Oct. 15, 2009

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Head coach Gary Williams and the Maryland Terrapins spent Thursday afternoon in Comcast Center meeting with the media in the Baltimore-Washington area and discussing their expectations for the upcoming season.

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening statement:

"This past season, we lost three people who were really connected with the team. The obvious one is Dave Neal, but we also lost Jack Heise and Robert Novak, who were two really important components to our team in terms of how they felt about things and where they stood with the basketball team. They were really great people. Dave Neal got a scholarship with Trinity College in Ireland. He will get his master's degree in business in 16 months and have the opportunity to play in Australia after that for a professional team after playing for Trinity College this year. Dave is well on his way to being successful, I'm sure a lot of people aren't surprised about that. We're really proud of what Dave did last year.

I was really proud of the team in terms of what we did last year. You always get judged on wins and losses, which I understand, but in terms of our dedication to being good, our ability to bounce back from some tough things, we were able to do that. You can feel it in your team sometimes when you're a coach, you get that feeling that this thing's not over yet, we have a chance to be pretty good.

What we did at the end of the year was very gratifying to me, to be one of the 32 teams in the country still playing. I think the key thing is, this year, is to go from there. In other words, we want to start Saturday from that point, because we were playing really good basketball, we return seven of our top eight off of that team last year.

We come from a different position in terms of what we can put in the first day of practice for instance and things like that. We have five guards back that received a great deal of playing time last year. Those people certainly are expected to come into practice not only in great physical condition because of what they've done in the off-season, but also mentally ready to go and understand that it's not good enough to be where we were at the end of last year, we want to be better than that. Having said that, that was one of the most rewarding teams I have ever coached. That's what we're going to try to do when practice starts.

Greivis Vasquez went through the draft situation this summer and got a pretty good feel of things. I think he could have been drafted late-first, but there were no guarantees. I think he made a tremendous move given the amount of guards that were in the draft this past year. I think he comes back as one of the best guards in the country and we're looking forward to his leadership and his play this year.

Eric Hayes had a great stretch run at the end of the season. Eric's had turf toe in the preseason, but he's about back to where he can go and he's going to give it a shot on Saturday. We're glad to see that.

Landon Milbourne certainly did everything he could for the team last year, he was a tremendous force for us really, especially in the ACC season.

Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker did outstanding jobs as sophomores. They both had their moments when they were really key and great players for us.

Sean Mosley, with his character, toughness and ability to compete, certainly makes you a better basketball team, as he did last year as a freshman. Those guys become very important to us.

You get a guy like Dino Gregory who didn't play a whole lot his freshman year and hung in and did everything right, worked really hard. He's a much stronger, bigger player now. At the end of the season last year, I think the last three weeks of the season, he was as good as any inside player, defensively and rebound-wise in the ACC.

I kind of like having those guys coming back. The other thing is I like being with them, when practice starts that means, you're going to be around those guys quite a bit. When you have people like that, like the people I just mentioned, it makes this job a much better job. I'm very enthusiastic about being in that situation with those guys.

Two new players that we have: James Padgett is about 6-foot-8, from Lincoln High School in New York, very quick for a guy that size. If you want to compare him to anyone, he reminds me a little bit of James Gist when he came here as a freshman. He played a very high level of high school basketball and competes. He wants to play and I really like that with freshmen that come in.

Jordan Williams at 6-10 or so, is a very tough, inside physical player. He's a physical presence already on our team and is very strong with good hands. I think one of the keys to coaching is to have the ability to score inside and outside, to have the ability to throw the ball inside to get to the foul line. If you don't have that, to be able to kick it out, and Jordan is a good enough passer to do that and big enough to score inside.

We need to get those two guys up to speed with our other guys. That's where you have to have good players on your team because as a coach, you can say certain things, I've got great assistant coaches, but coming from the players it means a lot more sometimes to get the players' attention, to make sure the players are doing the right things to keep on track, to get them where they have to be for us this year. I'm excited about our two new guys and looking forward to that.

We have a chance to be a very good basketball team this year. Part of that is if the players have done the right things. We have four seniors, including Jerome Burney who will not play this year because of three separate foot fractures during his career, but Jerome along with Landon Milbourne, Eric Hayes and Greivis Vasquez will all graduate in May to go along with eight out of the last 10 seniors to graduate. We feel good about that, we have a great academic support unit that works with us.

