|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 17, 2011Gary WilliamsTHE MODERATOR: We have with us Maryland Coach Gary Williams. If you could, a few comments about your team and then we'll open up for questions. COACH WILLIAMS: We just came through a very tough week. Started last Sunday with playing at Duke, and at Wake Forest Wednesday, and at Villanova Saturday afternoon. So there's been a lot of travel. And I'm pretty pleased with my team, except that we didn't get wins. In other words, we had a lead in the second half against Duke and we had a lead in the second half against Villanova, and they're the type of games you like to be able to finish. But they were two very good teams, very quality teams that weren't going to go away. And they came back and got us. And so hopefully it's made us tougher as we get really deep into the ACC now and we've become a better team, even though we didn't get the number of wins we would have liked to have gotten last week. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Gary, you keep having these close losses against really good opponents. Do you see now -- do you see signs, okay, the losses are still are the end result but we are getting better in certain areas? COACH WILLIAMS: I think we're getting better, but you have to win those games. I mean, we're into the middle of January now, and our free-throw shooting has been critical in a couple of those losses. You have to make free throws, because you're not going to score. If you can get the ball to where you get fouled, you have to take advantage of that. And we haven't been doing that. And defensively we're a good defensive team. We're playing good defense and playing against some really good players and making them work hard to score. Offensively, we're not as consistent as you have to be. We have to do some things to score this year. And we can't always do them. So we're working toward that. There's always something that you're working toward. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get a little more consistent on the offensive end of the court. Q. You have to do some things offensively, can't always do them, what are you referring to there? COACH WILLIAMS: What's that? Q. You just said offensively we need to do certain things and we don't always do them, what are you referring to there in terms of your offense? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, that's for our team, you know? We're not -- I know some things we'll have to work on. We'll work on them in practice and things like that. But they're minor things. But I'm not going to get into specifics on those things. Q. I wanted to know the 10-year anniversary of the comeback by Duke, Jason Williams and the minute comeback is coming next week. Could you tell me about how remarkable it was to be a part of something such as that, even though you guys were on the losing end? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, I haven't put it on my top 10 accomplishments, let's put it that way. But what was amazing, Steve Blake fouled out with about a minute three left in the game, and he was in 2001 he was the only point guard. Jason Williams hit, I think, three great 3s for Duke, and we missed a couple of one-on-ones in that same stretch, which always has to happen. In other words, it's one thing that Duke made those shots, but we missed some free throws, took it into overtime but we lost the game. We played Duke four times that year, had four great games. We won at Duke that year a couple of weeks after that. And that was a tough one for us. But I think that's one of those games that I look back on has made us tough and allowed us to win the national championship in 2002. Q. I'm just wondering if given a chance to look at the tape of the Villanova game more closely, did you see anything in that seven-minute scoreless stretch that wasn't evident to you in the immediate aftermath that you could tell us whether it was something extraordinary Villanova did, or just shots not falling, or any insight there? COACH WILLIAMS: Villanova has like three really good perimeter people for us. Sometimes when Cheek comes into the game. And they broke us down individually a couple time where's they made shots over us. We played pretty good defense. But they're good players. They made shots. But we on, on the other hand, missed the front of a one-on-one, missed a layup, missed a 3-point shot from very close to the 3-point line where no one flew at us, it was just wide open and turned the ball over a couple of times in that stretch. And, unfortunately, we just couldn't put the ball in the basket when we had to. We had looks. It wasn't like we didn't have any looks. And the combination of that plus a couple of turnovers and Villanova scoring every time down that lead evaporated pretty quickly. But we had played 32, 33 minutes of pretty good basketball in that game in a good basketball environment. It's a shame we couldn't continue for 40 minutes. But give Villanova credit, they're the seventh ranked team in the country and deserve to be there. Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you -- Billy Packer said -- I was asking him about the ACC, and he talked about how there's maybe not as much talent across the conference as there used to be, and maybe that's the issue. Do you agree with that? And if so, is there a concern that the ACC's falling behind a little bit? COACH WILLIAMS: I think we're young. There's a lot of teams that are young this year, which when you play veteran teams, if the talent's pretty equal, the veteran teams usually win out in those situations. But I think talent is -- there's two types of talent. There's talent that our immediate great players, John Wall goes one year. Everybody knew he was the best guard coming into college basketball that year. And he was. There was no better player in the country than the player hurt for Duke, Kyle Irving, which obviously changes Duke's team and things like that determine it. But there's the other side where you get a kid that's a pretty good player as a freshman, by the time he's a junior he's really a good player, as good as anybody coming out of high school that would be a freshman when that player's a junior. And I think we're into that a little bit in the ACC. I see some really good players around the league. And that will be good players in a year or two that can play with anybody. So that's where we are right now. So if you want to set our talents down a little bit, that's fine, but just remember the ACC's won five out of the last 10 national championships, and has won more NCAA tournament games in the last 20 years than any other conference. So we'll be there. This might be a little down this year, but we'll be back. Q. We're working on a story looking back at the implementation of the 3-point shot. I believe you were at Ohio State then. Just kind of curious what your recollections were as a coach when it came in. Did coaches look at this thing as it was kind of a novelty or it was something that really could change a game and kind of in general what your thoughts are the biggest ways it's impacted the game? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, I think it's definitely changed the game. One of the big changes you see is the makeup of the team on the floor. Every team basically plays three guards just about now. And a lot of teams are going to almost a fourth guard that's 6'5", 6'6", that can shoot the ball to take advantage of the 3-point line, I think you're seeing that. Good example, our game against Villanova, we're up 12 in the second half but two 3s and you're up six, you're down to two possessions very quickly. And that's what's changed the game also. You're not in a position, you know, to feel safe with the 10-point lead or whatever in any game. And it's very difficult to guard sometimes in that a lot of your defense fundamentals, in other words, where if someone drives, you give help by sagging. Well, on that drive, if the player's good driving with the basketball, he kicks it out to the 3-point line and good standstill shooters are really at a premium now because that's the shot you get in that situation. So it has changed how you play defensively a little bit. And I think it's had a great impact. I'm not sure -- basketball was created as a game that teamwork, good passing, all those things would result in the easiest possible shot. And you are rewarded for a shot that's a long shot, rather than being rewarded for a layup. And so that's the 3-point line. It's very popular. It's here to stay. But it has changed the game. Q. Were you a fan of it at the time when it first came in, or did you have a wait and see how it was going to affect the game? COACH WILLIAMS: It had been experimented with a couple of times. And I didn't particularly like it, because it had a significant change in the game. In other words, I thought back then, like I said it was in the late '80s when I was at Ohio State, college basketball was a great game then. It didn't need -- I didn't think it needed a 3-point shot to change the game. And it's one of the few games that you see where, you know, if you hit a home run 330 feet, you get one run. If you hit it 400 feet, you still get one run. And I didn't think it was necessary. Whatever way you can to put the ball in the basket, it's two points, and now that changed. It created a little different thing. So it changed the game. And I just thought college basketball was a great game. And the reasons for changing it, it was to pull the defense out a little bit. So it wasn't as physical inside, maybe that was one of the reasons given, and it's still a very physical game inside. That hasn't changed. But fans like it. And you have to take advantage of it. We'd like to be a better 3-point shooting team this year. And last year we were a good 3-point shooting team. So you take advantage of it when you can. Q. On that point, looking to Virginia Tech, I think they shot over 58 percent in defeating weight, can you talk about your challenge for your very good defense that they present? COACH WILLIAMS: You look at each team you play and see where their strength is. If they're great 3-point shooters, then you try to adjust your defense toward that. And Virginia Tech certainly has some people that can shoot the 3. There's no doubt about it. Starting with Malcolm Delaney. And they're very successful playing that style. So it will be a challenge to our defense, see if we can do something about it. Q. What are the things that go into Jordan Williams being such a relentless player? I mean, he's always in position underneath looking in rebounding position, scoring down low, and there are other guys out there his size that don't do as well. So what separates him in that aspect? