Maryland's hoops journey through the NCAA Tournament may not have ended with a Final Four appearance, but it sure delivered a moment that will echo through the ages, thanks to Derik Queen's breathtaking last-second shot against Colorado State. In the chaos of a clutch moment, Queen was the one who boldly declared himself the man for the job in response to a spirited call from coach Kevin Willard, who asked the huddle, "Who wants the ball?"
With a grin, Willard recounted the exchange, “I asked everybody. I said, ‘Who wants the ball?’
And he said, ‘Give me the MF ball.’ So, I said, ‘Well, all right.
You're getting it.’” But, as basketball folklore often goes, there's more to the tale.
Queen's teammates were just as eager for a shot at glory.
"We all said we wanted the ball. All five of us were ready.
I just made sure to say it louder," Queen joked in a chat with Kevin O’Connor from Yahoo Sports. "I honestly thought Coach wouldn’t ask us and just draw something up with me in mind, but he gave us the chance to speak up, and I took it."
Of course, no iconic play is complete without a bit of controversy, and Queen's shot ignited a firestorm on X, with even LeBron James weighing in—did Queen travel on the play? The man of the hour dismissed the chatter with a smile, "No, it definitely was not a travel. They didn’t call it, so it definitely was not."
With a bright light already shining on his future, Queen is eyeing a top 15 pick in the NBA Draft. He knows where he stands and where he needs improvement. Averaging 16.5 points, nine rebounds, and 1.9 assists with a 52.6% shooting clip as a freshman earned him all-Big Ten honors, but shooting 20% from beyond the arc leaves room to grow.
"It's the shooting part that needs work," Queen admitted. "Everyone knows I’ve been working on it, and they’ve seen my progress.
In six months, I feel like it’ll be there. That NBA three-point line is no joke—it's far.
I’ve been working on it for just a few months, but with time and a lot of reps, I'm confident I’ll become a shooter that silences critics."
When asked who he compares himself to in the NBA, Queen kept it humble, "I suppose the simple answer has to be Jokic because that’s what I hear. But I try not to make such comparisons. There's Şengün and Sabonis, too."
Despite growing up in Baltimore, Queen's loyalties lay not with the local team, but with icons. "I’ve always been a LeBron fan," he shared, "LeBron, James Harden, Melo, AD... I used to watch the Big Three with the Heat."
Queen showed a bit of flair when talking about his favorite moves on the court. "James Harden's twin cross is definitely up there.
He was something else in Houston—winning all the time. Even when they said he didn’t have help, he took the team deep into the playoffs, pulling off an MVP season, and averaging unheard-of numbers."
Reflecting on how basketball's evolving, Queen noted, “The game’s definitely changing. We’ve got players from all over bringing new skills to the court.
Guards posting up, bigs playing like guards. It’s adding a whole new layer of excitement to the sport.”
And like every player, Queen has his origins. "I was terrible when I started," he remembered with a laugh.
“In a Baltimore league for kids, my coach told me to just hang out on offense. I was so bad back then!
I was probably around five or six when someone told me, ‘This isn’t your thing.’ That’s a funny memory to look back on now."
From humble beginnings to buzzer-beater heroics, Queen's basketball journey is one that promises plenty more chapters to come.