In terms of the style of play, we're not going to change much. We're going to be aggressive, we're going to run. We played more zone last year than I ever had the guts to play before. I am not great with zones. I think I can attack the zone offensively, but I'm not great at teaching the zone. We kind of had to go with it at times and it worked very well for us. I wouldn't be surprised to see that more as a part of our drop-back defense. We'll always have our pressure defense that we can throw out there when we want to. But it all comes down to making sure guys are tough enough where they feel the responsibility that they have the ability to stop their man. You can talk about team defense and all of those things, but you have to have pride to be a good defensive player and if you have enough guys with pride than you take pride in your basketball team.

That's where we want to get to and the one thing you learn over the years is nothing is automatic. Just because you return a lot of guys, that doesn't mean that we're just going to walk out on the court and all of those things are going to happen that sound really good this time of year. You have to really grind it, I have to grind it as a coach, we have to make it happen. We have to make sure guys understand the deal which is the more games you win, the more individual things that you receive as a basketball player.

If you look at the ACC this year, you see a lot of good teams that are right at the same level. You don't see a whole lot of difference. Last year at this time I think most people would have said North Carolina is better than everybody else. This year I think there are more teams at a certain level, maybe not that one team at the Carolina level. Somebody might play themselves to that level but right now, you look at 16 games on our schedule in January and February and there's no lock. There's no game where we say that we've got that game won, that team's no good, we can beat them. Last year, Georgia Tech finished last, they're being picked in the Top-25 in the country this year. I think that's pretty typical of our league. That's what you face every year, that's the great thing about ACC basketball. I think our league, top to bottom, I don't think any conference in the country can do better than what we can do top to bottom.

I'm really proud of what we've done here, the last 21 years. We're going to continue to strive for excellence. I'm really looking with my coaches and our staff, making sure that this team maxes out, gets the most they can out of whatever ability we have, that's my job and that's the challenge each year."

On how Greivis Vasquez could do to elevate his game:
"Every player knows that they can get better. If you're a good player, you know you can always improve...Greivis shot 32 percent from the three-point line, he's a better shooter than that, but you have to prove it, you have to go out there and do it. As you become a better shooter, the defense has to come up on you and that's going to open up what he does really well, which is the dribble penetration. With his 6-6 size, running over guards...You want to get better at what you're really good at, but you always want to get better at something you might not be quite as good as you think you should be."

On where he will play Landon Milbourne:
"Landon is very comfortable now at the [power forward]. The question is do I want to play Landon at the [small forward]. I want Landon to play as well as he did last year, if not better. Landon had a great year playing for us... The idea of having three guards on the court with a physical presence that we can put out there is very appealing. Especially early in the year as James Padgett and Jordan Williams gain experience, I think it's very important for Landon to do a great job for us like he did last year."

On dealing with team's lofty expectations:
"We've been picked in some Top-25 polls, which is great. I'd rather be picked No. 1 in the country, I'd rather have those expectations going into the season. There are more good teams out there, there are more teams that do things, whjatever it takes, to be a good basketball program. That's your battle. You never get complacent with a veteran team. A veteran team has to be better... we have to be a better basketball team. Teams are going to look at us a little different than they looked at us in December of last year. We have to be a better basketball team because we're going to take some shots from some people that are going to be really ready to play. That means that we have to be ready.

Senior Guard Greivis Vasquez

On being a senior:
"I'm emotional right just because I can't believe I was a freshman yesterday, I'm a senior right now. It's been a great ride for me and I'm happy and thankful that I'm back here at Maryland and I'm going to get my degree. I'm just happy to be here at Maryland."

On his decision to stay at Maryland another year:

"It was tough. I was really close, but I based my decision on what type of character I want to build myself. My plan on coming back and getting better one more year will help me to be the type of NBA player I want to be. First, I have to take care of what I need right now, which is to take care of getting my degree (in American Studies) and taking the team to the Tournament."

"I needed time to think, it's a big decision and I didn't want to rush. I thought I made a good decision. The coaches, Coach Williams, the assistant coaches, they all helped me. My high school coach helped me. The whole process was for me to get better and just compete against all the players around the whole country. It was good, I learned a lot. Now I know how I need to do things for the next draft and it will be a little easier. It was just a process for me to learn."

