NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
Regional Semifinal - Maryland vs Florida
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
San Francisco, California, USA
Chase Center | Maryland Terrapins |Â Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference
KEVIN WILLARD: Extremely excited to be here. Been a good couple of days in San Francisco. Glad we didn't have to travel back to Maryland and travel back out. So staying out here, I think, it's been a lot of fun being with the guys and kind of touring San Francisco a little bit and seeing some sights.
Q.  Right after Derik hits that shot, he gives a shout out to Baltimore. Wanted to get your thoughts on why he felt compelled to mention his hometown and how important that is to him?
KEVIN WILLARD: The more time you spend in Baltimore, you know, it gets a really bad rap sometimes. And it's a phenomenal city, with great people that really love where they come from. They love their sports.
So I think -- and Derik said it; it's not easy getting out of Baltimore. So when you see someone coming out of Baltimore, having the success that he has had, Baltimore kids take a lot of pride in where they come from, as they should because it's a great city with great people.
Q.  And the relationship between him and Ju the other Baltimore guy how has has that developed and Ju taken him under his wing?
KEVIN WILLARD: Ju has been a big brother all year. On the court he's helped Derik develop tremendously with physicality getting used to it in the Big Ten. I think Derik conversely has been a great little brother because he's always joking around and smiling. I think it's really helped Ju enjoy his senior year and really relax.
Q.  Florida is a team that plays about eight or nine deep. I'm just curious -- and you've relied heavily on your starters for minutes. I'm curious about that aspect of the match-up and what's going to be required of your starters stamina-wise to deal with Florida?
KEVIN WILLARD: We'll have to play all four bigs, for sure. They remind me a lot of the way they run Michigan State and how Michigan State brings four big guys in and just tries to wear you down. I think Florida does the same thing.
They shoot the basketball much better than Michigan State team does. I think it's the biggest difference.
But we're going to have to play all four bigs. There's just no way Derik and Ju are going to be allotted 36 minutes against this team. They run consistently. They're fresh. They're as good a basketball team as I've seen on film all year.
Q.  What makes Ju a good rebounder besides the fact that it runs in the family?
KEVIN WILLARD: I don't know. To be perfectly honest with you, I think you'd have to ask him that.
Q.  I did. [Inaudible]?
KEVIN WILLARD: He did. I don't know. I would probably say playing one-on-one with Angel all those years. They both have tremendous motors and they're both highly competitive.
Ju is really strong. And I think being a big guy, especially going through AAU now and high school basketball, the really only way you get to basketball is if you set a pick and roll or get a rebound. And for me, he's always just been, he's always had a good feel for where the ball's going to go. I think that would be the sexy answer.
He has a really good feel for where shots are going to miss. He just doesn't run to the same spot every time. He kind of understands who is shooting it, where it's going. Like, Rodney shoots it a little flatter than Kobi. Kobi's misses are a little bit bouncier. Rod's are a little bit harder. He kind of understands that a little bit.
Q.  Florida is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, particularly their guards. And that's something you've mentioned that's been a struggle the past couple of games. How do you expect to kind of combat them on the glass?
KEVIN WILLARD: We're not going to switch as much nearly as we have. The switching -- I went back and watched our last three games -- the switching has really hurt us tremendously. And I think we're going to try to switch a whole lot less than we have. They remind me of Illinois in the fact that Illinois rebounds from the guard spot tremendously, big guards.
So try to switch it and just really make it a factor. I think they score something crazy, like 20 -- 32 percent of their points come from offensive rebounds. I've never seen anything like that in my life. It's an unbelievable stat.
As good as they are, as they shoot it, as good as they are in transition, you get a stop and then they punish you on the offensive glass. And I think that's why they're so good and they've had so much success; they beat you in so many different ways.
Q.  What is your recollection of how the Crab Five got started and what do you think of how that's taken off?
KEVIN WILLARD: The guy that runs our collective actually called me and said, have you seen this Crab Five thing? I hadn't seen it. I'm not so much on social media anymore.
So he trademarked it right away and made the T-shirts. Obviously they just got -- those guys are going to be paid; they just got paid the royalties from the T-shirts.
I think a student started it. It just took over and I think it was really cool. I don't know how it started, I don't know who started it. But I'm glad that these guys are making some money off of it because it's really cool.
Q.  (Off microphone)?
KEVIN WILLARD: I think things like that are true NIL. I actually think is originally what the rule was kind of -- I think it's really cool when you make money off your name, image and likeness instead of us just paying them. I think it's great. You've got to look for opportunities to do that, yes.
