George Turkson on following Buzz Williams, assistant Wabissa Bede to Maryland: "the coaches invest in you. Bede invested in me"

After entering the transfer portal with a ‘Do Not Contact’ tag back on April 3, it took exactly one week for George Turkson, a former top-150 prospect in the 2024 class, to make his decision public after becoming the fourth Aggie to follow Buzz Williams to Maryland. He knew days before that the Terps would be his ultimate destination, though.

“When I entered with the do-not contact tag, when I had that, that was when I knew I was going with coach Buzz,” Turkson told IBG.

Now, the former Aggie freshman will join Solomon Washington, Pharrel Payne and Andre Mills in College Park as head coach Buzz Williams turns to his familiar faces to lead the roster transition to avoid a rebuilding season. But while the coaching presence played a big hand, so did Wabissa Bede, Texas A&M’s former program aide who is expected to join Buzz in College Park.

The addition of Bede, a Mass Rivals AAU alum, gave both Turkson and guard Andre Mills a familiar face they could turn to through their redshirt freshman year of college basketball.

“A redshirt year is tough, not being able to play on the court with your teammates but it taught me to be patient, to trust my work and be resilient in the efforts to get better,” Turkson said. Having a familiar face like Bede made all the difference for Turkson.

“Bede is a good guy. He played under Buzz, he has wise wisdom as well so aside from playing for him as a coach, he’s just a really good coach,” Turkson said. “During my redshirt year, he was the coach I could go to for a morning workout before practice, get in the gym early in the morning on weekends or before school and just workout. The coaches invest in you. Bede invested in me, Andre, a couple other of the guys.”

Once Bede’s impending arrival in College Park became all but official, Turkson knew he’d have people he trusted at his new destination.

“It felt like what I was saying earlier – it felt like a no-brainer for me to follow Buzz and the rest of the coaching staff because they invest a lot in you,” Turkson added.

“I feel like that played a big reason why. For me, I just knew that the coaching staff, they’re real people. They’re going to keep it real with you. They’re going to help you develop and they want to see you win at life. They want to see you win on the court and in life. It felt like a no-brainer to me to make that transition based on the coaching staff”

Of course, Turkson made his transfer to Maryland official still without seeing the Xfinity Center or even College Park, but that changed after taking his first trip to campus the weekend of April 12 where he saw similarities to his hometown in Massachusetts.

“It was good. The facility is huge, Xfinity Center. I actually worked out in there after I walked through. I really enjoyed the facility, the things they’ve got. Aside from the basketball, the arena, the area, being from the East Coast and Massachusetts, it felt like home and familiar to me,” Turkson said. “That was one thing that stood out when I was driving through the area, just exploring College Park. It just felt like home.”

While the visit also came alongside his new teammates including Solomon Washington (Texas A&M) and Elijah Saunders (Virginia), it also came with close friend and 2026 four-star Sebastian Wilkins, who has Maryland in his top group since the arrival of Buzz and his staff.

“We know each other very well,” Turkson said of Wilkins. “We played on the same AAU team for about two years so I’m very familiar with Sebastian, his parents. He’s a familiar face. We were both experiencing it for the first time. It was definitely a good experience for me and him.”

As he and the rest of the transfers are expected to begin arriving in College Park in late May ahead of summer workouts in June, the biggest question is what the team’s identity will be under Buzz Williams. One week after redshirt freshman guard Andre Mills admitted he doesn’t think “we’re going to change how we’re going to play,” Turkson sees a continuation of Buzz ball in College Park.

“Buzz is a unique coach when it comes to play style. That’s one of the reasons I chose to follow him. He’s all about physical basketball, gritty basketball and that’s one of the things I try to play by. I think that for me – I don’t think coach Buzz in my opinion will change much. He’s going to keep everything how he’s done it in the past years.”

Related Links