Gary Williams article

[RTerps2002]

April 5, 2004
Gary Williams Breaks It Down With TT
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Mike Ashley


TT sat down with men's basketball Coach Gary Williams last week for his take on what each returning player has to do this off-season to raise their game to take the Terps to the next level in 2004-05. Today we roll the tape on the UM backcourt and swing position...

Point guard John Gilchrist -

“John’s a very good scorer, as he proved in the ACC Tournament, but he’s also got to be a point guard that distributes the ball, that creates and gets the defense to sag on him so he can kick it to the open guy.
"I want John scoring. I had Michael Adams (averaging) 19 points per game when I was at Boston College, so I want that scoring but the point guard is critical in keeping everybody in the game offensively.
"I think John learned a lot this year. He was always a scorer in high school but his role is a little different here. We want him to combine the scoring with being a true point guard.”

Shooting guard Chris McCray -

“I think Chris needs to get stronger. I think he got bumped off the ball some this year. He did a good job between his freshman and sophomore years but I’d like him to see his shot opportunities better. I thought sometimes he passed up open shots and sometimes he took shots when he was covered. A lot of that’s just experience, particularly playing at this level. You don’t have as much time as you think you do sometimes and other times you might not realize how open you are. His ball-handling improved all year and I want him to continue to be comfortable. If John Gilchrist injures his ankle, Chris McCray has to walk right into that point position and feel comfortable doing it.”

Small forward Nik Caner-Medley -

"Nik has got to get better athletically, get more explosive off the floor. Because of his size (6-8, 230), he’s a pretty big guy playing the 3-spot. And that’s a hard position to play because you’re running against a lot of guys smaller than you and a lot of times the best player, the most athletic player plays that position. I think Nik ran into that a lot this year, guys like Julius Hodge. So I think Nik can take that and learn from it. He started half his freshman year and if he played well that was great. And if he didn’t, we had Drew Nicholas, Tahj Holden, Steve Blake. We still had a lot of experience. This year Nik was a marked man for the first time. He’ll adjust. This is a big time for Nik right now.”

Look for the Terps frontcourt and the reserves in our next take-outs from our interview with Gary Williams this week, as well as a more lengthy interview and breakout in the April TT print edition next week...

[RTerps2002]

TT Goes One-On-One With Gary Williams, Part 2
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Mike Ashley


Last week we brought you Gary Williams's thoughts and comments on his returning players including the starting guards and swingmen. Today we break it down with the big men and reserves as we roll the tape after our interview with the Terps basketball coach last week...

Power forward Travis Garrison -

“He really came on down the stretch. He went through a tough time when he didn’t start for awhile and I think that bothered him. But he stayed positive about it, kept playing hard in practice, and really started to improve, gradually getting better defensively.
"He really struggled early with foul problems. He had the habit of playing defense where when his guy started to make a move, Travis put both hands on him and that’s like an automatic foul to the referees. He’s working out of that. When you’re 6-8 and shoot the ball like he can, that’s something very few guys can do. He also got more aggressive and started to score more on some offensive rebounds, becoming a more physical type of inside player. We just want him to continue that development.”

Center/Forward Ekene Ibekwe -

“We could play Nik Caner-Medley, Travis Garrison and Ekene Ibekwe across the front line and be pretty quick and not short. Physically, you might not be imposing but height-wise, we’d be even bigger than this year with Jamar. Ekene does something every once in awhile, especially in practice, where you just go, ‘Wow, not many guys can do that.’ That’s what he has going for him. The obvious thing with Ekene is his strength. He’s very quick but if he gets stronger, he’ll get quicker and explode better. He has to work on his shot a little because it’s unorthodox and he didn’t shoot well from the line. I’m not big on changing a guy’s shot. It’s like a golf swing there’s so much movement on his shot. He has a lot of things going on with the ball way back over his head. Strength will help there, too, because sometimes there’s a tendency to throw it and not use your legs. There’s no reason why he can’t be a special player with the way he moves with that size.”

Centers Hassan Fofana and Will Bowers -

"One of the things we’ll be looking at in October will be is Hassan, is Will ready to share the post position? We’ve got two guys as big as any in the country.
"With Hassan, it’s the learning curve. How quickly can he learn? He has only played (basketball) for four years. With Will, it’s getting better athletically, but he has got six months before we start practice again to improve. With guards, I’ve always thought what you see is pretty much what it’s going to be. With big guys, they can change dramatically in six months. Lonny (Baxter) changed. Obinna Ekezie changed dramatically over the summer. We might send them (to a big man’s camp), we’ll look at it. The advantage we have is that a Tony Massenburg, an Obinna Ekezie, guys like that come back and that’s as good as anything. That’s experience – ‘I played in the NBA and this is what I did.’

