Maryland basketball is nearly two weeks away from kicking off the 2024-25 season and year three of the Kevin Willard era. Willard took the podium in Xfinity Center on Tuesday to preview his upcoming team and season:
Opening statement
“Excited for the year to start. It's been a really, really good off season starting in April with the incoming freshmen coming in and the portal, going through the portal, whether we lost some or we gained some. This group has been very focused since they got on campus, technically June 1. They've worked hard to get to know each other. They've worked hard to kind of get to you know each other's games. They're a very focused, the returners, Julian [Reese] Deshawn [Harris-Smith], are very focused on the fact that we know that we had a very disappointing year last year. Very, very below what our goals and expectations were. And I think this group has, from day one, been very focused on making sure that everything that we're doing is to make sure that we have as good a year as possible. So it's been a really good group to coach so far. They're energetic, a little bit older, which is nice. Also could be challenging at times, but overall, a really good group that were excited this year.”
On the value of adding maturity through the portal
“I think the biggest thing that, obviously going into this job, we looked at it as trying to build three freshman classes and then the transfer rules changed dramatically, really, in the middle of last year. And so we were old. Our starting lineup last year was old. I mean, Donta [Scott], you had Jahmir [Young], [Julian Reese], Jordan [Geronimo] was older. Deshawn was the only freshman on that group. So we had a very good basis of an older group last year. But when you went to sub very quickly, I realized that we had five freshmen on the bench and good players, but just in an era where the transfer portal pretty much dominates rosters, we came quickly realized as a staff that it's good to have good young players. Like I think I have the best young player in the country and Derik Queen, but when you look down the bench, you'd like to see some guys that have played college basketball before and been in different situations. And so when we went into the portal, the biggest thing that we wanted to do, even from guys that maybe might not start, or guys that had played a little bit that, from whether it's a practice standpoint, a travel standpoint, lose a couple [of] games and still understand there's a lot of season left. That was probably the biggest thing that we wanted to, I wouldn't say fix, but just adjust in what we were trying to do and not be so freshman-heavy every year. And that's kind of the way we've attacked this recruiting class, to be honest with you, too, is that two or three freshmen are probably going to be the limit to what we do every year with freshmen.”
On the addition of Ja’Kobi Gillespie
“I think the two biggest things were obviously Jahmir, for two years, was the heart and soul of this program. He gave everything to this program. He was, on the court, off the court, he was just phenomenal. He was just here the other day. He just had so much heart that he loved this place so much they gave it every day. You're not going to replace Jahmir and that's not Ja’Kobi’s job. The biggest thing for us was with Ja’Kobi, getting someone that shot a high percentage from the three point line was major, and a guy that had played at a pretty good level, and had been in some – it was use of physicality, and he actually played in a very physical League, but we told Ja’Kobi that we were going to try to find someone else, and that's where Selton kind of came in. I didn't want to have to be stuck with what Jahmir had to do last year was, unfortunately, being the only guy that could create offense.”
On managing expectations for Derik Queen
“Derik's a top 10 player. Derik, if I was an NBA GM, I would draft him in a heartbeat. I think there's a huge difference in the fact that he's a, probably a once in a lifetime, generational talent. I mean, he is as skilled a big man as I've ever seen on the court. I mean, his first scrimmage, he was phenomenal playing against someone else. So I think his expectations are totally different than what the freshman class we brought in last year was, and I thought Deshawn last year, although his numbers didn't prove it, played as good as any freshman in the conference for the amount of minutes he had to play. So trying not to put as much pressure on freshman. Derik's gonna be playing with three guys, four guys that are they're all juniors and one sophomore.”
On the biggest maturation from Julian Reese
“I think it's Julian's leadership. I think he's really grown up. Ju’s still young. He's only 21 years old. So unlike in today's world where guys do prep school, they've redshirted, they’re 24 year. Ju’s only 21 so he's still extremely young as far as college basketball, I think Ju’s leadership, he's here every morning at 7:30 getting work in every day. He was in the gym every day this summer, working on a shot and his free throw. I just think his work ethic and his leadership has really evolved as he's kind of grown and gone through the wars.”
