Gary Williams Comments On The Upcoming Season
10/10/2001 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 10, 2001
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland's men's basketball team conducted its annual preseason media day on Wednesday. Following are quotes from head coach Gary Williams, prior to the start of his team's 2001-02 season.
(On this season's schedule) "We open with the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament in New York with Arizona. I hear, 'they lost this guy, they lost that guy,' but they had two 6'9" guys sitting out last year. Don't let anyone tell you they're not going to be very good this year. One guy was in double figures two years ago. [Jason] Gardner came back from the NBA draft, I think he made a very good move. He is one of the best point guards in the country. Then, Florida and Temple are two great teams who play totally different styles. At the BB&T this year, they decided to match the two best academic teams so we play Princeton, and UConn plays George Washington. Then we have the Illinois game and a game at Oklahoma which will be very tough. Then there's the ACC. So we don't have many breaks."
(On the last season at Cole Field House) "This year is going to be interesting because this is Cole [Field House]'s last year. We are moving into the Comcast Center at the end of the season. There are a lot of feelings, a lot of emotions for a lot of people in terms of Cole Field House. Just having watched all of the great teams and great players over the years, there are a lot of people who care about Cole and they are going to be interested in what the Comcast Center is like."
"Cole is one of the great places of all time in college basketball. It held two Final Fours. The legendary Texas Western vs. Kentucky game was here. The first African-American player in the ACC, Billy Jones, played here. There are a lot of historically significant things about Cole that no other places have."
(On the Comcast Center) "It will be tough [leaving Cole Field House], but at the same time as the Comcast Center goes up, we see what type of place it will be. We will have as modern an on-campus arena as anywhere in the country. It's a basketball arena ... the students will be all around the court, and in one end zone, and it just happens to be the end where the visiting team shoots in the second half. It's funny how it just worked out that way."
(On being ranked No. 2 in the nation) "The pressure of being ranked is much better than the pressure of people thinking that you are not very good. You want the respect from other people involved with basketball - refs, other teams. You are not cocky, but you can use that respect. Every player on the team has a certain amount of confidence, and we have to show it when we are out there on the court."
"I'm looking forward to practices because we have to get stuff in right away. This is the shortest period of time I've had before playing a very good basketball team. I'll see how I react to that-if I can get enough things in by the time we get to Arizona. But what we have to understand is that whether we win the tournament in New York or lose two games, we have to continue to become a better basketball team. That is true all year. It is especially true this year because we play so early."
(On reactions to last year's team reaching the Final Four) "As far as the coaches go, I am still friends with the same coaches. They all told me I was lucky. They are my friends. A lot of fans think that going to the Final Four changes you as a coach but we all know that you do the best job you can in every situation. In the NCAA Tournament, you have a one-game shot. In other words, if baseball had a tournament like the NCAA, Seattle [Mariners] would be home right now [after winning 116 regular season games and losing in the first game of the divisional playoffs] . They'd be done, their season would be over. That's a tough deal-having a one-game shot. Last year we were playing really well at the end of the year. We hit it at the right time, we had a pretty good draw, and we were able to win."
(On players who are not returning) "We had two situations during the year where a lot of teams could have folded. The character of the guys we had was a very important part of our success. We did lose Terence Morris. He signed with Houston for guaranteed money. We have three players at Houston now: Steve Francis, Walt Williams, and Terence Morris. Mike Mardesich is playing in Bonn, Germany for an upper level team over there. He is making over $100,000. Danny Miller transferred to Notre Dame, and LaRon Cephas, a communications major, has graduated. He has his degree and he is looking for a job so if anybody happens to know of something, let him know."
"We lost 57 minutes with those guys. That's what they averaged per game out of 200 minutes. We lose twenty points per game and we lose thirteen rebounds per game. When everybody was criticizing Terence Morris last year, he was quietly averaging ten rebounds per game in the ACC. We have some things we have to make up for. The numbers are obvious, the other thing is leadership. Mike Mardesich and LaRon Cephas were great leaders on our team last year. We have to see if the guys that return can do the same thing that they did in terms of leadership."
(On Juan Dixon) "He is definitely an All-American. He was the best player on his team in China this summer for the World University Games. He is one of those players who when you coach him, you don't want to restrict him too much because he can do a lot of things on the court and make a lot of things happen. Obviously, it will be tougher to get him the ball this year. We'll have to do some more things to make sure he gets the ball."
(On Lonny Baxter) "Lonny Baxter is another All-American. Lonny is just a great story. As a coach, to watch Lonny lose twenty pounds to become a much tougher, stronger player and to be as quick as he is at 255 pounds is really interesting. As the only player at Maryland to be the MVP in the regional, Lonny went against some outstanding inside players on Stanford and Georgetown [in the NCAA tournament]."
(On Steve Blake) "Steve Blake is quietly one of the better point guards in the country. Steve started every game as a freshman and carried on into his sophomore year. Now as a junior, he'll be scoring more, especially earlier in games. I don't know if you noticed, but Steve scored a majority of his points in the second half. I think he was very concerned with running the offense early. Hopefully, this year he'll see shots early as teams try to cover Lonny and Byron. He'll see his shot when it's there and we'll probably have a couple more things in the offense for him this year."
(On the inside-outside threat) "With Lonny Baxter, Tahj Holden, and Chris Wilcox, we have an inside threat but we want to take advantage of the fact that we have some pretty good perimeter players. It's a combination. The more you make other teams respect your inside game, the more open shots you will get on the perimeter."
