5-Star Center Derik Queen Commits To Maryland Over Indiana, Others

After narrowing his list down to four schools – Maryland, Indiana, Kansas and Houston – five-star center Derik Queen officially committed to Maryland on Wednesday.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana missed out on its biggest recruiting target left in the class of 2024.

Derik Queen, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound center, officially committed to Maryland on Wednesday, as first reported by ESPN's Paul Biancardi.

"It's home," Queen said. "The fans have always been great."

Recruiting News: ‼️

Derik Queen tells ESPN he has committed to Maryland. Queen is currently ranked the No.10 overall prospect in the class of 2024.

“It’s home. The fans have always been great.” @derikqueen1

Queen is the first 5-star recruit to Maryland since Jalen Smith in… pic.twitter.com/edZSh3rK7l

— Paul Biancardi (@PaulBiancardi) February 21, 2024

100% Committed‼️ #goterps pic.twitter.com/EeHK104fxO

— derik queen (@derikqueen1) February 21, 2024

Queen is widely considered a five-star recruit, ranked No. 10 in the nation by ESPN, No. 12 by 247Sports and No. 15 by Rivals. On3 is the only recruiting site to give Queen a four-star rating, ranking him No. 27 in the nation.

Queen attends Montverde Academy in Florida, where he's teammates with Indiana commit Liam McNeeley, a five-star small forward in the class of 2024. Queen began is high school career at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, Md.

Set to play for coach Kevin Willard, Queen joins three-star combo guard Malachi Palmer in Maryland's 2024 recruiting class. 

For Indiana, this news puts the rest of the 2024 recruiting class in question. Indiana has recruited 2024 guard Daquan Davis, but Maryland is listed as the leader for him by On3.

There's a chance Indiana could add a late-cycle recruit that decommits from a different school, like it did with Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako and Tamar Bates, but there's no guarantee players re-open their recruitment. That could change as schools make coaching changes, like Ohio State did last week. Class of 2025 recruits like Mikel Brown Jr., Bryson Tiller and Joson Sanon have been mentioned as possible candidates to reclassify to 2024.

Perhaps the more likely option is that Indiana will have to add several players from the transfer portal for the 2024-25 roster. As it stands, Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker are the only current Hoosiers that will be out of eligibility after the 2023-24 season. Indiana coach Mike Woodson also left a scholarship open this year, so at least two roster spots will be open for next year, with McNeeley as the only incoming freshman currently committed to Indiana.