Junior Guard Cliff Tucker

On losing Dave Neal:

"I don't think from last year it's a lot different. Having Dave was kind of like a savior to us. He did a lot of things that nobody really thought that he could do. I think Jordan and James could step up like traditional post players and I think that would help us out a lot. If they can play well for us, it will help us out a lot."

On the freshman posts:
"I think Jordan and James can move around pretty well. I don't know if they can shoot the ball as good as Dave, but I think they can move around pretty well and maybe do some of the same things Dave did for us last year. I think we are a better team."

On his summer preparation:
"This summer I've just been lifting weights and conditioning with Paul [Ricci]. A couple of guys and I went up to New York to work out with one of the basketball trainers up there. Basically, I've just been working hard on strength and conditioning."

Senior Forward Landon Milbourne

On the strengths of the team:
"We've got a lot of experience coming back. We have one of the top guys coming back. We know what our goals are and we are all working toward the same thing. Everybody is in tune with each other so it should be a pretty good season."

On having bigger inside players:
"Definitely, it's nice. I'm real excited about that. I'm not putting too much pressure on the freshmen. It's a hard transition from high school, then going into college. It's a lot of expectations for them, but we've been working pretty good with them and they have great attitudes. So as long as they keep coming in here with a great attitude, then they'll be good."

On the freshmen:
"From Jordan, he's a big body and he has a great attitude as well. You can see it in his eyes that he wants to win. He's always paying attention and he's always ready to learn new things and that's what we need. The same thing with James, he is a great finisher. His energy is good; it's just as good as Jordan's. We are waiting for these guys to get on the court and see what they're going to do. It's been good so far."

Sophomore Guard Sean Mosley

On being a defensive stopper last season:
"In high school it was kind of different because the ball was always in my hands. I had to score. Coming here as a freshman and having Greivis and other guys that can score, basically my whole job was to come out and stop the people I was playing. That's in my mind anyway even if I was scoring a whole bunch of points a game. It was just me coming out here and putting everything on the line for my team."

On people doubting the team last year:
"It helped us a little bit because it made us come out hungry every game. Even in practice we competed together to make each other better. So when we step on the court as a team it's kind of hard to stop us. So having people against us definitely helped us out a lot last year."

Junior Guard Adrian Bowie

On maturing from last season to the season:
"I think I've gotten a lot stronger. I'm more confident in talking to my teammates, letting them know about plays, if they messed up plays or anything like that. I'm more confident. I'm aware of what I'm doing.

On staying motivated this year:
"Want to win. Want to beat Duke. Want to beat Carolina. They're still the top teams in the ACC so if we want to be the top team we've got to beat the top team."

On the ACC as a whole:
"It'll be strong. Georgia Tech, they're good. Wake Forest is good. NC State is coming back. North Carolina and Duke they're always good. Virginia is good. It's going to be a tough conference... I definitely think we're right there with everybody. I think it's a wide-open league and anybody has a chance to win."

Senior Guard Eric Hayes

On freshmen forwards Jordan Williams and James Padgett:
"They're a little different players. Jordan is more of a scoring-type guy. He can get the ball on the block and score. He's a wide body down there. James is more of a hustle-type guy, kind of like Dino in a way. He can rebound the ball really well, defend pretty well. They're both pretty smart players."

On his maturation as a basketball player:
"Toward the end of the year I was looking for my shot more, trying to be more aggressive, especially getting to the basket more off the dribble... From my freshman year to now I've really evolved from being pretty much a set-up guy and a just spot-up shooter to being able to create my own shot a little bit more and getting other guys involved from my getting to the basket."

Freshman Forward Jordan Williams

On starting the season:
"I'm excited. Saturday makes it official, but tomorrow you get the crowd here and everyone's excited for the season to start. We've all been working hard in the off-season, and now it's time for crunch time and for us to show everybody that we're a team to be reckoned with this year."

On his expectations for the year:
"They expect a lot out of us; not necessarily huge things, but they want us to contribute right away. We have high expectations for everyone, not just me or an individual, but from a team standpoint. We want to make a statement right away."

On being physically ready:
"I believe I'm ready. I've worked hard, we've all worked hard. If I'm not ready, I will be shortly."

Junior forward Dino Gregory

On his contributions:
"The main thing I can do individually is help us win as a team. Whatever it is that Coach will ask me to do, I'll do."

On front-court opportunities:
"I think that's a role I can fill. I've worked extremely hard this off-season, and I think that will be a big part of my game this year."