Maryland’s Buzz Williams quickly reshaping Terrapins in his own image with wins in transfer portal, recruiting

It’s far too early to judge the bitter spring breakup between coach Kevin Willard and Maryland, but the quick installation of Buzz Williams as his successor has netted near-instant results for the Terps. While Willard’s Villanova tenure is off to a slow start so far, Williams has injected momentum into a once-bleak situation in College Park.

Making a quick splash is hard for any coach, it was even more difficult with a Maryland fan base soured from Willard’s acrimonious departure. But after one month on the job (as of Thursday), Williams is building a solid roster through a zealous attack on the transfer portal.

Here’s where the program sits after adding another transfer earlier this week.

Huge recruiting win

Four-star combo guard Darius Adams, the No. 26 overall player in the Class of 2025 and a long-time UConn pledge, decommitted from the Huskies on April 19 and officially flipped his pledge to the Terps 10 days later. The decision nets Maryland its fourth-highest ranked recruit in the modern era — all of whom were McDonald’s All-Americans. He’s the first Maryland-bound McDonald’s All-American guard since Melo Trimble in 2012.

Here’s what they’re getting in him, according to 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein:

Adams is a skilled and smooth guard with good positional size at 6-foot-5 and an instinctive feel for the game. He’s a multi-dimensional scoring threat who can make threes and mid-range pull-ups in a variety of different ways.

He’s coming off an EYBL season in which he averaged 15 points per game on 40% shooting from the floor, 32% from behind the arc, and 59% from the free-throw line, but is widely considered to be a better shooter than that. As a junior in EYBL Scholastic play, he also averaged 15 points per game, but did it on 43% shooting from the floor and 41% from behind the arc. The long-range shooting projects as the first domino in his individual offense at the next level. He has good touch, a fairly compact and very repeatable release, both as a spot-up threat, and with flashes of movement shooting as well.

Adams can also make reads with the ball, so he can come off screens and get to his mid-range game if that’s how the defense is playing him. Combine that with his reliability as a passer and he has the type of floor game that should fit into offensive structure nicely at the next level.

A&M players following suit

For coaches, early success in the portal at a new spot often requires coaxing former players to join them at their new destination. That has worked like a charm for Williams at Maryland — four of his eight incoming transfers followed him from Texas A&M.

Former four-star prospect Pharrel Payne is the biggest name of the bunch. The No. 36 player in the 247Sports portal rankings, he was A&M’s third-leading scorer and rebounder last season. 

Three-year Aggies forward Solomon Washington — a former four-star and the No. 132 player in the portal — is also on the way along with former four-star prospect Andre Mills and former three-star recruit George Turkson.

Maryland’s 2025 class currently sits a No. 30 in recruiting and No. 14 among portal hauls, according to 247Sports.

Transfer hits

With 10 outgoing transfers, Maryland has eight incoming transfers (so far) — half of whom are comprised of players found outside of the Texas A&M well. That includes:

That gives Maryland two top-100 transfers (Payne and Rice), an incoming top-30 high school recruit (Adams) and two other top-150 transfer talents (Watts and Washington). Of the eight committed transfers, six are four stars. 

Building an identity 

Texas A&M last season finished with a top-10 defense in adjusted efficiency metrics at KenPom and was No. 1 in offensive rebounding rate for a second straight season. Unsurprisingly, several key adds fit that mold.

Washington was No. 1 in adjusted team defensive efficiency at Texas A&M last season, according to EvanMiya.com data.

Saunders was No. 2 in the same category at Virginia last season.

Meanwhile, Payne was No. 2 in offensive rebounding rate at A&M last season — ranked inside the top 60 nationally.

Williams isn’t only adding defense and rebounding. Last year the Aggies could fight defensively with any team, but lacked firepower on offense. The addition of offensive talents Saunders, Rice and Watts — all of whom averaged double figures in scoring last season — should ensure offensive struggles don’t follow him at his new stop.