Maryland men's basketball head coach Buzz Williams on turning the page from Georgetown loss, prepping for Virginia

3 hours ago

8 min read

One day prior to Maryland men’s basketball taking the court against sixth-ranked Virginia, head coach Buzz Williams dove into what went wrong vs. Georgetown and preparing for the season’s first top ten opponent:

On message to the team post-Georgetown loss

“Just trying to make sure that there's a lot of information coming to you in the two games, in the second week of the season, and how are we going to process all of that information, win or lose?

You're constantly trying to improve, and how, as an organization, are you going to disseminate that information? And then, how are you going to execute the improvements? And so, the whole group, not just the players, the staff, everybody, the whole ecosystem, has been diagnosing everything, trying to make improvements on what we've seen thus far, what we'll learn tomorrow is just constant curiosity on how we can improve.”

On Virginia’s offense

“I don't want to give away any of the secrets. They are really good. They were top 20 in the country last year offensively, top 15 in the country defensively, and they're better this year than they were last year. This will be their fifth game. I think they've played four games at home along with their game versus Arkansas. So we've tried to study all of those. A lot of what Coach is doing is very similar, but there's some different attributes. [Thijs De Ridder] is a year older and a year better. Preseason Player of the Year. [Chance Mallory], a year older, a year better, an elite playmaker with an extra burst that makes great decisions with the ball, whether it's for him or someone else. And then, just like you know from our game last year, they're dominant on the glass, which is part of the reason why their OER is so good and why their DER is so good.”

What Buzz learned about his team post-Georgetown loss

“As disappointed as the results were, and as I mentioned to Ben, a lot for us to learn from. I've been really encouraged by how they've handled it, how we as an organization have handled the disappointment, and how are we going to respond? And then how can we grow from that response? And I think the same will be true. And I've mentioned this to them. There's going to be opportunities to respond regardless of the result. Hey, if you win, respond. If you lose, respond. There's always information to learn. You can learn information from anybody, from any game. And I think how we handled Sunday and Monday was outstanding. We were off on Tuesday and then we started Wednesday morning with our typical routine of two day before and one day before. We just finished this morning. We'll get together again this evening to study and they've been great.”

On Maryland’s 3PT shooting

“We need all of our guys to make better decisions with the ball. And collectively, like all coaches, we want to take better shots. I don't think that we can correlate last year's team with this year's team. It's ten new players. [Pharrel Payne] did play in the game against Georgetown both years, I suppose as did [Andre Mills]. We gave them way too many threes. We didn't make enough threes, but I think it's fluid. Why didn't we make threes, and how did they make so many? I think both of those are connected. And so that's one of the big lessons that we've learned. And it will apply in every game, but it'll for sure apply tomorrow night because UVA is so good from behind the arc as well.”

Possible changes to rotation, lineup, minutes

“I think all of that through one game through one week is always in a state of flux. I don't think there's enough data to suggest who's best together yet, but we got to continue to flesh that out. I'm not as concerned with the starters as I am concerned with who's going to play the minutes when it counts, and they all count. And I think it's not just necessarily who starts, but it's who plays the best together, no matter at any point in time. So we've been collecting data. I think 28 practices thus far, and then obviously the two games that we've played. The data from the first game would be really good. The data from the second game would be really bad. So it's a small sample size, but all of it's important.”

What Buzz noticed post-Georgetown loss on film

“We were talking about a lot of the things throughout timeouts that I think applied. I think it was amplified more after watching it where you see the compound effect of it. Whether it was me or one of the other staff members on a particular category not meeting our standard, not meeting our expectations and then understanding how that impacted something else. So many things that transpired weren't to the level that they need to be, but nearly all of those things were connected. And I think that big lesson is what we've tried to emphasize to our guys: Does this impact this? Is it connected? And I think that's been the theme of what we've learned, but also the theme of how we've practiced over the last two days.”

Whether Buzz expects his team to look different as season progresses

“I think we learned I guess it would be five years ago. Even though it's not published, you can do enough research to try to determine how the NET works. From a guarantee perspective, we're playing fewer and fewer with each passing year, and from a scheduling standpoint, relative to timing, we're trying to play as many Power Four games as possible. I think that Georgetown, UVA, three more for sure in Vegas. We hope one more, so that would be six in November. And then if you think through December before Christmas, I think that number will be three. Obviously, the 20 games in Big Ten play. So I think when you're trying to make decisions similar to some of these questions, not being disrespectful to Bucknell, you're probably going to learn more about your team at Georgetown. Whether that information is good or bad, you're going to learn that information sooner relative to the level of competition. Potentially, that's why Coach Odom has played – this will be his fifth game – back-to-back power four games, back-to-back neutral site and road games. I think from a NET perspective, you're constantly erring on the side of aggressive, not on the side of ‘stay away from’.

I do think history says that we've probably won a game or two that we wouldn't have been predicted to win after Valentine's Day. And I think categorically in 19 seasons of data, you could find a game or two prior to Christmas that you would say we shouldn't have lost. I think some of that has to do with the concept of how we spend our time in the month of September and October. And I think some of it is just from a pedagogy standpoint. We try to teach our guys how to play more so than we teach our guys a play, and I think over time, when they understand how to play, whether you're talking about defense or offense, but categorically they understand the theme on which you're trying to work. I think sometimes as time goes, you probably get a win or two instead of getting those potential wins early when you're just out executing a team because you're running a play. And I think on a consistent basis, you're playing among the nation's best. I think that level of competition forces you to learn how to play because they're going to take away all of your plays.”

Where rebounding ranks among priorities vs. UVA

“Other than shots, the thing that happens the most in a game is rebounds. Either you rebound it or they rebound it, regardless of who shoots it. I think last year at UVA, one of you guys can look it up before you type it in case I'm wrong. I think our ORR at UVA was 49%, and I think UVA's ORR was 40%. Obviously, that tells you what the DRR was. The thing that we have not been as good as we need to be at is our defensive rebound percentage, including at Georgetown. And similar to one of the other questions, shot quality impacts offensive rebound percentage. Shot quality impacts free throw attempt rate. And your shot quality is also going to impact the opponent's shot quality. And so, in the first half, we had one free throw. In the second half, we had 24 free throws. That tells you something was different about shot quality. And I also think if you look at whether the shot, regardless of the result of the shot, the type of shot leads to the type of shots the opponent will take. So philosophically, our offensive rebound philosophy is the exact same as Virginia's. Not every coach plays that way, but tomorrow when the ball is shot by Maryland, what we're doing will be the exact same thing as when Virginia shoots it, what Virginia does. And so that tension on the rise of the shot, as long as there's not an outlier stat, I think will be a huge part of the game's decision tomorrow.”

On rebounding from a humbling loss in a game Andre Mills called ‘personal’

“I think similar to what I mentioned to Ben, I've been – I'm disappointed just like they are in the result. But the entire organization, how we have received the disappointment and tried to use it as the end of week one, going into week number two, has been tremendous. All of it is personal. I don't listen to what our guys say publicly. So if Dre said it's personal, Dre has texted me – he’s texted me four times since I've been in here. I love Andre Mills, and we've texted ten or 12 times since practice has been over. He is continuing to grow. He's continuing to grow as a player, but he's continuing to grow in how he thinks. He's continuing to grow, and how he processes it. But I think all of us, personally, want to do better. And as a group, we're all pulling in the same direction, in order so that we can have growth and have improvement.”

How long it takes Buzz to get comfortable in the modern era of college basketball

“I think it probably applies in all sports in this era, so I don't think that my answer is specific to us nor am I using it for justification because it is part of the responsibility now within this era. You got to hurry up and get traction. And you got to hurry up and get traction as fast as you can. Our group, we have ten new players. That does not mean that all ten players are going to have a meaningful role in the 200 minutes. We don't exactly know all of those meaningful roles yet because we've played twice. We've played a guarantee game at home, and we've played a rival game on the road. We are using the three preseason games as part of that, and then we're constantly adjusting our groupings in practice so that we can use practice to suggest funneling us in those decisions. And I think, again, zero justification, only the truth. I also think that when you're playing these games at this level, the margin [shrinks]. And the margin is shrunk and that's what you want because that's what the game demands. But when you play at Georgetown, when you play number six UVA, you don't have eight to ten possessions to go. Hey, you like that, [Steve Roccaforte]? You want to change that? Hey, I think we ought to try this. There is no try, but you also don't know exactly. And so that doesn't apply to Maryland. UVA is potentially six because of their talent, because of their coach, but their level of returners are what allow them to have so much traction. And we want to eventually get to that. But in year number two, in week number two, do we have all of those answers? No. Are we at an expedited rate of trying to figure it out? Absolutely.”

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