If you thought the Kevin Willard-to-Villanova saga just seemed unusual because you follow Maryland closely, national CBS Sports college basketball reporter Matt Norlander dispelled that idea today. On the Eye on College Basketball podcast with Gary Parrish, Norlander provided some context with a bold statement.
“This was as ugly a divorce at the high-major level as we’ve seen in the past 10 or 15 years. Villanova pegged him, wanted him to be the guy. There were a few other people they did look at, but ultimately it got to the point with Willard where he couldn’t even go back to Maryland, it got so bad,” Norlander said. “Maryland fans were like, ‘Get the hell out of here. We don’t even want you anymore.’ This whole thing that happened spoiled a Sweet 16 run. Derik Queen, the Crab Five — now there’s this weird attachment to it.”
Parrish’s takeaway: Willard miscalculated in March when he made those critical comments about Maryland’s basketball funding and questioned his future at the school.
“Like I’ve talked about before — it should be a lesson for every coach going forward: it will not work. Don’t try to negotiate publicly. Your fans will turn on you. Even if everything you’re saying is logical, they won’t hear it the way you’re saying it. And he got himself in a real mess,” he said.
Many Maryland fans initially rallied around Willard’s comments, pleased that he seemed to be fighting for the basketball program’s success. But later, when it became clear he was talking to Villanova, most turned on him.
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The question might never be answered: was he trying to get more funding from Maryland, or setting the narrative for his eventual exit?
“I have not talked to Kevin in-depth about it yet — and Maryland fans will probably push back on this altogether — but I actually think there is a very reasonable scenario in which he said all the things he said, he knew the Villanova offer was coming, he wasn’t in love with the idea of leaving Maryland,” Norlander said. “But he wanted to say all this stuff, put pressure on Maryland, and maybe get more of what he wanted. And then it got so bad, so quick, that the stuff he was kind of trying to leverage — it became a situation where, like, ‘You can’t go back anyway, man. You have spoiled the batch entirely.'”
Parrish didn’t sound as convinced.
“I believe that he was intrigued by Villanova, might’ve been leaning toward going to Villanova, might’ve thought deep down, ‘I’m probably gonna do it,’ but wasn’t sure. But then the decision got made for him. I think he tried to negotiate publicly, put pressure on his school, and he thought it would work,” he said.
“I guess he had a choice, but it wasn’t a real choice. It became clear: you gotta get out of Maryland. You can’t go back. There’s no going back now. I don’t love the vibes going into it [at Villanova]. It just feels weird. But that can all be fixed with one transfer portal class.”
Willard has landed one Maryland transfer, little-used guard Malachi Palmer, and flipped the Terps’ long-time high school commit, Chris Jeffrey. It could also be the landing spot for reserves Tafara Gapare and Braden Pierce, both of whom visited this week. And he’s trying to reel in guard Rodney Rice, who won’t return to Maryland and is also considering USC, Tennessee, and Gonzaga.
“Nova’s not hurting [for money]. It’s in a very healthy place. We’ll see where it can go,” Norlander said. “And we’ll see if Willard can bring Rodney Rice up to Nova with him.”
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