Graham Breaks Down Commitment to Maryland

Maryland's newest commitment breaks down his decision to commit to Maryland in an interview.

The long-time pursuit for Nicolet (WI) forward James Graham officially came to a close on Wednesday. The 6-foot-8, 205-pound top target was close to committing to Maryland before a late push from Auburn put a fork in his evaluation process. Graham postponed his decision to commit on Monday to provide himself more time to evaluate his suitors in the final stretch in his recruitment. It took just two days for Maryland to edge the SEC foe and Graham explained what led him to College Park.

“In all my life, all my coaches have been those types of dude to yell, get angry, ra-ra, you take a shot you’re looking over your shoulder,” Graham told Zach “SchuZ” Schumaker in an interview. “And I love those dudes, those are my coaches but I think I need a change of scenery. And I think about Auburn, [Bruce Pearl] was like that, BP was like other coaches but for me, I really felt like it was time for a change of scenery and go to a coach who is calm, collected. When I watch Maryland games, no matter if it’s four seconds on the shot clock and they’re up by two, he’s going to be sitting there with his arms crossed. If we’re up by 40, he’s still going to be arm-crossed cool so that stability and that consistency has been something I’ve been looking for.”

Graham admitted he’s kept in touch with Maryland guards Eric Ayala and Marcus Dockery while staying in touch with Anthony Cowan to help build the relationships in College Park. 2021 commit Ike Cornish also developed a relationship with his newest teammate. “Me and Ike talked a couple weeks ago and we’ve kind of been connecting, Facetiming and stuff like that. That’s my boy, he cool and I rock with him.”

Graham explains what separated Maryland from his three finalists, Auburn, Memphis and Wisconsin.

“They kind of just brought everything together. Their thing was development and a guy on Maryland’s staff…they have a development piece at their school, has an 85% graduation rate which is good, good academics. Also I believe coach Turgeon is going to let us have fun, let us rock out, that’s what I’ve been talking to the players about and things like that so I believe we have the ability to rock out and have fun there.”

It helped that Maryland took just two years to help position center Jalen Smith as a potential first round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, a key point that stood out to Graham during his evaluation process.

“He’s one of those dudes that puts the ball in his best player’s hands. It’s not like ‘oh man, Stix is scoring, we can’t get the ball to Stix anymore.’ If you got the hot hand, he’ll keep giving it to you and that’s another thing, the fact that he’s like that and the fact that he can develop like that and the fact that Dre, Bino, all the other guys on the staff can do that, that’s great and that’s something I really look for.“

Now that Graham’s future has been decided, he now shifts his attention to becoming a key piece in Turgeon’s rotation.

“I felt like they haven’t had a plug like me. I’m 6’8”, 6’9”, lanky and can shoot it. Maryland just being right there with Baltimore and DC, the atmosphere and the relationships and the media presence that Marland has, I feel like I can really be something special there. I’m not saying like it’s going to be something like Zion and Duke, but in terms of putting Maryland on and trying to make it a powerhouse is something I really feel like I can do. Just from the type of person I am, I’m outgoing, I’m goofy, I’m going to get out there. I’m not scared to go hang with people, go out the crowd, so I feel like my presence and my personality I feel like I can do something in the media presence of Baltimore and D.C.”

“It’s a great feeling. They have a solid class already and I’m happy to add my name to it.”

Graham becomes the third commitment for Maryland in the 2021 class, joining big man Julian Reese and wing Ike Cornish.