Maven is adequate as a dependency resolution tool, though I always marvel at the insane number of packages it downloads.
That said it should not ever be used as a build system -- ant exist for exactly that reason or you could use Make if you want your builds to go faster.
They take opposite approaches. Maven gives you scaffolding; it's up to you to customize it. Ant gives you practically nothing, but you can do whatever you want. If you want to code on the shoulders of giants then Maven will help you much more than Ant will, IMO.
