Interview With Former Maryland Guard Varun Ram

Highschool and Early Begninings in Basketball

Goldstein: How did you get into basketball?

Ram: For me personally, I haven’t had a lot friends and family when I was young, but someone had bought me for one of my birthday gifts one of those little Tyson hoops. I just started shooting around on that. One day, one of my family friends jokingly said, “Oh you’re shooting like Michael Jordan,” and I took that as the biggest compliment ever. I was like oh my god really? So after that I just kept practicing. Honestly, the more I played the more I fell in love with it. There is so many things to love, and I think for me having access to courts around me, and then meeting new people around me that also loved the game of basketball. There’s so many things that drew me to the game.

Goldstein: How much interest did you receive from colleges in high school?

Ram: Yeah, not a lot, but I did receive attention from a lot of the Division III programs around the area , in the country, some Division II as well. So my last year of playing AAU basketball, our team actually started to surprise other people, and we started to go pretty far at Nationals. We ended up placing third in the country. There were some coaches who took notice. Some smaller Division I schools reached out and expressed interest but never offered. No one ever offered, and I ended up going to Trinity college. It’s a competitive Division III program. Then I transferred to Maryland.

Goldstein: What was it like to play basketball with Michael Campanero?

Ram: Mike, he’s one of those guys that could literally just pick up any sport and be one of the best players in a couple days. That’s the type of athlete he was. He was very gifted, very smart player. He was a year older than me. I think when he played my Junior year when he was a Senior. I learned a lot from him, like his composure on the floor. He was a great leader, great point guard. He was a tremendous player and a great person. I definitely valued playing with him and the relationship I had built with him.

Goldstein: Who was toughest player you faced in AAU?

Ram: In the AAU circuit we played everyone. We played Andre Drummond I remember. We played so many competitive teams with great players. I remember Andre Drummond was tough to play against because of the size difference. He was super athletic too. I didn’t guard him personally, but I remember just the way he impacted the game like he was already at that next level. When we were in high school, he probably could have been on an NBA roster.

Becoming a Walk On

Goldstein: When you were in the process of transferring, what made Maryland stick out?

Ram: I grew up watching Maryland, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake those guys. The national championship team. When I was growing up, I never thought that I could actually play at that level. As I started to play AAU, I began to play against those caliber players, I began to think that I could compete at that level. I just wasn’t given a shot which makes sense because I don’t fit the mold of a Division I player 5’9″, and the color of my skin. I was coming back to home for one being closer to friends and family. Two, Maryland has great academics. They are a state school. For being a large state school and just outside of basketball and not knowing what I wanted to do academically, it made sense to go to a state school with more options in terms of classes, majors, etc. I mean I had no idea if I was even going to get a shot to walk on,but I knew I was going to do everything in my power to walk on. Even more so for academics, I wanted to come back in and make that roster.

Goldstein: How did you get in contact with coach Turgeon?

Ram: I didn’t actually get in contact with coach Turgeon. I reached out to Dustin Clark who was the director of basketball operations at the time. He was a great guy. He was in charge of the on campus recruiting. I had sent him some film of my tape from my year prior at Trinity College. He knew that playing college basketball at any level is competitive, and so he gave a second of his time to look at it. We had definitely been in communication, and he was like I definitely appreciate the film, but we are not sure if we are going to take any walk ons this year but we will stay in contact. I stayed ready and in shape, and it was definitely a roller-coaster to get a try-out. It was funny, I remember that summer transferring to Maryland I’ll never forget it was my first time meeting Dustin in the Maryland basketball office, and I was in awe being in the facility and the office. He had some questions for me, my experience and other things like that. I remember when I left, he said how tall are you again? And I was like 5’8″ -5’9″. He was like let’s hope you grow a few inches and put on a few pounds before you come to campus. He was joking but kind of serious.

Goldstein: What was it like when coach Turgeon offered you a spot on the team?

Ram: One of the happiest moments of my life. The walk on spot isn’t the most top of mind thing for a coach to do. They kept on inviting me back to practice not officially, but they just kept telling me when the next practice was, and I just kept showing up. Eventually, I got an email one night from the University of Maryland men’s basketball team requesting to add me to the roster. In order to be on the team, I had to fill out some compliance form. That’s when I was like oh my god I’m officially on the team. It was funny the next day, coach had announced it at practice. At the end of practice we usually do a huddle, and he announced it to the team. Everyone was so nice, supportive, and happy for me. It was a great feeling.