On the development of Deshawn Harris-Smith
“I think the biggest thing for Deshawn is if you look at the last seven games of conference play last year, and look what his numbers did, his turnovers, his overall play over those last seven games, it's just him keep taking that big step. I think he's going to be – the fact that he's going to have [Julian], Ja’Kobi, Selton, Derik out there with him, I think it's going to just let him relax a little bit. He came in with a lot of big expectations last year. I thought he had a very good year, but he didn't shoot the basketball overly well, and that kind of weighed on him a little bit. He's kind of gotten away from putting the stress on his shooting and really focused more on just being the playmaker that we know he is and I just think that is going to help him tremendously have such a better year.”
On future non-conference matchups vs. Virginia & Georgetown
“I think two things, just being here now my third year, understanding A, the Georgetown series probably should have been always been played. I think as long as Ed and I are here, it will always be played. So that was a no brainer for me. The Virginia series just trying to, get we still have a very strong fan base that remembers all the ACC games. Tony, I respect their program. It's a bus ride. And in the new world of the Big Ten, as much as I love the new Big Ten, having games that, if you go play at Georgetown, it's 20, 45, minutes. If you go play Charlottesville, it's two hours where it's on a bus. So having rivals that are close to us, I think is really important and I think getting great home games with the 20 games that we play in the Big Ten is really important.”
On the transfer portal evaluation process
“So there's two big factors in the transfer portal – money and money. So last year, going into the season, we didn't have any money, so we couldn't really be overly aggressive in the transfer portal. And this year, thanks to Damon, I have a great group of guys that run the collective. We were able to be more aggressive in the portal because we had more money. So it's kind of a bad cop out, and I apologize for the excuse. I don't like it, but the reality of situations that we had more money to be more aggressive early in the portal than we were before, and so we were able to be aggressive with Jacoby. We were able to be aggressive with guys like Selton that when we got him on campus for visits, that we just didn't mess around. We could be more aggressive.”
On the lineup cohesion
“We weren't going to bring anyone that couldn't shoot the basketball. I mean, that was just with Derik and having been able to watch Derik as much I did in high school, understanding how good of a passer he is out of the post, understanding what Julian went through last year with the amount of double teams, double teamed only behind Edey in college basketball. So understanding what he's going to bring just to make those guys life easier. And I think that was something that Ja’Kobi and Selton both really wanted to play with, was a guy that could get them inside out threes, throw it in and kick it back out.”
On whether stability is possible in modern college basketball
“It's a broken system right now. It really is. Anybody thinks that it’s not is not in it every day and not dealing with it. I think the only way that this actually gets fixed is if it gets all blown up and we start over, somehow, someway. I don't know if that's within the NCAA, without the NCAA, I don't know if that's but I think for the best – for the players, the best for the fans, best for coaches. It's funny, we've had seven NBA general managers come here and say, I don't know how you guys do this. We have guys on six-year contracts, five-year contracts. We know how to mix and match, what to do. And he said, you guys had, you're literally on a six-month contract. So it is what it is. I think we've done a great job putting together a really good roster that I'm excited about, but I think my honest opinion, and I know and I don't blame everybody, no one listens to me, but unless it gets blown up and totally reconstructed, it's going to be like this forever.”
