Coming off a 21-14 season in which his team exceeded all reasonable expectations by reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Maryland coach Gary Williams laid out the plan for an encore performance at Terps Media Day Thursday.
“This year, the key thing is to go from there,” said Williams. “We want to start Saturday, from that point.”
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With that, the 2009-10 Terps have their mission statement. Friday night the Terps will hold their annual Maryland Madness at Comcast Center, before practice begins Saturday.
With eight of their top nine scorers back, joined by freshmen forwards James Padgett and Jordan Williams, expectations are high. But Williams knows it won’t be easy to duplicate last year’s successful chemistry experiment, when the Terps thrived with a gritty lineup that often included four guards.
“Nothing’s automatic,” said Williams. “Just because you return a lot of guys, that doesn’t mean we’re going to walk out on the court and all those things are going to happen. To be good this time of year, you have to grind it.”
The best thing Williams has going for him is a clearly-defined leader in guard Greivis Vasquez. The 6-foot-6 senior was the first player in program history to lead the Terps in points (17.5), rebounds (5.4), and assists (5.0). This year, the 6-10 Williams and 6-8 Padgett could lighten his load.
“With the big guys, we have two guys that will really help us in the paint,” said Vasquez. “We’re actually gonna have somebody who can guard big guys on the other team. Just having a big body always helps. It’s what we needed.”
Maryland excelled last year because senior forward Landon Milbourne (11.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg), senior guard Eric Hayes (10.3 ppg, 3.2 apg), junior guard Adrian Bowie (9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg), and sophomore guard Sean Mosley (5.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) bought into Williams’ defensive ethic. As returners with expectations of significant playing time, can Williams count on them to be as unselfish this season?
“You get playing time from Gary Williams by playing hard on both ends of the court,” said Mosley.
Those are words that Padgett and Williams will have to heed in order to become contributors this season.
“They expect a lot out of us,” said Williams, the Connecticut state Player of the Year. “They expect us to contribute right away. We have size they haven’t had in a couple of years, so we have high expectations for everyone. We want to make a statement right away.”
