Maryland men?s basketball coach Gary Williams has participated in nationally televised games, high-stake conference tournaments and two Final Fours since taking over the Terps in 1989.
And while all of those events are very glamorous, one of his favorite parts of the season is taking place right now before a regular-season game has ever been played. It?s at this point of the season that Williams can have the greatest impact on his players by bestowing his knowledge upon them with hopes of making them not only better basketball players, but better people, as well.
“I?ve always felt that for coaches who like to teach, this is the best time of year,” Williams said. “Right now, you?re not preparing for any games and you get a chance to work with players individually every day.”
For Williams, he will need to use every bit of basketball his knowledge as the Terps attempt to get back to the NCAA tournament after settling for the NIT the last two years. This year?s team is an interesting mix of youth and experience that includes four freshmen and six seniors.
Despite missing out on the NCAA tournament, Williams refuses to call last year a failure. TheTerps finished 19-13 overall and 8-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He said the early departure of point guard John Gilchrist and the loss of another point guard, Chris McCray, to academic ineligibility, put Maryland in a difficult position as D.J. Strawberry was forced into the role, a position that is unnatural to him.
“The NCAA handles mid-major teams much differently than in the past, where they now give teams bids that they would not have considered in the past,” Williams said. “I don?t judge how a season goes until the end of the year. There are years where we have won 20 games, and I felt I could have done some things differently. And there are years like last year where a number of uncontrollable issues took away from our success.”
For Williams, this year represents somewhat of a clean slate since the last of his first recruiting class coming off the Terps? national championship has graduated. That class came in with the program?s greatest expectations to date and mostly failed to reach the standards set by their predecessors.
A similar parallel can now be drawn to Maryland?s women?s basketball program, which is looking to build off its own national title from last season. Coach Brenda Frese must now do her best to keep her team from falling back into the pack. The Terps are now the team everyone else wants to defeat.
Frese said while repeating as champion is a difficult task, her job is easier than it might otherwise be because of her competitive players who are not ready to rest on their laurels.
“We don?t feel like we?re defending a title this season,” Frese said. “We?ve already won it. We feel like this is a new season. Everyone at this point is undefeated, and we?re going into the 2006-2007 season with a new team and we?ve got to see what kind of team we?re going to become.
“I?m not going to put those kind of expectations on our team, that if we don?t win it all, it?s been anunsuccessful season. That?s not how we measure ourselves and our season. It?s about improving every day as a player and as a person.”
Ron Snyder is a staff writer. He can be reached at [email protected].