On offense & defense expectations
“We were first in the country, and we're second in the country in making teams work for shots. I was really impressed how good we were defensively, considering how bad we were offensively, I think we were like the 12th-worst offensive team in the country, maybe 11th. I don't want to cheat myself. And so to be that good defensively, concerning the fact that we're in transition defense a lot because we missed a lot of shots, is something that we'd like to play faster. I've also learned this league a little bit. This league doesn't let you play overly fast. I've been a little bit shocked a little bit, Purdue [is] actually one of the faster teams and they'll grind you out. I know Michigan State plays fast at home, but they really play slow on the road. So I think I've gotten used to this league a little bit. Our first year, we were really good pressing, because we scored so much more. Last year we were just we struggled to get our tempo going because we just couldn't score. So when you want to press and you want to get into it, when you can't shoot and you can't score, even our free throw percentage was so bad last year. So I was proud of the way the guys played last year. To be in as many games as we were, being as bad as we were offensively, just showed you the type of the heart and grit that they had. But I would gladly sacrifice 12 defensive spots in KenPom to be a 50, 65. To be really good, you gotta be somewhere 25 and 25. That's my goal every year…I would sacrifice plenty of spots on the defensive spot to go up offensively. So yes.”
On Julian Reese & Derik Queen in the frontcourt
“The biggest issue we're having right now is just transition defense. Both of them are elite rebounders. Like to play physical inside. They play off each other really, really well. We had like four or five really nice high lows the other day in our scrimmage with those two. We had some good duck ins with some really good pick and roll offense. We didn't convert on some of them, but the biggest issue we're having playing both of them is the fact that neither one of them are used to sprinting back and playing a four man. Derik’s not used to it, and obviously Julian's not used to it, for the last three years, he hasn't done it. So that's probably our biggest hurdle. Derik's been great in the press. Ju knows the press, they've been good in the zone. Derik, Ju, Selton on the back line is a huge back line in the zone so they've been great. So they worked really well together. The biggest issue we're having is I have to figure out a way to get them on their understand transition defense, because when they're not in together, they both train, they both go back to being five men and having a totally different responsibility and transition defense than what they do with the four man. The four man has a totally, especially in our system, they have a total – they're really responsible for a lot in the defense. So that's our biggest issue that we're having with them right now. But it's a good issue because I know we can fix it because, someone had to put a four man on Derik, someone's got to put a four man on Juju. And I just wouldn't want to be that four man in that situation.”
On Julian Reese’s weight gain
“I think it was really the second half of his sophomore year where I think he realized we wanted to get he went up against Edey, the young man from Wisconsin, and I think the kid from Illinois, and was back-to-back-to-back, and he played phenomenal, but he got beat up. And I think he realized, and it was more from the offense, because he bangs on the offensive end so much. I think he realized right there that he needed to really concentrate on his body to help him sustain how he wants to play. And if you look at the minutes that he had to play last year, again, he had to play probably six minutes too much last year. If you look at his last eight minutes, scoring and shooting, it really went down just because how could you blame him? He's playing Zach Edey and playing 36 minutes a game. It just wasn't fair to him. I think he realized the summer he's got himself in really good shape, but I think he realized that he had to build that muscle to be able to sustain the way he wanted to play on the offensive end.”
On where Reese stacks up against other big men in the country
“I don't know who's left as big men in the country. I don't know who's in the league. I don't know what big guys are left yet in this league but I know that I would take him over any big guy in the country. So I think he stacks up first.”
On whether there’s pressure on Derik Queen
“It's Derik's best quality is that every day he walks through that door, he's got the best energy, especially for a big guy. He comes in here, he's ready to play. He's ready. Derik understands who he is, and what he the ability he has. I have no pressure because we're just going to run a little pick-and-roll with him and give him the basketball. I mean, he is as talented a big man as I've seen in a long, long time and there's no pressure on him because if he doesn't make it this this year, he's going to make it next year. If he makes it this year, great. H's going to make it like that's not even a question. So he's just so much fun to coach, and he's so much fun that he makes everyone else better on the court. I don't look at as pressure. I look at as a great opportunity to have someone that's so special on the court with you that you can do so many things.”
