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BIG TEN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS


October 11, 2018


Mark Turgeon


Madison Square Garden - New York, New York

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined at the podium by Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon. He enters his eighth year with the Terrapins. Maryland has earned NCAA Tournament berths in three of the last four seasons.

Coach, welcome. We'll begin with your opening statement, then open the floor for questions.

MARK TURGEON: Obviously we're real excited about this year, it's a special year in Maryland basketball. It's our hundredth anniversary of basketball. So we're going to celebrate a lot throughout the season. Going back to Bud Milliken years, Lefty Driesell years, and Gary Williams and the national championship in 2002. It should be an exciting year for us, for our fans. We're going to do it right throughout the season.

With that said, I think we got a tremendous schedule, non-conference schedule, of course league schedule. I like my team. I think it's a team that our fan base is going to love. Come out and support us. We're young, but my young guys are good. We have six freshmen. We have three sophomores, one junior, one senior. We might be the youngest team I've ever had. But we're talented, fun to coach, they're working hard. We're excited for the year. Should be a really a fun team to watch because of their skill set and their length, their ability to play together.

Looking forward to coaching them.

THE MODERATOR: We'll now open the floor for questions.

Q. Last year Miles Bridges, when he returned, said it was ridiculous that NCAA rules prohibited him from spending extra time with Coach Izzo. With the Rules Committee dominated by bureaucrats and no coaches, would you like to see coaches included?
MARK TURGEON: I didn't see his comment, so I don't know what you're talking about.

With that, I think they are doing some things where they're allowing us to be around our players more. We had four hours this summer instead of two, which I thought was terrific. So I hope I'm answering your question correctly.

To be honest with you, it's a long season. It's probably nice to get a break every now and then from us. But I think they're doing things to try to get us around our players more and coach them a little bit more.

Q. You have a tough non-conference calendar this year, playing a veteran Loyola team that went to the Final Four this year. How do you feel about playing them?
MARK TURGEON: We're excited. We're going to play that game in Baltimore. We have two players on our team, Darryl Morsell, Jalen Smith from Baltimore, be able to get them home, play there. We have a great fan base in the city of Baltimore. We're looking forward to that.

I go way back with Porter, Missouri Valley days, I was at Wichita State, he was at Illinois State. He's always been a great coach. It's a great game for us. We really tried to play a nice non-conference schedule. To add that game into Baltimore is terrific for us.

Hopefully by then my young team will be experienced. We'll have a few games under our belt. But we're looking forward to that challenge.

Q. In general, what kind of an impact do you think the trial that's going on in New York will have on college athletics?
MARK TURGEON: You know, I think our sport is, to be honest with you, in great shape. We just talked about Loyola, went to a Final Four. I think we have great depth throughout college basketball. It continues to grow. I think we have great coaching in our game.

I think we have some really great teams this year, three, four, five teams that are terrific teams.

I'd like to think it's not going to have a big impact on our game. Once the games start, I think it's going to be another terrific year for us. We'll see how that plays out. I think besides what's going on in those courtrooms, I think college basketball is in great shape.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

MARK TURGEON: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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