season in five years and notching their most points scored in a Big Ten game since joining the league (101 vs. Iowa this past Sunday).

Against Rutgers on Feb. 9, Queen had a career-high 29 points along with 15 rebounds and five assists. He’s the only freshman in the sport in 15 years with a 25/15/5 game. And with five 20-and-10 games, Queen is the only frosh with that many this season.

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The one thing Queen doesn’t do: shoot the 3. He’s 2-of-22 this season. He’s confident that will come with his game, he’s just on a different schedule.

“Just gotta see the next one go in,” he says with the cool confidence of a grizzled NBA veteran. And there’s that natural charisma again. It’s just like how he plays on the court. It’s why the Terps are who they are.

“There’s no negativity around him and that’s what people are drawn to,” Willard said. “He busts my balls unmercifully during games and it’s so fun because a 50-year-old doesn’t even know how to bust my balls, but this 20-year old knows how to zing me at the right time in the right tone.”

Like against Syracuse earlier this season, when Queen threw a no-look lob pass to a teammate, only the pass failed and Willard took him out of the game instantly, which led to this buddy-comedy exchange. 

“What kind of f—— pass what that?”

“You would’ve thought it was a GREAT f—— pass if he caught it and dunked it.”

“You’re right. Now sit down.”

Willard remembers people within earshot in the front row laughing. 

“He gets my tone, my humor, my sarcasm, uses my language almost verbatim and came right back at me within two seconds,” he said. “Every player has his issues. This kid doesn’t. It’s so hard to explain if you don’t really know him. He’s just really happy. I’m playing hoops today, I’m in college.”

Queen’s enjoying it, so let’s enjoy him, because in a season dotted with must-see freshmen he still finds a way to stand out. I’d tag the Terps as a Final Four sleeper right now, but if their trend line keeps rising, Queen and company will shed that label by the the first week of March.

This article was a takeout from the Court Report, the weekly college basketball notebook from CBS Sports senior writer/insider Matt Norlander.