At today’s scheduled media availability, Dave Neal and Landon Milbourne talked about the Terps being fortunate because their upcoming schedule is so difficult. Yes, they might have a greater chance to lose when playing a top-10 team, but there’s also the greater chance to prove oneself with a win.

Coach Gary Williams said he drilled that thought into his players’ heads.

“Any time you’re playing a ranked team and you’re not ranked, you can make a statement,” Williams said.

He continued: “As a coach you get your team to believe they can do certain things, and you try to get them done. That’s part of the thing I like as a coach–trying to get the team to understand that the possibility is always there. It’s not always what you hear. Especially today you hear so many negative things that you really have to be positive–make sure the players understand that this is the situation that’s left for us.

On the Tar Heels, Williams mirrored much of what was expressed in today’s Diamondback article.

“I think all good teams have that [quality inside and outside offense ],” he said. “It’s something we’ve seen before. Last game…they were on fire from the 3-point line, so you see that. But if you worry too much about that, they have Hansbrough and other inside players who are capable at scoring so there’s no easy way to play against a good team.

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