“(Hassan) has a tremendous amount of desire, plus he’s smart, and he’d have to be to be where he is as a basketball player after four years. Most of our guys have played 10 years when they get here. He’s still learning those intangibles on the court. A lot of guys in the NBA at 35 (years old), physically they’re not as good as they were but they’re still able to play because they’ve played so many games. They know where the ball’s going, they know how to play. That’s his shortcoming. He has been able to make up a lot of ground in a hurry and I just hope that continues.”

Guard/Forward D.J. Strawberry -

“He played three positions as a freshman. He has great determination. He gets after if as good as any freshman I’ve ever coached. It’s hard to teach that. He has that and he has the toughness to be a good defensive player. Now we want him to work on his shooting. We want to get him consistent, especially on that mid-range jump shot he gets open on a lot. Then just his focus on offense. He probably missed more breakaway situations then most people did, and all that is is concentration. It’s focus when you get in that situation and you learn that. As he picks up his offensive productivity, he’s going to be good because he’s already got the defensive ability.”

Guard Mike Jones -

“I was proud of Mike because he hung in there all year. He got the most accolades coming out of high school as an incoming freshman and then all of the sudden, it’s like Mike’s not playing. I heard it all the time. Mike had a very tough adjustment coming out of high school where he just stood and shot a lot. Teams figure that out here. You have to be able to make a move. (Duke’s J.J.) Redick learned to put it on the floor this year, better than he did his first year. Mike’s learning that right now, catching it and knowing that a guy is running at you. If you take one dribble, you’re going to have your shot. I think Mike realized as the year went on that he was a pretty good rebounder for a guard. He got huge rebounds for us at the ACC Tournament. He’s just starting to scratch the surface. I wouldn’t put a ceiling on Mike Jones. He might be able to be as good as he wants to be and that’s a great thing. He’s got a good-looking jump shot in terms of getting off the floor, in terms of release and balance. If you want a textbook jump shot, watch his ball when he shoots it well, how it spins. He just couldn’t get his shot this year when defenses collapsed on him. He has got to be able to make a move on the fast break and get his own shot, come off a screen, catch it, fake a guy, drive and pull up. That wasn’t part of his game coming here. He improved so much defensively, too. At the end of the Duke game, his guy missed three shots. But it took time for him to believe guys his size could catch it and try to drive against him. He hadn’t seen that in high school. With his quickness, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be a good defensive player.”

Forward Mike Grinnon -

“He had to play against Duke because of the foul situation and we didn’t have anyone to cover a 6-4 guy. By doing what he did, Mike’s certainly going to get an opportunity to play. Why can’t Mike be one of the top 6-or-8 guys next year? To make those two free throws, to play the defense he did on Redick that game, there couldn’t have been a more pressure situation. So Mike is going to get his chance. He earned it. You always tell all the players they’re going to get their chance. Mike got his and took advantage of it.”

Incoming freshman forward James Gist -

“He gives us another guy at that 6-8 size that can really go. He’s very quick. He’s got to get stronger just like Ekene. He can shoot it. He can pass it pretty well. He’s a pretty complete player for a guy that size, so he’ll certainly fit in. He’ll play somewhere, there’s no doubt about it.”

[RTerps2002]

Looks like the terps will be ready to make a move next year

[miragv]

a move to the top of the bball world in a couple years.

[RTerps2002]

The Acc is going to really tough this comeing year

[miragv]

yeah it should be, but we will be in contention with the best of them. i see us splitting many series with the top teams, i dont think there is a team who will sweep us.

[RTerps2002]

on to hoops, Sterling's formal announcement should come later this week or early next week, he'll bring a lot to the table for Terps in terms of a backup PG next year and maybe the starter the following year if Gilchrist looks to leave early, but Sterling an excellent athlete, a good scorer and sometimes very good shooter, he can be a bit streaky at times but can get hot, while he has great hops and very good floor vision and can really break his man down, is a better athlete than John and quicker off the dribble but not as strong or the scorer John is but will help out a lot...and he will not scare away any JR PGs...



Now the Terps have a backup point guard