Whether you've seen the 2004 movie Along Came Polly which starred Ben Stiller and Philip Seymour Hoffman or not, chances are, at least at one point in your life, you've come across a video or a GIF of the movie's hilarious basketball scene where Seymour Hoffman's character showed enough confidence to fill the entire hoops cinematic history. We tell you all this because Maryland basketball head coach Kevin Willard's coaching philosophy is apparently inspired in part by that particular scene.
Willard, who is in his first year as head coach of the Maryland Terrapins, was speaking about his team's shooting, particularly about how involved he is in letting his team know when to take shots.
Kevin Willard = Movie Buff
How Along Came Polly influences the #Terps and why @KevinWillard will never tell his players not to shoot.
🤣😂🎥🏀💪@BenStiller @TerrapinHoops @umterps pic.twitter.com/h0vUvnRmJ8
— Shawn Stepner (@StepnerWMAR) January 24, 2023
After jokingly murmuring about his disgust of the current generation's taste for the arts, the Maryland basketball head coach went on to dissect the movie's basketball scene where Seymour Hoffman's character relentlessly kept on launching shots despite wildly bricking one after another. For Willard, he knows he's got to instill that kind of confidence in his players.
All that being said, Maryland basketball hasn't really been shooting the ball well this season. The Terps are just 150th in the nation with a 44.4 percent shooting from the field and 178th overall with a 50.2 effective field goal percentage. Maryland basketball has also failed to record an effective field goal percentage better than 44% in each of its last two games, including in the Terps' recent loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday on the road in which they went just 37.3 percent from the floor.