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, I think he got himself in great physical condition going into this season. He wasn't in as good of shape last year, but he was smart enough to learn from his freshman year what he thought he needed to do through the summer and the fall. And he did a great job with that. Then as you start to realize what you can do, in other words, until you really work hard and see where you are, I think sometimes you're not sure how many rebounds you could get per game or whatever. But once he started to have some success, he realized that those things are there. It takes hard work to do it. But it's certainly worth it. And he's been a tremendous rebounder for us this year. He's really helped us. And the tough thing is, scoring-wise, he can get some off the offensive glass. And you try to get him the ball. But it's a lot easier getting guard shots than it is to inside-people shots, because the ability to double team from the defense and things like that. So that's been a constant battle for us this year is to make sure that he gets enough touches, because he is learning how to score. And I think that's where he's really coming on is seeing different ways to score. He's got a little bit of a jump shot now that he didn't have last year. And that's only going to continue to develop if Jordan continues to work as hard as he does now. Q. He has gotten to the line -- of course this counts non-conference games, but he's gotten to the line far more than anybody else in the ACC. Do you see his stroke beginning to improve there? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, it's funny. A lot of people have commented on his free-throw shooting, and I think the one constant theme is the shot looks okay. And I watched it a lot, obviously. And like last year we were a great free-throw shooting team because we had Landon Milbourne, Eric Hayes and Greives Vasquez shooting free throws for most of the time. Jordan has struggled this year, there's no doubt about it. And I think he's got to get used to being able to walk to the line, because he goes at such a high rate. And when you're playing like that, the environment around you doesn't affect you at all. Just the noise, wherever you play, whether it's home or away, you just play. But all of a sudden everything stops and he walks to the line and it's a different situation for him. And he's got to get where he can handle that situation. But a guy like Jordan is working at it, and we're working at it. So hopefully the last half of the ACC season here he'll do a great job from the line. Q. I wanted to ask you something, because Duke's been the only team ranked in the league, the perception is they've been head and shoulders above the rest of the league; yet, when they got in conference play, they've lost one. You led them in the second half. Virginia led them in the second half. Is there a big gap? Or is there any gap at all, do you think? COACH WILLIAMS: Duke is one of the top two or three teams in the country. What happens in conference play is everything gets more intense. In other words, you're playing at home and when Duke plays somewhere the crowd, it's probably the best crowd of the year in a lot of places in conference. And it just becomes a tougher game. Plus the other thing, and this is the only thing that bothers me about the polls is that teams are getting better in the ACC because they have younger players. But yet it's hard to gain credit for that like international poll because you're not playing anybody outside of the conference. It's almost like you're caught in a thing where by the end of the year we could have four or five really good teams beside Duke in the league but I don't know if they'll get the credit they deserve because they didn't win some games that the ACC usually wins in November or December. So that's what we face this year. And hopefully we can do a good job of just making sure people understand that our league is an improving league as we go along here. Q. At least as far as perception goes, does that put added importance on maybe getting a win over Duke since they are the one team that's perceived to be a top team in the league? COACH WILLIAMS: To me, it's not perception. You look at who Duke beat preseason, preconference season, things like that. They're just a very good basketball team. And I still feel that if Irving was healthy, nobody, they'd have a hard time. Anybody would have a hard time beating Duke this year. But they're a great team. When you have Smith and Singler, no other team in the country has two seniors as good as those two guys, and they play different positions. So that really helps their team. Because you lose at Florida State, that doesn't unfortunately people nationally look at that as what happened. Well, Florida State's pretty good, number one. And number two, you go into home court. And I've been in a lot of leagues, there's no easy games in conference when you're playing against a good team and you're on the road. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|