Q.  Obviously you've been very open the last week about trying to get greater NIL share, revenue share. I'm sure you saw Mike Locksley yesterday said he would prefer to keep some of these issues in-house. Why have you felt like kind of bringing this discussion in the open has been the best way to advocate for your program?
KEVIN WILLARD: The biggest thing is we've got to stop Payton. He's really good. He shoots the basketball going left 48 percent. He shoots it right going at, like, 38 percent. So really the last couple of days trying to come up with a game plan to stop Clayton because I think he's one of the best guards in the country that we've seen.
And really obviously trying to fix our rebounding woes have been at the top of my mind, too. It's a big problem.
Q.  I was going to ask you about Clayton. Let's roll off that. Hurley said last week that one thing that stood out to him was how quick Clayton's release is, which is impressive considering how small he is. He really understands how he needs to get the ball up. Does that jump out to you? Is there a player that he reminds you of?
KEVIN WILLARD: I mean, one of them is sitting right there holding a trophy. He reminds me of Steph a little bit of how good he is off the dribble.
It really is amazing that he shoots -- like we get a scouting report done by our analytical company. And he grades better than any player they've ever had analytically shooting the basketball off the dribble going right off the dribble, going left -- if you go under pick-and-rolls, what he shoots.
It's almost an amazing stat of how good he is. When you watch him on film, what I love about him, if he misses three in a row, his body language, it don't matter. A lot of kids get sensitive when they miss two or three in a row. He's just going to keep coming right at you. I think that's what makes him such a great shooter is he has so much confidence in himself that he's going to make the next one.
Q.  You went on the radio last night or yesterday and talked about kind of working with somebody in the athletic department. Were there any updates you had for us about it?
KEVIN WILLARD: Yeah, we're playing Florida. We're playing Florida. It's a big match-up for us. This is all about the Sweet 16 and these guys enjoying it as much as possible. I've enjoy it tremendously.
I do love this town. It's a great town. Great food. Got to have dinner with P.J. Carlesimo last night, which is always a lot of fun, the stories we get to tell about Seton Hall. And Chris Mullin and Coach Van Gundy joined us. We had a great time last night.
Q.  You mentioned how many guys have not played in the NCAA Tournament. This being the first time being in the Sweet 16, is that an area of concern for you, or is it more liberating that these guys are unfamiliar with the stage and maybe can play more freely?
KEVIN WILLARD: I'm hoping -- the first five minutes of Grand Canyon I was nervous because these guys were all a little nervous besides Ju. And I thought, the Colorado State game I thought it was a regular good basketball game but I thought the nerves had gone away.
I'm sure they're going to be nervous. I hope they're nervous. It's a great opportunity. Part of life is having opportunities. You're going to be a little nervous. You're going to be a little excited. I think that's great.
I think that's part of what makes this tournament so unbelievable. They're going to remember being nervous when the tip comes tomorrow at 4:10.
Q.  I think you've talked about the analytics company or the analytics guy. Could you share who that is, what that is and big takeaways about how it's kind of shaped your thinking about modern offense, the way you guys want to play?
KEVIN WILLARD: I don't think I can comment on the company, but -- so I've always been a data guy -- the KenPom stuff, all that stuff. Anything you can get an edge helps. In the last two years, it's dramatically changed. It's all AI. His company has 50 computers in downtown Washington, D.C. There's no human bias whatsoever. It's not, like, well, Clayton might go this way.
The computer grades the games. It's not a person typing. It's not -- like, synergy is graded by someone goes in and grades it with synergy. This is all done by AI.
So when you get these reports -- and we get the reports on the portal kids, it's amazing how accurate they are. I go watch film on Clayton, I grade it myself and I have my notes. Then I go back and I get his reports. They're so spot on, it's scary.
So it's gotten so advanced that if you don't use it, I think you're falling behind.
And for us, like it grades our offense, what plays, what plays I need to run for guys going to the right, what guys I should run early in the game, who plays better at the end of the game.
It's deep. And I think it's been a great investment by -- and Damon was awesome. It was a great investment. He met with them, loved them. I think he's helped Locks with the football. He's helped women basketball too.
I think it's something that we've invested in. It's helped us tremendously.
Q.  With all this Crab Five stuff, you mentioned you had a nice dinner in San Francisco. Do you like crab, do the kids like crab? We're known for crab around here. Just curious about that.
KEVIN WILLARD: JuJu loves crabs. Coach Cox loves crabs. I like crab cake. I feel the whole process of going through cracking the crab and peeling the crab and doing all that just to get, like, it's not that much crab. It's a lot of work.
