As the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s fans scratch their heads trying to figure out how in the world their team loses to lowly Clemson, the worse news is the players and coaches are doing the same.
Whether it’s just the players are sick of losing or they just don’t care, this team is questioning how they don’t get up for games.
Gary Williams did it after North Carolina, Duke and again after Clemson.
But when that question was posed by a reporter after the Terps’ loss to Duke, Williams aggressively shot back.
“Yeah, I’m a lousy coach,” Williams said. “What are you saying? You’re saying I can’t get guys ready to play?”
The reporter obviously wasn’t questioning whether Williams was lousy. Williams is a great coach. Anybody who thinks differently is sorely mistaken.
But the second question Williams posed is debatable.
The eyes immediately shoot the top – to Williams. It’s probably not written in his contract, but any head coach is largely responsible for motivating his team. Who gives pregame, halftime and postgame speeches? The coach. That’s his job.
I like to believe Williams has likely tried everything from screaming at his players to nurturing them (although the second is awfully hard to imagine). Coaches in all sports say different players respond to different techniques. I can see Williams has done a ton of yelling and I can see it hasn’t worked.
Part of the problem could be these players have heard so much screaming they just tune it out. A person can only take so much berating before they throw in the towel.
But is it a problem of Williams not saying the right things or of players not putting enough effort in to respond? The second possibility is entirely possible.
John Gilchrist called out his teammates’ unwillingness to commit themselves last year. D.J. Strawberry questioned it after the North Carolina loss and Nik Caner-Medley did after Clemson, saying his teammates needed to do some “soul searching” about how bad they wanted to prepare and dedicate themselves.
Also damaging is that the team has had little progression during the past four years. The players have on many occasions said their biggest problem is just stupid mistakes. This is coming from a team full of juniors and seniors and they’re still making freshman blunders.
These players obviously didn’t turn out to be the right choices when recruiting, but what may be worse is none have even improved. Travis Garrison still hasn’t developed an inside game. Mike Jones still can’t play defense or contribute within the three-point arch. Strawberry hasn’t developed as a scorer and Ekene Ibekwe only made progress after a summer coach outside the program altered his shooting motion. Caner-Medley, while obviously the most consistent player on the team, still takes too many bad shots – a problem he has had since his freshman year.
Williams proved he can take a mediocre player and make him great. (Ex. Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake) None were highly touted. All turned into champions.
But when he got players who were highly touted (such as McDonald’s All-Americans Garrison and Jones), they flopped. Is it that they just have not dedicated themselves or was there a breakdown in coaching? Williams took his stance Tuesday night.
“I can’t go out there and play,” Williams said. “You’ve got to be ready to play as a player.”
So the question ends, was it the coaching or the player? Who’s to blame? I point to both.
Contact columnist Ryan Mink at sports@dbk.umd.edu.
