Tuesday News Conference Quotes
3/2/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland head coach Gary Williams and guard Greivis Vasquez met with the media Tuesday afternoon in Comcast Center.
Head Coach Gary Williams
On the development of the team this year:
"We're pleased with the way our players have developed this year in terms of continuing to work as you go through the season. That's always something you try to get your team to do no matter what your talent level is at the beginning of the season. You just want to be the type of team that tries to get better each week you play. I think our guys have done that and they've done it in a good way in terms of really trying to help each other out, and as we get into the last week of the regular season, its great to be in a position where you're playing meaningful games. We're all looking forward to the next game but we've been looking forward to games as we've gone through this stretch of the season."
On the significance of the Duke game:
"Its great to be in this position but the games that we've played have allowed us to be in this position so it's been great to watch the maturing process of our team to win enough games to where this game is meaningful tomorrow night. So that's been the enjoyable thing for me as a coach, just to watch this team develop. We had to do some things to get better after the first month of the season and we've had guys willing to do that so it has been great."
On the team's improvement this season:
"I think our team has bought into playing defense as a unit. We're not the biggest team in the world that blocks shots all over the place. We've had some good shot-blocking teams here (in the past) so we've had to do a lot of things right defensively to make opponents take tough shots and that's been pretty consistent for the last couple of months since we've started league play and we can continue to do that."
On Greivis Vasquez's career development:
"He's been a player who has always wanted to get better and that has to be there. Some guys get here with a great reputation and don't work hard to keep improving because they think they're good enough. Other guys hit a wall and reach a level of satisfaction or disappointment and they stop working. Greivis has always had a goal of being the best player he can be and the only thing I did, I always told him there's always another level you can get to for any player. He's really bought into that. He's had his high school coach, Stu Vetter, really help him a great deal especially when he got here from Venezuela. He got him through some tough times and gave him the motivation not only to be a good basketball player but to be a good student. He'll graduate this spring and he's done a lot of things for the university and for the program. He's great on campus. He's one of those people who talks to everybody. He goes across campus like he plays. That's just how he is. I think that really helps our team and he's gotten a lot of attention and he's handled it pretty well. It's not easy and he's done a great job of that. I'm talking about a guy that comes from Venezuela, has to learn how to speak English so he can compete academically and that's just what he's done. It's just a gradual development as a person."
On current seniors reaching his expectations:
"I think Landon Milbourne scored 18 points his freshman year and I'm really proud of what Landon has done because he could have transferred, he could have done anything after that freshman year because he didn't play much. He chose to work hard and fight for playing time and he's turned out to be a very good player here, scoring over 1,000 points.
"Eric Hayes has been an ideal player on our team for four years because you know exactly what you're going to get from Eric. He gives you scoring, he gives you ball-handling, he plays defense and he's been consistent with it. He's another 1,000 point scorer, so both of those guys have had great four-year careers here."
On the player Vasquez has become:
"I think he showed that in high school. He would make plays as a passer that not a lot of high school guys could make and he had the ball-handling skills for a guy that was 6-foot-5 in high school that very few 6-foot-5 players have so that was always there. He did play with Kevin Durant so a lot of times he was overshadowed in what he did and I knew we weren't going to get Durant so Greivis to us was really a great recruit and he's proven to be a very good college basketball player."
On a moment that stands out about Vasquez:
"The one thing I remember is freshman year, October 15 or whatever the first day of practice was that year. My desk is back away from the doorway so he leans in and says, `reporting for duty sir' (as he salutes) and that was the start of his college career. I'm sure he didn't sign up for what he got into."
On the difference between the Maryland team today and the one that lost to Duke earlier this year:
"That was a funny week. We had the game canceled in the snow and school wasn't in session so all that was going on. I don't know how much all that played a role in how we played but when you go play a very good team (the eighth-ranked team in the country), you have to play well. That has to be a given. You're not going to win, especially on the road, unless you play well and we didn't play well to start with and Duke played pretty well. It was a bad combination of things but what I have liked about this team and they've done it before that game is whether it's a great win or a loss like that, you get ready for the next game. That's all you can do. You can't do anything about the game you just played. You can only do something for the next game and we've been able to do that this year. We came back from Maui and people thought that we weren't going to do much this year and we had to come back from that. I think that's where when you have seniors, they know the process and they know how it works. One game doesn't take you out of anything."
On Vasquez's ACC Player of the Year potential:
"I think when you start thinking about ... I've always felt with individual awards that if the team's good, you play well, then you have a shot to get them. We're in a league with a lot of great players and it's difficult. Duke is the fourth-ranked team in the country and if Jon Scheyer or Kyle Singler get that award, how could you say that was wrong? Look what they have done for their team. I know in terms of value for your team, I think Greivis has been tremendous for us, what he's done for our team. Player of the year, I think is debatable and that's a good thing. I think Greivis is like that. I think he feels that way and we'll just go play."
On the difficulty of winning an ACC regular-season title:
"I think it's very difficult because it's over a three-month period. We didn't have a great regular season and the team won (the ACC Tournament) in 2004 and that's a four-day event. Regular season is tough because you go through injuries, you have a bad game and you have to come back from that so I think to be where we were in the regular season is a good feeling right now."
On Duke's Brian Zoubek:
"Zoubek should get some credit because he's worked hard to get where he is. They're a different team this year because of their defense. They're a much tougher defensive team because they have more inside players that they can rotate through there. Foul trouble isn't a problem with the inside players so that's really helped in that area. His offensive rebounding gives him a different look. If you can make a team miss, you know you're going to get a rebound and that's all you have to do is make him miss because you're probably going to get the rebound. Well we have to work a lot harder in rebounding in this game if we expect to do well. He's big. He's not just seven feet, he's wide. He's very difficult to deal with and we have to do a better job of doing what we do than we did in the first game. He's a difficult matchup for us, no doubt about it."
On playing well against big forwards since the Duke game:
"We have but we didn't do a good job against Duke so until we do that, that's what we have to go on. We know what we have to do but when you play against a team like Duke, they're not going to make it easy on you. They're going to do what they do so it becomes a really good battle in those situations so we'll see if we can get it done."
On the team's success within the conference:
"They are a special team. You don't go into the year knowing exactly what you're going to be as a team but to watch what they've done in terms of their intensity level every day in practice, some things that I get to see how they are with each other, and then in regards to their record, they are a special team. Every team nowadays isn't like that. There is a lot of separation with some players on teams nowadays. These guys are tight. They do a good job and I'm sure there are a lot of other teams that do the same thing but then to win being like that is special. That proves a lot of things to them that I think can definitely stay with them as they get out of here. That's the part of coaching that you judge internally for yourself. In other words, to keep you going, it's not the wins and losses. It's great when you win, you don't want to lose because you want to work, but at the same time, you judge your team a little differently as a coach than the outside people judge your team."
On player's emotions during Senior Night:
"Every school has Senior Day so we hope we handle ours just like other schools handle theirs. We're no different than anyone else. There will be emotion and we've got a special group of seniors. You have to be able to handle it. It's here and we have to deal with it."
On how he's felt about this season:
"It's been enjoyable for the people involved. I think that determines a lot of your enjoyment with the team. Winning is great but the people that you see every day, just like any other job, is very important to how you feel about the next one."
