COLLEGE PARK — The story of Dez Wells, once uncertain, seems headed for a happy ending. The legacy the Maryland men's basketball team's senior leader hoped to leave when he arrived here 2 1/2 years ago now appears solid, his place in the program's history secure.
When Wells and the No. 14 Terps (23-5, 11-4 Big Ten Conference) face Michigan (14-3, 7-8) in their regular-season home finale Saturday, he will enter his final game at Xfinity Center having transformed from an athletically gifted but erratic sophomore guard to the unquestioned, rock-solid leader of one of college basketball's most pleasant surprises this season.
But the roots of that change, beginning when a player in turmoil joined a program in transition, seem all but forgotten.
"One thing I've learned from this whole process is that you just have to have patience," Wells said Thursday, sitting in the team's film room at Xfinity Center. "You can't rush anything that you want to last for a long time. It tested me, it tested my patience and my faith, but I feel like I've grown up so much."
When he arrived at Maryland for a visit in August 2012, Wells needed a new home. He had been expelled from Xavier after an incident at the end of his freshman year for which he was accused of sexual assault. A grand jury rejected criminal charges against Wells, yet the damage had been done.
"Perception was reality," said Levelle Moton, Wells' surrogate father throughout his single-parent childhood in Raleigh, N.C., and now in his fifth year as men's basketball coach at North Carolina Central.
Wells visited four schools — Maryland, Memphis, Oregon and Kentucky — and seemed close to joining John Calipari's Wildcats program. But because of enrollment deadlines and uncertainty with his NCAA eligibility, there were questions about when he would be cleared to play.
"To be totally honest, school had already begun around the country, and [Maryland] was starting late," Moton recalled. "It was do-or-die for him. Forget about playing basketball. He just needed somewhere to enroll. He really agonized over his decision because he was uncertain."
Finding a home
Mark Turgeon was about to start his second season at Maryland. The Terps had gone 17-15 the previous year, and there was some excitement around the program. After a strong freshman season, 7-foot center Alex Len was returning, joined by a highly touted recruiting class led by Shaquille Cleare and Jake Layman.
Sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin, the Atlantic Coast Conference's leading scorer in 2011-12, had been suspended for a violation of the student-athlete code of conduct, and the Terps needed a scorer.
"I don't think Maryland was Dez's first choice, but because of circumstance and where the program was, we were able to make it work for him," Turgeon said. "Whether it was myself or [athletic director] Kevin Anderson or [school president] Dr. [Wallace] Loh, we all took a chance. But I felt good because of the people I knew around him."
Wells had few connections to Maryland. A close boyhood friend, Nigel King, was a wide receiver on the football team. Assistant men's basketball coach Bino Ranson had recruited Wells to Xavier before joining Gary Williams' staff in 2010. And Wells had a sister who lived in Laurel.
Yet the ties did not seem strong enough for Wells, who had grown up a Duke fan.
"I had no intentions of actually coming to Maryland," recalled Wells, who ultimately decided on the Terps in early September of his sophomore year. "I just wanted to take a load off and be somewhere where it was not just about cramming in a weekend visit in 18 hours. I wanted somewhere I could let my guard and down and just talk to people and see what a school actually had to offer."
He smiled at the memory.
"It worked out," said Wells, who will graduate in May. "It worked out pretty good, I'll say."
Recalling the first conversation he had with Wells, Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson said this week that the biggest issue was trust. Even when Anderson asked Wells to trust him as he would a family member, Wells declined, saying he had heard that kind of line before.
"When he came here, he was a very skeptical young man. For what he went through, there were a lot of scars," Anderson said. "It's unfortunate that it had to happen, but he's a better person now. He was a good kid when he came here. Now he's a great young man. The growth has been tremendous. He's far exceeded my expectations. Most, if not all, [of] the scars are gone."
The 'look' of a star
His maturation on the court is also obvious.
Nearly three seasons after leaving Xavier, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard has not only reshaped his image but also refined his body and game. In the offseason, he lost 15 pounds and fine-tuned his jumper, hoping to evolve from a player who relied on strength and athleticism to one whose skills might offer him a future in the NBA.
His talent has been on display over the past few weeks, as Wells finally recovered from a fractured wrist that kept him out a month earlier this season. It culminated with what was unquestionably his finest all-around performance as a Terp: 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and no turnovers in Maryland's 59-53 win over visiting No. 5 Wisconsin on Tuesday.
In the past six games, Wells has averaged nearly 21 points while shooting 38-for-67, or 56.7 percent, from the field.
"I've been working on my shot a lot. I've been working on my shot since I've been at college," Wells said after Tuesday's game. "Just driving the ball a lot, finding open shooting, getting to the line, rebounding was key for me. Coach has been on me about rebounding. [Turgeon] wants me to do everything great, so I guess tonight was a glimpse of what he wants me to do."
By the time his career is over, Wells will be considered among the most beloved players in Maryland history, with his jersey number — changed to No. 44 this season to honor a friend who was killed in a 2010 car crash — likely hanging from the rafters at Xfinity Center someday.
Though his career numbers might not compare to those of program legends, his passion and leadership do. Former coach Gary Williams said watching Wells take down the Badgers nearly single-handedly from his courtside seat Tuesday brought back memories of Maryland's glory years.
"He just had that look that reminded me of [Juan] Dixon and [Steve] Blake and those guys. They would get that look. It didn't matter what happened out there; they were going to find a way to win the game," Williams said.
'He's the anchor'
Wells might not be to Turgeon's program what Walt Williams, Joe Smith and Keith Booth were to Williams', or what Len Elmore, Tom McMillen and John Lucas were to Lefty Driesell's, but he might one day be viewed with the same kind of reverence.
"I think he will be the exclamation point at the beginning of the Turgeon era," Elmore, an ESPN college basketball analyst, said this week. "With the departure of certain guys and other guys coming in, he's the anchor. He held the program down until they could get these other guys."
Unlike some of the players who left after last season, Melo Trimble and the Terps' other newcomers looked to Wells for guidance. Even after Wells was injured and Trimble became the team's star, the freshman point guard still deferred to the senior.
Together they have helped lead a turnaround season, with the Terps ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since December and headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time in Turgeon's four seasons.
As he tries to take Maryland and his own career to new heights, it has helped being able to put what happened at Xavier behind him. A lawsuit he filed against the school and its president, claiming wrongful expulsion, was settled last April.
"The one thing talking about legacy and stuff is you just have to focus on right now. You can't get ahead of yourself or you're going to miss out on what you have in the present," Wells said. "People always talked to me about it, but you have to keep yourself grounded.
"You have to do the necessary things that are conducive to you leaving that legacy, and that's living in the moment and living each day and giving everything that you have. I always thought about being a part of something that's bigger than myself. Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be part of something that would last."
Turgeon, whom Wells refers to as "a father figure who has taught me about life," said it hasn't always been easy coaching Wells.
"It's been a process. He was a very emotional kid when we got him. Didn't trust anybody anymore, and we just had to, every day, talk about calming down, playing, and now he's learned how to channel it," Turgeon said. "He can still play hard, but not being [too] emotional. It's been great for me, it's been great for him. He's been loyal to me, I've been loyal to him. It's been fun coaching him."
The ride is not over. The uncertainty is.