On whether Queen has a comparison
“You watch him play, looks like he's playing like you're watching a 1960 slow motion NBA basketball player. And when I say that, people are like, oh, he but then he goes out and gets 24 and 12 in 20 minutes. I don't want to say Luka or anybody like that, because that's putting expectations that are crazy. He just has an unbelievable feel for the game of basketball it. He plays it at a speed that you'd want your point guard to play it at. He just sees everything. He doesn't get rushed up. He plays at his own pace. Especially in the college game, where the floor is not is not good for big guys. He's already figured out angles. He just plays at his own pace. And it's when you watch it sometimes you think it's like, he's not playing hard. He's just got it all figured out. And I just, there's really no player that I've seen that he reminds me of, just because it's he's an old school player with understanding the new the new way that the NBA and the college plays with the five out spacing and that kind of stuff. He's a unique player.”
On how long it takes for his team to find its identity
“It's actually a really good question. I think some years, you kind of know who you are right away, and I think other years you get really excited because you're going to be able to build a build upon it and understand it. It’s different now, just because you used to have seven classes that have come through your program that have passed on all the tricks and the trades of how we play, and then you could take that team and all of a sudden you could start to tweak it and get better. I think now you try to build an identity really quick of how you want to play. And then I think you have to adjust depending on what happens in the real games. But I think this team, we're a work in progress right now, which I like. I'm not sure what we are. I like this group, but I'm not sure if we're going to be a great defensive team or we're just going to be a team that runs up and down and jacks it up, because we do have some guys that like to play fast, and so we're definitely a work in progress right now. I don't know what we are.”
On identifying Ja’Kobi Gillespie in the portal
“There's just no way you can replace Jahmir. I'll say it all season. I thought the biggest thing was his numbers off catch and shoot were really, really high. His numbers off dribble handoffs were really, really high and understanding that he was probably going to get a lot of catch and shoot threes coming from the ball, out of the post was really important for us. So having a guy that was had better numbers of catch and shoot than he did off the dribble were really important to us. Defensively, he's really, really good defensively, which was something that we couldn't ask Jahmir to be the type of defender that he could have been just because of the amount of usage Jahmir had. So I think defending that spot was going to be really important for us, too. And then also we do a lot of dribble handoffs. So him coming off dribble handoffs, he's really good in dribble handoffs. You have Derik, you have Ju. He's going to get a lot of those. So that was, we had four guys that fit that category. And then, like I said, it becomes a money thing and an opportunity thing. So it's a little bit more complicated, just saying that we target them right away. It's a little bit more in depth in that. And then comes money.”
On how Rodney Rice has fared
“Rodney has been great. Rodney sprained his ankle early June. Had a bad ankle sprain. He missed most of June, a little bit early July. Rodney is now starting to show the boost and the scoring ability that that we all kind of saw him in high school and a little bit at Virginia Tech. Rodney's really come along nice. I think everyone just needs, and Rodney, I think starting to understand that too, is like everyone just has to be patient and let him kind of get back into the competition. He worked out. It's funny, he worked out all for that whole year, and then also now he's got to compete for minutes and stuff like that. To get those juices back, [it] takes a little time, but I'm excited about Rodney.”
On scoring balance in 2024-25
“I think I'd like to be perfect. I'd like to be much more balanced in the scoring. I wouldn't like, I don't want to have just one guy be the guy that we depend on scoring. And I do think I see this team with the ability of some guys that can get hot. I think it will – I don't see one guy just dominating the scoring like we've had the last couple years.”
On the difficulties Reese & Queen face in transition defense
“They’re like 6-foot-11, 250 and so they're chasing a guy that's 6-foot-4, 190 running to the corner to shoot a three when they're used to running back and just clogging up the lane. It's just something that neither one of them have ever done in their career. So I'm asking one of them and it's really Derik, probably because Ju ingrained now three years of playing the defense that we play, asking Derik to do something totally different that he's never done. The good thing about Derik is he's a very, very smart young man. He's a quick learner. It's just the times where he's out there as a five, and now also we transition him to a four, there's going to be some breakdowns in that, but I'm going to be happy. There's going to be breakdowns that's going to happen, but there's so much more positives of having both of them on the floor at the same time. You have to guard one of them with the same guy that he has to guard.”
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