No one's ever done it -- it's really cool to have a couple of beers with friends and do it down by the harbor, it's really good. But I prefer someone just make me a nice crab cake and I love crab cake.
So you're into this Crab Five, I like it. No, I love it. I think it's awesome. I'm glad someone's concentrating on the game and the team.
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Q.  I was just asking Coach what does he think makes Ju such a good rebounder besides the fact it runs in his family, obviously, with Angel. What do you guys think playing with him?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: I think he uses his body well. He's tall. He's strong. So I feel like he just knows how to use his body and he wants to get rebounds.
SELTON MIGUEL: Same thing, he's always right there. The ball just goes into his hands.
Q.  What has it been like to be able to spend the whole week out here from Seattle to hear and not having to fly back and forth, what's the experience been like the last couple of days having some time off here?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: It's been fun just hanging out with our teammates, just team bonding. A lot of us have never been to Cali, so it's been fun to get out here and see it.
SELTON MIGUEL: The same thing. The weather is nice. The food is nice. Yeah, we're in Cali.
Q.  What activities have you done? What have you done away from the basketball court, keeping people light and not feeling too much like just it's a basketball trip?
SELTON MIGUEL: We had a lot of time to walk around where we're at. We went to eat at little nice places. Just enjoy each other, every moment we can, without the basketball.
Q.  Did you know it was so hilly in San Francisco?
SELTON MIGUEL: No, not yet.
Q.  Did you get some hills?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: I saw that. I didn't know that coming here it was hilly.
Q.  In this tournament, in general, do you feel like it's sort of anybody's run to make because there's maybe not a Cinderella team, there's maybe not a team that will win it for sure? Is that just this time of year?
SELTON MIGUEL: I think so. All the 16 teams are good enough to win it all. Anything can happen at this point.
Q.  I was curious, this Crab Five thing has kind of gone national now. What is it like to have your own brand, kind of, have your own nickname that it seems like it's going to stand the test of time like the Fab Five and like all those other great teams that made a run in this tournament?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: It's cool to be mentioned with the Fab Five, and they kind of made us -- Crab Five is cool. We have a whole team. I feel like it's cool, like, everybody's saying it, but I feel like we also have a whole team.
SELTON MIGUEL: Same thing. It's pretty cool. At the same time, you've got like 15 guys, 13 guys here. So it should be like the Crab 15. But we embrace it. We're happy for it, and, yeah, it's been fun.
Q.  We were talking to Coach about Walter Clayton Jr., how good he is, how quickly he releases the ball. What have you guys seen on film that stands out to you?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: I mean, you've got to guard him. You can't give him no space. He gets the 3 off really quick. So we've just got to make sure he can't get to his spots.
SELTON MIGUEL: Yeah. He's a really good player. We've just got to be on him all night.
Q.  You've been in a lot of different arenas in your time. Curious your thoughts on Chase Center and playing in the house that the Warriors have won a lot here and Steph Curry plays here. What are your thoughts on that?
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: It's the best arena I've been in, yeah.
SELTON MIGUEL: I'll say the same thing. We're excited to be here. It's a big dream come true playing in an NBA arena, especially the Warriors.
Q.  I covered you both last year at Belmont in South Florida. It's been a year now. What's this year been like growth-wise and playing at this higher level of college basketball?
SELTON MIGUEL: It's been pretty fun. Been pretty fun. Just because it's a group of guys that came from different schools, and we all got together to be here. We had this goal since June that we'll come together and try to make the tournament. So it's been fun. We're not satisfied at all because we want more, but it's been really fun. We're grateful for it.
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: I mean, it's been fun just coming here with a whole bunch of -- because there was a lot of transfers coming in together. I feel like we all came in and had the same goal to play deep in the postseason. So I feel like we're finally here doing that. So, yeah, it's been fun.
Q.  I think when even a freshman as talented as Derik Queen, you never quite know how they might show up when the stage gets to the NCAA Tournament, lights are brighter. What have you seen him from in the postseason, and what has he brought to the locker room, his personality?
SELTON MIGUEL: I would say on the court he's been considered as any top freshman in the country. He's never high, never low, always the same, even off the court. He's a really good kid. Good kid to be around. He's fun to be around.
He's just Derik. Whatever we're going to get on the court we'll get off the court. He doesn't change.
JA'KOBI GILLESPIE: I feel he's just a really confident player. He's not going to shy away from any big-time moment.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
