Maryland men\u2019s basketball had its media day Thursday, with all 16 players and head coach Buzz Wiliams speaking for the first time in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n
The Terps unofficially open their season with a home exhibition game Oct. 27 against UMBC. That game will be the first for all but one of Maryland\u2019s players in front of the home crowd at the Xfinity Center. The first official game for the Terps is in Baltimore against Coppin State on Nov. 3, with Maryland\u2019s home opener coming Nov. 7 against Georgetown.<\/p>\n
Here are three takeaways from the team\u2019s media day.<\/p>\n
Williams has brought a culture shift, with results to be determined<\/p>\n
While Maryland fans have yet to see the newest rendition of the team in action, it is already clear that the Terps have the character of a Buzz Williams program.<\/p>\n
After having four Maryland natives on the squad last year, including the hometown star Derik Queen, none of the current Terps grew up in the state. Only Nick Blake \u2014 the son of Maryland legend Steve Blake, but someone who never grew up in the area \u2014 had any pre-existing connection with the school whatsoever.<\/p>\n
Instead, the biggest connecting factor for Maryland is the new head of the squad. Williams was inevitably going to have an impact on players coming to College Park. However, it is notable just how much praise he has gotten, with players claiming to already feel the effects of Williams\u2019 influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that type of energy just makes you want to run through a brick wall for somebody,\u201d freshman Aleks Alston said.<\/p>\n
A frequently mentioned aspect of Williams\u2019 energy was how its impact extends beyond the court. One of his founding principles as a coach \u2014 a mantra emphasized by several players as something that they\u2019ve taken to heart \u2014 is driving the team to win between the margins and do the small things right. That attitude shone Thursday.<\/p>\n
After official team and individual shots were taken with uniforms on, the players returned to the locker room before re-emerging in suits for interviews and more photos. It was a classy touch to cap off a satisfactory debut appearance from the players, who seem fully bought in.<\/p>\n
However, reaching the achievements of a Buzz Williams program may not happen immediately.<\/p>\n
When he took the mic alone, Williams did his best to temper expectations for the on-court end product, admitting even his staff is unsure what they\u2019ll see from the team.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Wednesday] was our 26th practice\u2026 maybe four to six of those practices have been what I would deem high-major good practices in regards to the work that was accomplished, the efficiency from start to finish,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had more bad days than good days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The head coach went on to describe his practice style, which involved an intense early-season boot camp, as \u201carchaic\u201d and something that would likely put his team \u201cfurther behind schematically\u201d \u2014 but something that will drive personal growth and, eventually, results.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably lose a game or two before Christmas every year that we shouldn\u2019t, and we probably win a game or two after Valentine\u2019s Day that we shouldn\u2019t,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
In the experimental portal era of college basketball, with teams coming together seemingly overnight, it remains to be seen whether the Terps will be able to come close to last season\u2019s successes. The honesty from Williams suggests some patience may be necessary. But the foundations for a successful program driven by strength and character appear to be firmly in place.<\/p>\n
Lukas Sotell\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n
Sotell, a walk-on, spent his first two years on Maryland men\u2019s basketball as nothing more than<\/p>\n
the guy who came in late in blowouts. This year, he\u2019s got a newfound value to the team as the only piece bridging the Williams era to the Kevin Willard era.<\/p>\n
Sotell was the only survivor of Willard\u2019s messy and public breakup with the Terps immediately following their Sweet 16 loss to Florida. Every other player on that year\u2019s roster transferred or left for the NBA after Willard\u2019s departure to Villanova.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to start with a clean slate, but it\u2019s also sad that some guys had to leave,\u201d Sotell said. \u201cI mean, we were close as a team last year. We had great team chemistry, we did everything together. Especially with Derik [Queen], he was a goofball. He definitely brought us close together.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was uncertainty whether Sotell would even be able to stay with the team, Williams said. But the junior is back, albeit navigating a unique situation while trying to move on from an unforgettable 2024-25 campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s weird at first,\u201d Sotell said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know how people operate \u2026 but once I got to know everyone, once we went through conditioning, bonded through practice, all that type of stuff \u2026 it was an adjustment for sure, but once I got to know everyone, once I settled down, it was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sotell didn\u2019t downplay the difficulty of adjusting to a new coaching style. But he\u2019s quickly grown to like Williams, someone he called \u201csuper genuine\u201d and a \u201cbig life coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hard part of the transition, though, is being the only one familiar with the tradition and history unique to Maryland. He\u2019s found himself having to teach his coaches and teammates about Mawty Maw\u2019s intro song, the student section flag drop and other College Park traditions that can\u2019t be lost in the fold of a brand-new team and staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely want to keep the Maryland traditions going,\u201d Sotell said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to explain to them how things work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much has been made of the fact that Maryland\u2019s team is composed of almost entirely new players. But there are also valuable bonds between a number of different players already \u2014 which may help the Terps\u2019 early-season chemistry and on-court synchronization.<\/p>\n
Redshirt freshman guard Andre Mills and redshirt freshman forward George Turkson Jr. are both from Massachusetts and grew up roughly 40 minutes apart from each other. Despite the distance, they shared the journey of navigating the state\u2019s often overlooked AAU landscape and found themselves on the same club team, Mass Rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cCovid happened, and one day I was on Instagram Live playing 2K with my friend,\u201d Mills said. \u201cThis guy named Tom Nelson that coached Mass Rivals, he came on my live, and basically was just telling me, like, \u2018Oh, I think you could play. Like, I think you have potential.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Turkson emphasized that the duo \u201cgrew close\u201d over their three-year stint together on AAU. Both players were drawn to head coach Buzz Williams at Texas A&M, and for similar reasons. Those reasons also contributed to them sticking by his side as he made the move to Maryland.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s more, I would say, a human coach,\u201d Turkson said. \u201dHe teaches you more about life and how to grow up to be a young adult in this world, more than it is just strictly basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
The duo of junior guard Isaiah Watts and redshirt junior guard Myles Rice, however, could be even more lethal. The pair spent a year together at Washington State before Rice departed for Indiana. But the chemistry and in-person energy between the two is undeniable.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Myles is] open, I pass, [he] shoots, he knows that,\u201d Watts said. \u201cI know where he\u2019s going to be. He knows where I\u2019m going to be. He\u2019s open, ball touches his hands: shoot. And that\u2019s what that\u2019s what we want. That\u2019s a predictable shot for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watts and Rice also both emphatically stated that part of the reason they chose Maryland was to reunite with one another. That close relationship could pay serious dividends for the Terps\u2019 success this season.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Myles] played a huge part, I will not lie to you,\u201d Watts said. \u201cBuzz Williams was the main reason I came. But you know, why not link up with somebody that you actually call a brother, and you actually believe has your back. You\u2019ve been to war with them. I couldn\u2019t turn it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super happy to be playing alongside my brother [Watts] again,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maryland men\u2019s basketball had its media day Thursday, with all 16 players and head coach Buzz Wiliams speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,65099,135642,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-248386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-maryland-mens-basketball","tag-maryland-mens-basketball-news","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}