Buzz Williams is far from the only new figure around Maryland basketball. The coach had to assemble an entire roster from scratch for his first season in College Park, Md.
The Terrapins will tip off the Williams era by making the short trip to Baltimore to play Coppin State in the Naismith Hall of Fame Series on Nov. 3.
Kevin Willard led Maryland to the Sweet 16 last spring, but fans won’t have fond memories of that time as the coach quickly left for Villanova. In steps Williams, who has made 11 NCAA Tournaments (with four Sweet 16 appearances) at Marquette, Virginia Tech, and Texas A&M.
Speaking at Maryland’s preseason media day, Williams focused more on his new team’s improvement than on external expectations.
“Some of this has to do with, do you want to have a good team, or do you want to have a good program?” Williams said. “And when you’re starting over from scratch, it’s a little different than going into the spring and you need to sign two guys or you need to sign four guys. … It’s just an ongoing deal.”
Four players followed Williams from Texas A&M, with the biggest names being big man Pharrel Payne (10.4 points, 5.1 rebounds per game in 2024-25) and forward Solomon Washington (4.7 points, 5.1 rebounds). The Aggies were among the top rebounding teams in the country over the past two years, but it’s uncertain whether that style will carry over to Maryland and the Big Ten.
“I’ve never tried to be the coach that had a style, other than what best fits their team, and how can that current team — how can we put them in a position to be as successful as possible?” Williams said.
The Terrapins’ backcourt figures to feature healthy doses of Myles Rice — who averaged 12.6 points and 3.3 assists between one season at Washington State and one at Indiana — and five-star freshman Darius Adams, a McDonald’s All-American.
Coppin State plays in the MEAC and hasn’t won more than nine games in a season since 2019-2020. The Baltimore school enters its third season under coach Larry Stewart.
The only returners with starting experience are forward Khali Horton (7.9 ppg last season) and guard Cam Sparrow (4.9).
“(Horton) came in as a freshman like me, (meaning) we’ve been through two years together,” Sparrow told PressBox Online. “That’s my roommate last year, so that’s my dog. I call him all the time, talk to him all the time. We see the same things. We just love to put in work.”
–Field Level Media