Maryland

Goldstein: What was the biggest difference from Trinity to Maryland?

Ram: I would say Division III is very competitive, and I don’t think people give it enough credit. People are not playing on scholarships just for the love of the game. Academics, it’s big in Division I as well, but in Division III you know people have other priorities outside of basketball. It’s a lot more pressure playing at a school like Maryland there is a lot more fans, more money on the line, your playing on T.V., and there’s a lot more pressure. There is a lot more asked of you. In Division III we are not playing over the summer, the season is not as long, and there is more size, strength and athleticism at the Division I level. Not that there’s not that at the Division III level, but it is more of it at a concentrated scale at the Division I level. For example, we had Alex Len who’s seven foot. We has Shaquille Cleare who was like 6’10”. There is a lot more bigs, talent, and athleticism that you don’t always see at the Division III level. What I think people don’t understand about Division III is that when you get to those top teams it’s very competitive and a lot of the top Division III teams could compete at the Division I level.

Goldstein: What was it like guarding and playing against Melo Trimble everyday at practice?

Ram: I’m conflicted because it was one of the best things ever, but it was one of the most challenging things ever. Obviously, Melo is an unbelievable player who is super talented and a great guy. Then you combine that with the green light he was given, and it’s definitely a challenge. The one thing is I treated practices like games. I knew that for me, practice is where I would make a large impact on the team which is increasing the intensity of practice,pushing Melo,pushing the guys who are playing a lot of minuets, and also being ready I were to get an opportunity. But playing against Melo to answer question, it was an honor. The one thing I loved about Melo was sometimes I would challenge players going back to high-school and AAU, and I would pressure these top players who were highly recruited full court. They wouldn’t like it. Whereas, Melo took it as a challenge. Obviously, he didn’t love it,but he knew I was there to make him better. He took it on as a challenge, and he never once was like,”stop doing that bro,” and, “stop playing so hard.” He was always like bring it on, give your best shot. I really appreciated that as a competitor.

Goldstein: What was your favorite gym to travel to in the Big 10?

Ram: They were all so good. For some reason, I really liked Ohio State because the fans felt like they were six inches behind you. When you were sitting on the bench, it felt like they were breathing on your neck. For some reason, I always played a lot against Ohio State. When I would check into the game, it felt like that Cameron Indoor Stadium type feel where everyone was just yelling at you and trying to distract you. It also makes it that much more exciting. So I think Ohio State was low key one of my favorite places to play at.

NCAA Tournament

Goldstein: So coach Turgeon subs you into the game in the NCAA tournament against Valaporaiso, what was going through your mind?

Ram: I was dialed into the game because it was the biggest game of my life. Even if I wasn’t going to play a second, I was so mentally engaged in the game. I felt like I played 40 minuets in the game. Maybe not my body but my mind. Checking into the game, I didn’t think anything of it. You don’t have time to think, you only react. You have to rely on instincts. I just went out there and did what I would have normally done. I think if you don’t play a lot of minuets it’s easy to get disengaged. That was the opposite for me. I was super engaged and ready to check in and contribute whenever coach was going to call on me.

Goldstein: When you got the block, what was going through your head?

Ram: I was like let’s go the next round. I was happy that we won. To be honest, I did not think much of it other than we got the stop, we got what we wanted. I was excited to move to the next round. I didn’t think anything specific of me playing, I was just happy that we as a team had a goal of having one stop that possession and as a team we were able to do that.

Goldstein: How did it feel to give your team a momentum boost going into the next round of the tournament?

Ram: I don’t know if I can give myself credit for that. It was just exciting. Every game was our biggest game of the season. It was gracious to be able to contribute. As soon as the game was over, we celebrated. After that we were locked in and preparing for the next game.

Goldstein: What was the atmosphere of playing in the NCAA tournament like?

