Oct. 11, 2007
On last year's season...
"Last year basketball wise we won 25 games. We tied for second in the ACC, finished 23rd and 18th in the two polls and won our first game in the NCAA tournament. I really respected the team last year because it wasn't really going well in January. We continued to work hard and play well in February and I thought that was a pretty good accomplishment by last year's team."
On this year's team...
"This year's team is an interesting group because we have four players who returned with quite a bit of experience. Quite a few of those guys were starting players for us and then we have a good group of new players. I think we can have a good team. It is going to take work but the players have the confidence that they can be good and the second thing is that they know they have to work to get to those goals as a basketball team. I am very fortunate and our coaches are very fortunate because we have guys that we want to coach. I have been coaching a long time now and I haven't been able to say that every year; that you have guys that you necessarily look forward to getting onto the floor with everyday. These guys play hard when it comes time to play. The veterans demand that the other players play hard, and that makes my job a lot easier when I don't have to be the person doing that all the time. If the veteran players come out ready to play, then the new guys watch them very carefully and they go along with the program. I am really proud of the way our returning players have handled things so far this fall."
On this year's schedule...
"Our schedule will be tough early. If we win, I say that very carefully, our first two, we will play UCLA probably in Kansas City and then the winner or loser of Michigan State and Missouri. A week later, we play Virginia Commonwealth, the team that beat Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year. They return most of their players. They are a very veteran team with a veteran coach now. We play Boston College here early for the ACC season so it is a good early season look. We have some other games, notably playing UNC Charlotte at Charlotte right before we start the ACC season and a team like Holy Cross, a team which has dominated their league the last couple years. I look forward to it. We always try and play a good schedule. We are proud of what we do here at Maryland both on and off the court. Hopefully, we can continue to be successful but it takes a lot of work. You go right down the line and you can't find a team on the schedule and say that we are definitely going to win that game. There is just none out there and I think that is what separates the ACC from other leagues; not necessarily the top two teams but from 1-to-12 it is very competitive. There are no easy places to go play."
On James Gist...
"James Gist is one of our two returning seniors. James had the opportunity to make the Pan America team. They invited 30 players to Philadelphia. He had to make it down to the top 12 and James did that. He had some great experience playing internationally. I think in James' case, by making the team, he saw how hard he had to work to make that team. What he brings now is the ability to be more of a flexible player. Now he can step out and make jump shots. We want him more involved in our transitions. I think he can be a better pressing player because he played significant minutes last year. I think there are a lot of ways that he is going to contribute."
On Bambale Osby...
"Bambale Osby was very instrumental in the win at Illinois when Ekene Ibekwe was hurt that night. He played great in quite a few games down the stretch for us. He was a very significant player in our NCAA win against Davidson. I think with Bambale's experience being a first year player at the Division I level, that this year he is a lot more comfortable and relaxed with what we try to do."
On Greivis Vasquez...
"Greivis Vasquez got the opportunity to play for the Venezuelan national team. They went to Australia and China and then played the United States in the first round of the America's tournament, which is the qualifying for the Olympics next year. He had a chance to play against Kobe Bryant which was very interesting. Kobe spoke to him in Spanish which, Greivis wouldn't tell me all the words he said, but it was interesting to see that. The one thing afterward that Greivis did tell me about it was that Kobe came up to him and said that he had a chance. Greivis has to continue to work very hard but he has a chance to play at the next level so I'm sure that is a great motivator for him to hear that in that situation.
We relied on him last year. He didn't know it but he was very important to us. What Greivis has that is hard to put into players is the innate ability to want to compete. In other words, if I gave a pep talk before a game, which I don't do all the time, I do it once in a while, I could put Greivis in another room and wouldn't have to talk to him. He would get himself ready to play. I think that is one of the things I like about him the most. It is like that for games but it is like that for Saturday's practice as well. He just gets excited. He is excited to have the opportunity to play basketball. It is a dream of his to play in the ACC and he hasn't forgotten that. Some guys forget that and he hasn't. What he is going to give us is more scoring this year and more ways to score.
He played a lot at the point last year but he can play the two, he can play the three. We can have a little more freedom this year offensively with the experience of Eric Hayes and Greivis. I think he picked up quite a bit international experience from last year but he came back here wanting to work. Some guys comes back and say, `Listen, I need a couple weeks off. I just played all summer.' Not him. He came back ready to play."
On Landon Milbourne...
"Over the summer, Landon Milbourne went on a tour where he got to play 11 or 12 games in Holland and Belgium, and I think that was very important to him because he did not play a significant number of minutes last year. Landon is going to be a very important player for us this year."
On the freshman...
"Our two guys from Baltimore: Braxton Dupree from Calvert Hall and Dino Gregory from Mount St. Joseph come having been coached very well. I feel fortunate to get two guys from those schools that have the fundamentals in the game. They both have a chance to be outstanding players at Maryland. Cliff Tucker is a 6-6 player from El Paso, Texas, who is very versatile, sees the floor very well and could probably play three different positions for us if he had to: the 1, 2 and 3. The other two guys: Adrian Bowie is a very quick left-handed penetrating guard from Montrose Christian. Shane Walker is 6-10 forward that is also from Montrose Christian who can really run the court and do some great things defensively."
On the team's fifth starter...
"If you look at the fifth position, that is going to be one of the things that we really have to work on. Landon Milbourne last year was hurt early. D.J. Strawberry was one of the best guards, at least in the conference, last year playing at the three spot so Landon didn't get a lot of opportunity. I gained new respect for Landon last spring where he didn't hang his head at all. Some guys, first thing they do when they don't play a lot as a freshman is they come in and say they are thinking about transferring. When Landon came in, he said, `Coach what can I do? I want to play next year so what can I do?' That is all you ever want. He wants to be given the opportunity to play and I'm looking forward to tomorrow to getting out there with him and see how he fits with the others guys."
