Maryland men’s basketball had its media day Thursday, with all 16 players and head coach Buzz Wiliams speaking for the first time in the 2025-26 season.
The Terps unofficially open their season with a home
exhibition game Oct. 27 against UMBC. That game will be the first for all but one of Maryland’s players in front of the home crowd at the Xfinity Center. The first official game for the Terps is in Baltimore against Coppin State on Nov. 3, with Maryland’s home opener coming Nov. 7 against Georgetown.
Here are three takeaways from the team’s media day.
Williams has brought a culture shift, with results to be determined
While Maryland fans have yet to see the newest rendition of the team in action, it is already clear that the Terps have the character of a Buzz Williams program.
After having four Maryland natives on the squad last year, including the hometown star Derik Queen, none of the current Terps grew up in the state. Only Nick Blake — the son of Maryland legend Steve Blake, but someone who never grew up in the area — had any pre-existing connection with the school whatsoever.
Instead, the biggest connecting factor for Maryland is the new head of the squad. Williams was inevitably going to have an impact on players coming to College Park. However, it is notable just how much praise he has gotten, with players claiming to already feel the effects of Williams’ influence.
“I feel like that type of energy just makes you want to run through a brick wall for somebody,” freshman Aleks Alston said.
A frequently mentioned aspect of Williams’ energy was how its impact extends beyond the court. One of his founding principles as a coach — a mantra emphasized by several players as something that they’ve taken to heart — is driving the team to win between the margins and do the small things right. That attitude shone Thursday.
After official team and individual shots were taken with uniforms on, the players returned to the locker room before re-emerging in suits for interviews and more photos. It was a classy touch to cap off a satisfactory debut appearance from the players, who seem fully bought in.
However, reaching the achievements of a Buzz Williams program may not happen immediately.
When he took the mic alone, Williams did his best to temper expectations for the on-court end product, admitting even his staff is unsure what they’ll see from the team.
“[Wednesday] was our 26th practice… maybe four to six of those practices have been what I would deem high-major good practices in regards to the work that was accomplished, the efficiency from start to finish,” Williams said. “We’ve had more bad days than good days.”
The head coach went on to describe his practice style, which involved an intense early-season boot camp, as “archaic” and something that would likely put his team “further behind schematically” — but something that will drive personal growth and, eventually, results.
“We probably lose a game or two before Christmas every year that we shouldn’t, and we probably win a game or two after Valentine’s Day that we shouldn’t,” Williams said.
In the experimental portal era of college basketball, with teams coming together seemingly overnight, it remains to be seen whether the Terps will be able to come close to last season’s successes. The honesty from Williams suggests some patience may be necessary. But the foundations for a successful program driven by strength and character appear to be firmly in place.
Lukas Sotell’s perspective
Sotell, a walk-on, spent his first two years on Maryland men’s basketball as nothing more than
the guy who came in late in blowouts. This year, he’s got a newfound value to the team as the only piece bridging the Williams era to the Kevin Willard era.
Sotell was the only survivor of Willard’s messy and public breakup with the Terps immediately following their Sweet 16 loss to Florida. Every other player on that year’s roster transferred or left for the NBA after Willard’s departure to Villanova.
“It’s good to start with a clean slate, but it’s also sad that some guys had to leave,” Sotell said. “I mean, we were close as a team last year. We had great team chemistry, we did everything together. Especially with Derik [Queen], he was a goofball. He definitely brought us close together.”
There was uncertainty whether Sotell would even be able to stay with the team, Williams said. But the junior is back, albeit navigating a unique situation while trying to move on from an unforgettable 2024-25 campaign.
“It’s weird at first,” Sotell said. “You don’t know how people operate … but once I got to know everyone, once we went through conditioning, bonded through practice, all that type of stuff … it was an adjustment for sure, but once I got to know everyone, once I settled down, it was fine.”
Sotell didn’t downplay the difficulty of adjusting to a new coaching style. But he’s quickly grown to like Williams, someone he called “super genuine” and a “big life coach.”
The hard part of the transition, though, is being the only one familiar with the tradition and history unique to Maryland. He’s found himself having to teach his coaches and teammates about Mawty Maw’s intro song, the student section flag drop and other College Park traditions that can’t be lost in the fold of a brand-new team and staff.
“I definitely want to keep the Maryland traditions going,” Sotell said. “I’m trying to explain to them how things work.”
Pre-existing connections
Much has been made of the fact that Maryland’s team is composed of almost entirely new players. But there are also valuable bonds between a number of different players already — which may help the Terps’ early-season chemistry and on-court synchronization.
Redshirt freshman guard Andre Mills and redshirt freshman forward George Turkson Jr. are both from Massachusetts and grew up roughly 40 minutes apart from each other. Despite the distance, they shared the journey of navigating the state’s often overlooked AAU landscape and found themselves on the same club team, Mass Rivals.
“Covid happened, and one day I was on Instagram Live playing 2K with my friend,” Mills said. “This guy named Tom Nelson that coached Mass Rivals, he came on my live, and basically was just telling me, like, ‘Oh, I think you could play. Like, I think you have potential.’”
Turkson emphasized that the duo “grew close” over their three-year stint together on AAU. Both players were drawn to head coach Buzz Williams at Texas A&M, and for similar reasons. Those reasons also contributed to them sticking by his side as he made the move to Maryland.
“He’s more, I would say, a human coach,” Turkson said. ”He teaches you more about life and how to grow up to be a young adult in this world, more than it is just strictly basketball.”
The duo of junior guard Isaiah Watts and redshirt junior guard Myles Rice, however, could be even more lethal. The pair spent a year together at Washington State before Rice departed for Indiana. But the chemistry and in-person energy between the two is undeniable.
“[Myles is] open, I pass, [he] shoots, he knows that,” Watts said. “I know where he’s going to be. He knows where I’m going to be. He’s open, ball touches his hands: shoot. And that’s what that’s what we want. That’s a predictable shot for us.”
Watts and Rice also both emphatically stated that part of the reason they chose Maryland was to reunite with one another. That close relationship could pay serious dividends for the Terps’ success this season.
“[Myles] played a huge part, I will not lie to you,” Watts said. “Buzz Williams was the main reason I came. But you know, why not link up with somebody that you actually call a brother, and you actually believe has your back. You’ve been to war with them. I couldn’t turn it down.”
“I’m super happy to be playing alongside my brother [Watts] again,” Rice said.
