<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Whether you see his attitude as cocky or confident, Greivis Vasquez doesn't care; all he wants is his team to be successful. Through the good and the bad, it has always been clear what Vasquez's priority has been: the Terrapin men's basketball team. He has never been afraid to tell it like it is. Win or lose, reporters and cameramen flock to Vasquez's locker after games, intrigued by what the Venezuelan might say. Last year, with the Terps slumping and in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive year, he assured doubters the team would make the field of 65. All he has talked about this year is winning a national championship, even though it's obvious the prospect is highly unlikely. After a summer of high-profile competition on Team Venezuela in the FIBA Americas Championship, the expectations placed on Vasquez were incredibly high for a sophomore. He made quite a mark on the Terps and their fans in his first season wearing the red, white and gold, and his play usually backed up his talk. This year has been different. So far, it has been a struggle for Vasquez - as a player, as a teammate and as a person. But through the struggles, one thing always remains clear: Vasquez doesn't back down and he never will. "People are either gonna love me or they're gonna hate me," he said. "That's who I am." Summer stardom Aug. 22, 2007. Las Vegas. To many, it was Team USA's first chance to crush an inferior opponent on the road back to Dream Team glory. To Vasquez, it was the chance of a lifetime. There he stood, a 19-year-old kid, battling Kobe Bryant, a sure NBA future Hall-of-Famer. "It was amazing, a dream come true," Vasquez said. "I just couldn't believe he was guarding me and he was next to me after watching so many years on TV, growing up watching him with the Lakers, playing with Shaq. It was just unreal. I just wanted to hand him the ball and say, 'Go score and then give me a hug.' I wanted to; I couldn't do it. "Every time I go to sleep sometimes, I think, 'Wow, I played against Kobe Bryant.'" Even though Bryant (14 points, five rebounds, five assists in 16 minutes) naturally got the better of him, Vasquez held his own and did not by any means look out of place, despite the USA's 112-69 trouncing. Vasquez scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. On ESPN's broadcast, he was the player of interest to the announcers, and he was the only one who viewers might have known because of his successful freshman season with the Terps. In eight FIBA games, Team Venezuela won just two. It was hardly a wasted trip, though. "I think he picked up quite a bit," coach Gary Williams said. "He came back here really wanting to work. Some guys come back and say, 'Look, I need a couple weeks off. I just played all summer.' Not him. He came back ready to play. The thing he saw was how strong older players are. I think that's what you can't get through college players sometimes. I think Greivis found that out." When Vasquez came back to the Terps, his teammates and friends were excited to hear his stories. The freshmen marveled at Vasquez's chance to compete against the world's best players. "At the beginning, yeah, he talked about a chance to go against those guys," freshman Cliff Tucker said. "[He talked about] playing against Kobe, what his experience was and how we need to work, how we might have one of those chances like he did. I probably look up to him more - him going against the best players on the USA team in the world. He knows what it's like to play against them guys and knows what it takes to get there, so I probably look up to him a little more." Summer drawbacks Vasquez's summer experience had its drawbacks, too. Any college player that tuned into the FIBAs knew about Vasquez and his experience against NBA players. Because of that, Vasquez believes defenders are looking forward to guarding him and clamping down on defense. Against Virginia Commonwealth, Vasquez had a miserable game on both sides of the court. He shot poorly and got outplayed by VCU's backcourt. Jamal Shuler, one of two VCU guards who spent most of the game guarding Vasquez, said he didn't care that Vasquez played Bryant, but Shuler did say he went back and watched video of the game against Team USA. "Actually, before we played them, I kinda YouTubed and went back and saw how Kobe was guarding him in the open court," Shuler said. "I wanted to, with [Bryant] being my favorite player, just try to use some of the things he did. The way Kobe picked him up full court, just harassing him, keeping his hands off him, hands wide and just turning him, wearing his legs down. That's something me and Eric [Maynor] tried to do during the game, and it worked." Even if players do get more pumped up to play Vasquez, Williams doesn't buy it as an excuse for poor play. "I don't know. That's how he feels," Williams said. Including last night's game against Morgan State, Vasquez is shooting a dismal 39.3 percent from the field and an even-worse 23.5 percent from three-point range. Vasquez's shooting numbers have been downright ugly in most of the Terps' games this season: 6-for-15 against Hampton; 2-of-10 versus Northeastern; 6-for-14 against UCLA; 4-of-13 versus Missouri; 2-for-14 against Illinois; 4-of-13 versus VCU. "Sometimes I try to do things that I shouldn't be doing, but I'm just trying to win," Vasquez said. "I'm just trying to win somehow. Every time I have that Maryland jersey on me, I'm just trying to win." Because Vasquez played on his national team, he believes people get the wrong impression of him, which is magnified when he has a bad night and the Terps lose. "It's not about me; I think people get that wrong," Vasquez said. "Playing with my national team is something that really helped me, but when I'm here, it's about Maryland. I gotta know how to handle that 'cause people care about I played against Kobe, so they think, 'He's trying to do too much.' I'm not trying to do too much. "Sometimes it does bother me, but I guess I gotta learn the way to get out of it and just not think about it. I probably took the same amount of shots that I took last year that I'm taking right now. You see my statistics last year: I shot the ball a lot and missed a lot of shots, too, and nobody said I was trying to do too much. They say that right now because I played with my national team." Cocky or confident? Shuler, the VCU guard, noticed how much emotion Vasquez wears on his sleeve during games. Because of that, Shuler said, the Rams wanted to keep Vasquez from making big plays and getting his teammates and fans energized. But when Vasquez talks on