I doubt there is another fan of Maryland basketball that holds Gary Williams in a higher-esteem than I do.
He has led programs at American, Boston College (Big East), Ohio State (Big 10), and Maryland, and taken each to post-season play.
If he had not had to build 4 programs, his resume would look even better then it currently does – and his resume speaks for itself.
In the storied history of ACC Basketball, he is 3rd all-time in ACC wins.
He has taken 8 teams to the Sweet 16… and has an overall NCAA Tournament record of 27-14…
He has 16, 20 win seasons… 65 wins over Top 25 teams, 14 wins over Top 10 teams, 7 wins over #1 Ranked teams…
After his first year at Maryland, the NCAA placed sanctions on the Terps for the actions of former Head Coach Bob Wade… The Terps were banned from the post-season for 3 years, and also not allowed to be on TV.
He took the program from those depths, to back to back Final Fours, and a National Championship.
He was able to have the best arena in college sports built on the Maryland campus.
He has been hammered on the graduation rates, but when you look closer at the players that either went and played professionally, or completed their degree outside of the NCAA window – you see that argument against him is poor.
I even was able to live with the NIT appearances of 2004-5, and 2005-6 as those years featured atypical scenarios with the departures of John Gilchrist, and Chris McCray.
I love Coach Williams… I love his demeanor… I love his willingness to fight…. I love his desire to compete.
That all said, I am not a Pollyanna, or a ‘Garyanna,’ if you will.
I have seen the same problems with the program that have been apparent to everyone else.
Recruiting has changed, and moved from a time where you dealt with the player, the family, and the high-school – to a time where the players AAU team carries much more significance.
Gary has not wanted to play that game, and has paid for it.
More than that, recruits today expect a certain amount of face-time with prospective Head Coaches, and need to consistently ‘feel the love.’
When Gary had former assistant coaches like Patsos, and Dickerson… he was able to get away with not putting his all into recruiting… that is not a viable option now.
Current assistants Booth, and Driesell have gotten MD back involved with a lot of top players, but Gary is needed to seal the deal.
To Gary’s credit, he has been much more involved with recruiting vs previous years, but you can not address all previous mistakes at one time.
To me, a bigger issue vs recruiting, is a performance like today vs Duke.
Gary said in the preseason, he expected this team, this year to be good. I agreed with him, and I have to hold him accountable to that expectation.
Even without a consistent front-court presence, there is enough talent on this team, this year to be good.
I agree the margin of error is slim, and can be exploited against top teams like Georgetown, and Duke… but this team is capable of going to the NCAA Tournament.
While it might not seem evident after a beating like today, MD is strong and deep at the guard and wing positions. They have been good at not turning the ball over… have excelled at the foul-line… had shown an ability to compete on the boards most games, against bigger teams.
A loss like today is just deflating. For this team to be good this year, Gary is going to have do his absolute best coaching job ever, starting today.
MD’s confidence has to be badly damaged, and you wonder about long-term effects.
He has to be able to build them back-up, and win two tough games against Boston College, and Miami at home this coming week.
If you can achieve that… and also beat VaTech at home…. and win 3 of 4 road games against GaTech, Clemson, NCST, and UVA…. you will have 8 wins in conference.
Those 8 wins, plus Michigan St, and Michigan will have MD with a resume that is tournament worthy… if you add 1 win in the 4 remaining games vs UNC, Duke, and Wake… it is about seeding.
No MD fan should be happy about being on the bubble, and I certainly am not.
However, if MD can find a way into the tournament this year…. things can get better in a hurry next season.
Neal is the only player that will definitively not be back. If Vasquez returns (and right now, I would have to believe he would)… you would be looking at a 2009-10 team of:
1 Hayes (Senior)
2 Bowie (Jr), Mosley (Soph)
3 Vasquez (Senior), Tucker (Jr), Kim (Soph)
4 Milbourne (Senior), Gregory (Jr), Padgett (Frosh), Burney (Jr)
5 Williams (Frosh), Dupree (Jr), Goins (Soph)
Williams, and Padgett would not have to be all-world, to greatly improve the front-court, and for that team to be capable of winning several games that matter in March.
In 2010-11, you could have a team of
1 Bowie (Senior)
2 Mosley (Junior)
3 Tucker (Senior)
4 Kim (Junior), Padgett (Soph), Gregory (Senior)
5 Williams (Soph), Dupree (Senior), Goins (Junior)
That cabinet is also not exactly empty.
You would need some guard depth, and there are still great options on the board, such as:
Victor Oladipo
http://maryland.scout.com/a.z?s=174&p=8&c=1&nid=3851344
Taran Buie
http://maryland.scout.com/a.z?s=174&p=8&c=1&nid=2843921
Roscoe Smith
(http://maryland.scout.com/a.z?s=174&p=8&c=1&nid=3226332
Will Barton
http://maryland.scout.com/a.z?s=174&p=8&c=1&nid=3566909
Just hours after a 40 point loss… I still see lots of reason for optimism about the MD program, this year and going forward.
However, the point is, it starts now, this week with Boston College and Miami.
Gary expected this team to be good… and I am going to hold him to that. If you can not win these games at home… and do the things necessary to put yourself in position to dance this March… then maybe the time to move-on is coming.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.