Ram: I can’t even describe it. Essentially, you think of a game in the regular season even a home game or sold out, and you multiply it by 40 and that’s what it’s like in the NCAA tournament. The thing is when you’re there everything is scrutinized. If you do a regular layup, it’s like 40 times more important, 40 times more scrutinized in the tournament than in a regular game. The thing is when you’re there there’s other teams there. We were the second game, so there was two other teams playing before us. They have a full area full of fans there also. It’s not just your team and the other teams fans, it’s the four team’s fans. Growing up, you know how many people are tuned in, and now you’re part of it and make an impact on it. Every player who plays in college dreams of it. It’s hard to put it in words.

Play Style

Goldstein: Did you try to model you’re game after anyone?

Ram: I liked Steve Nash ans Nate Robinson. I liked the smaller players. Steve Nash wasn’t the most athletic,but he was very skilled. Obviously, Earl Boykins. I remember watching him growing up. I knew I was going to be undersized in terms of my position. As a player,I tried to learn from them.

Goldstein: How did it feel to score your first Division I points for Maryland?

Ram: It was awesome. It was great to see myself in the box score. My goal was to always be as great as we can as team, and I knew it wasn’t going to be about me scoring thirty points that would make us successful. It’s always awesome to score,but that didn’t give me as much excitement as getting a big win.

Goldstein: What was it like to play for coach Turgeon?

Ram: Coach Turgeon was a great guy. It’s funny because when you’re on the outside looking in it’s easy to judge coaches at any program. You don’t really have an idea unless your on the inside of peoples true character. To be in a leadership position like coach Turgeon with as much pressure as he has, I’m in awe with how he handles it. He’s just a good guy outside of basketball. You can tell that by the way he treats his players and how his family feels about him. Overall, he is a good person with all that pressure which made it that much easier to play for him. It’s a lot of stress and pressure, and when you have a leader like that to look up it makes it that much better. People are so quick to jump on coaches. They are there for a reason.

Goldstein: What was your favorite memory of playing at Maryland?

Ram: There is so many. Obviously making the team, the Valpo moment, upsetting Duke at home, and Senior night when I hit a three. The game was already won, but for some reason because it was Senior night I hit a three and everyone went crazy.

Life Today

Goldstein: Are you still involved with basketball today?

Ram: Absolutely! I still consider myself a life long player. I still play whenever I can. I’ve gone back a couple times to practice with the guys. I try to stay in touch with Anthony and some of the other guys there, the ones getting recruited, and the ones that were there when I was. I try to maintain the relationship with the program and the coaches and assistant that ere there. Today, I still train in terms of fitness like I would for a basketball season because that’s all I know. Kyle Tarp, the strength coach, engraved that into me. I still hold myself to that standard.

Goldstein: Do you still keep in touch in with coach Turgeon and the guys you played with?

Ram: Yes, I do. I actually spoke with coach Turegon Yesterday about a couple things. It’s not as much as I would like to. He’s such a busy guy. You don’t want to take up to much of his time. At the same time, It’s a relationship I value. Coach Turgeon value the relationships with his players and former players. I talk to the other coaches like coach Bino and Kyle Tarp. I still talk to Anthony. He was getting recruited my last year at Maryland. Resse and Travis were around. It’s tougher now because i’m four years out. When I go back, I try to keep those relationships going.

AAU

Goldstein: What are your thoughts on players skipping college and playing in the G-league or overseas?

Ram:It’s a very intresting proposition. Every player has their own situations.Me personally, I think I heard Anthony say this, there is nothing like playing at a major university where your whole fan-base and the whole student body around you. It’s a different feel when you’re getting paid to play instead of playing in college. There no better setting than to play in the NCAA tournament. Playing in a packed Xfinity center or college game day, there is nothing better than that. I think the players who go pro will miss out on that, but if they want to get paid that makes sense too. I’m interested to see how recruiting will be done now. You can’t beat a packed arena against Michigan State.

Goldstein: As AAU is developing where do you see it going?

Ram: I haven’t been super tuned in to it since I graduated. With technology with the ability do things remotely like this app called Homecourt. Homecourt essentially has drills you can do and you can get bound. Primarily, you could only get bound from AAU. If you didn’t play AAU or not at a high profile level of AAU or high school program you would not get recruited. But I think now, that’s not necessarily the case with YouTube, Instagram and these tools, you could find a player in the middle of some random country that has all this talent because of a video posted on Instagram. Whereas, in the past you could have not done that. I think it will be important but not as important as players are able to get recruitment and exposure through other means like apps.

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