A near 2,800-mile trip to Seattle, marking the longest among any NCAA Tournament team, isn’t unfamiliar territory for Maryland men’s basketball. What wasn’t known was that the early January road trip to Washington then Oregon would give Maryland an early taste of what adjustments come with a cross-country trip.
“I think the big thing is that we came out a little bit earlier,” head coach Kevin Willard said on Thursday. “Last time we practiced and we flew out late and we got out here really late. Then spent the day before Washington adjusting to the time zone. We came out early and practiced out here this time to try to give our guys a little bit better chance of adjusting.”
What wasn’t expected was the team’s gradual growth through the rest of the Big Ten slate, winning 14 of their next 18 games and climbing to 11th in the AP poll, the program’s best ranking since the 2019-20 season.
"I think we were a little bit more immature as a team early on the season and we’ve shown a lot of growth, we’ve shown our team’s identity and what we can really do," junior forward Tafara Gapare told IBG.
Maryland flew out to Seattle on Wednesday morning before taking in practice at the University of Washington’s practice facility, followed by shootaround inside the Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday afternoon.
“This time they slept all morning on the plane and then we got out here, I worked 'em pretty hard yesterday, we went out and had a really great dinner,” Willard added. “But everybody was tired and went to bed. I think just getting adjusted that way is a big difference.”
Now, it’s time for Maryland to shift to “win or go home” mode, as sophomore guard DeShawn Harris-Smith said.
“I feel like everybody will be out there with a lot of emotions,” Harris-Smith added.
Those emotions are fueled by the senior class, led by Julian Reese, closing in on the end of their careers in a Maryland uniform.
“Just do this for the seniors, emphasizing in practice that this could be it for the seniors,” Gapare added. “Coming into this tournament, it’s a lot of emotions and want to play hard every day and play hard for the older guys.”
“I feel like for the last few weeks, the coaches have been stressing to our seniors that this could be their last game and we want to send them out on the right note,” Harris-Smith added. “I know for me and a lot of the young guys, we want to play for [Julian Reese] and [Selton Miguel] and that’s going to have an extra chip on our shoulder knowing that any night could be our last game. Ju is one of my closest friends so I want to send him out on a high note.”
As for Reese, this marks his second NCAA Tournament appearance, though he’s just one of three on the active roster to play at least one game in the postseason. Still, the feeling of postseason play is hard to ignore.
“Kind of when you get to the hotel you see all the March Madness stuff on there. Here, first press conference and all eyes on you,” Reese said. “This is the only basketball where everybody in the country is watching. It's a blessing but we got to lock in and focus on the game and the task at hand and get it done.”
Related Links
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube