The Buzz begins: New look Maryland men's basketball team looks to build offseason chemistry into the season

jmcconn3
1 hour ago
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New faces in new places, that's the name of the game in modern era of college basketball.

Maryland men's basketball team underwent that change in the offseason, as they revamped the entirety of the coaching staff and fifteen out of sixteen players, after former head coach Kevin Willard left to Villanova after their Sweet Sixteen exit, bringing in former Texas A&M's head coach Buzz Williams and his bunch.

Williams managed to bring over some familiar faces from the Aggies over to College Park, including four players and four coaches. The rest came from outside the program, with work to do to gel the team together.

The former five-star freshman, Darius Adams, was Williams' big recruit from high school, is expected to be one of the Terps focal points on the team. Adams throughout the offseason has been able to start to mesh with his new team and learn the ropes of college basketball.

"We've been been playing with each other for four months and everyone, after practice, everybody goes to the locker room," Adams said. "Everyone's talking more, around each other all the time. So the chemistry has to be there in some type of way. Like we have to get close to each other, and I feel like Buzz makes, he makes people closer with how he teaches in a type of way. He's definitely is a part of our chemistry getting better.”

Part of that chemistry Adams is developing has to come from Willams and his style of play. Adams talked about how the offense should be a strong target of play throughout the season.

"It's going to be an exciting offense," Adams said. "I think we're going to play fast, but I think that it's been - it's hard to tell you right now, but we have good chemistry. I would just say wait and see. It’s hard to explain, but you'll see in a good way.”

Another one of the expected stars of the team, senior Pharrel Payne, is one of the players that followed Willams to College Park. Payne will be on his third team of his college career, Minnesota and Texas A&M previously.

Payne, despite already being aware of the Big Ten and Williams, has been trying to build a connection with the new-look Terp's and translate that into the season. Some of the ways Payne thinks to mesh is the team-wide offseason activities.

"I would say for the most part, like team building activities. I think it's like a good way to get the guys together and kind of get to know each other and get on the same page," Payne said. "But team building activities, we went to a couple museums together, as well as like, if there's a game on, if there's a fight on, okay, we're going to this guy's apartment. We'll order food, and we'll just kind of sit down and enjoy together.”

Senior forward Elijah Saunders will also get accustomed on his third team after arriving from Virginia most recently, and San Diego State before to start his collegiate career.

Forso many new pieces, meshing on the court takes time and reps. But it also takes time away from the court, and for Maryland, leaning on the nation's capital nearby campus has helped build the necessary chemistry.

"Second week, me, Rice and Watts went down to DC, rode the bikes around all the way through," Saunders said. "Me, Rice, Watts, Diggy hanging out. All the guys, honestly, going around, not just in the stuff that we have to do for Buzz but in the stuff that we need to do for ourselves. Going bowling, we went to Stamp a couple times, all of us are new."

The graduate student and transfer from Kansas, Diggy Coit, is a true believer in teammates coming together and translating off-the-court relationships to good play on the court.

"What you do off the court matters," Coit said. "You can't be the best of friends on the court and then get off the court don't speak to each other, just doesn't work like that. Can't be the best friends off the court and then get on the court and not speak to each other. You got to live the way you want to live and the way you want to play, they got to go together, and I think coach Buzz has taught us that.”

Though likely short-handed, Maryland will look for that early season chemistry to translate on the floor in Monday's exhibition vs. UMBC for a 7 PM tip on B1G+.

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