the court or waves his hand after a layup, is he being cocky or confident? "I would say kind of both," Shuler said. "Confident in his game, which he should be as a player, but kinda cocky to the extent where he's all in opposing people's faces and he kinda crosses the line a little bit. But that's just how he plays." When the Terps win, Vasquez is seen by many as a confident guy who is praised for letting all his emotions hang out on the floor. When the Terps lose, people sometimes see Vasquez as cocky or arrogant. After a win, Vasquez is like a little kid, beaming at the chance to talk about a successful teammate. He tells everyone how proud he is to play under Williams and for the Terps. After a loss, he is angry - angry at himself, angry at the way the team played. Some argue he needs to be controlled. Others think he's exactly the type of player the Terps need. "Greivis is not afraid to put it out there," Williams said. "Part of that is not being afraid to be booed by the opposing crowd or whatever. You saw last year, he's not afraid to put it out there sometimes. I'm not going to pull him back because I want that as part of our team. A good team has swagger. They're not cocky, but they have a certain swagger." Vasquez showed that swagger in extremely hostile environments last season. He quieted the intimidating Orange Krush student section at Illinois with 17 points, including 15 in the second half, while leading the Terps to a huge non-conference win. And then there was that game at Duke, where Vasquez was a rebound shy of a triple-double, all the while taunting the Cameron Crazies. Aran Smith, president of NBADraft.net, likes the emotion Vasquez plays with and thinks it could help him in the future. "I think that personality can rub some people the wrong way, but I think so many players are missing that passion for the game, and I really like it," Smith said. "I think overall, that's really something that teams love to see, so I look at it as a positive. Having that fiery demeanor, that cockiness is probably, in the long run, a good thing. It's just he has to harness at and focus it in the right direction." To Vasquez, it doesn't matter what people think of his emotion, swagger or passion. "Just like I say, people are gonna love me or gonna hate me," Vasquez said. "So I'm glad I got my family that really love me." 'I'm still a sophomore' Vasquez has been the target of many Terp fans this season. Whether it's justified or not, sometimes people forget the guard has played in just 43 games in his college career - and only started 31. "I'm still a sophomore; I'm still learning," Vasquez said. "People look at me sometimes like I'm a senior. If I'm a senior, I'd be right now 6-5, 220 and ready to do some damage. I'm still working hard and I'm getting used to that." But with that said, Vasquez plays a ton of minutes each night, almost the entire game. Williams has always said he needs Vasquez and fellow guard Eric Hayes to play older than they are because of the Terps' inexperience and youth. Even so, Williams acknowledged that people take Vasquez, and even Hayes, for granted. "They talk about them like they're seniors, like they've been here for three years," Williams said. "This is their second year, and playing with freshmen. It's not like they're playing with upperclassmen. So it's a pretty tough job." Vasquez is going through tough times right now. As bad as his shooting and turnover numbers have been, the losses are what really kill him. Vasquez knows people expect big things of him, and he understands the blame people put on him. He even accepts it after a bad game. What Vasquez doesn't like, though, is when people don't understand certain parts of basketball and still put the blame on him. Against Illinois this season, Vasquez was 2-of-14 from the floor and 0-for-7 from 3-point range. But a few days later, Vasquez was quick to point out that people thought he was rushing his shot when that just wasn't true. "That's not me rushing my shot - that's coaches telling me what to do," he said. "It looks bad because I miss it, and that's why I say people are sometimes gonna either love me or hate me, but I don't really care. I'm just gonna do what it takes. I know it's not gonna be like this the whole year. I'm gonna have some great games and I'm gonna have some good games. I'm also gonna have some games where it's hard for me to make shots." Vasquez didn't hit a rhythm for a while last year, and most players can fight through a slump. Williams isn't taking any extra measures when dealing with his most emotional player, even in the midst of a stretch of bad play. "I just want him to know that I'm in his corner. He's a good enough player and he's played enough games where it'll happen. I think every shooter goes through slumps during a career, and you have to work your way out of it." Future plans The summer experience against NBA players gave Vasquez a first-hand chance to see what it takes to play professional basketball. It was a topic of conversation before the season started. Vasquez acknowledged the NBA is among his future goals, but he also said the Terps are his No. 1 priority this season. He isn't using the team as a springboard to make it to the pros. "It's not about me," he said. "It's not about Greivis getting 18 points and six assists and playing well but losing the games. It's not about me going to the NBA next year. It's a possibility, why not? But it's not really on my mind right now. For a minute I was thinking about it, but it's nothing serious right now. I gotta see what happens this year, and I got a long way to go. I really wanna learn. If I'm gonna go, I wanna go ready. I don't want to go like, 'Oh, he's good; maybe he's gonna make it.' I wanna go ready. If I do what I'm supposed to do here, I think I'm gonna go super ready." Smith, the NBA Draft analyst, thinks Vasquez has a ways to go before leaving for the pros. "I think he's received some hype that was maybe premature," Smith said. "I really like his energy, but I think that right now he's still immature physically and underdeveloped. The best interest for him would be to wait on trying to explore the NBA Draft." Whether Vasquez is eventually playing against Bryant in the NBA remains to be determined at a later point in his life. Right now, it's the Terps. And through the good and the bad, Vasquez will be the focal point, the one who takes the criticism and eats up the success. Cocky or confident, it doesn't matter. Throughout his career, the same people that love him are going to hate him, and the same people that hate him are going to love him.</div></p> Source: Diamond Back Online</p>
