Focus on CJ Williams

09-10 Basketball15

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We had a nice feature on one of my favorite NC State Football players yesterday (link to Toney Baker), so it is only fair to turn some attention to one of my favorite NC State Basketball players, CJ Williams.

The Fayetteville Observer featured Williams in a lead story calling him the Pack’s ‘new leader’. I couldn’t agree more.

IMHO, Williams is the type of player just craving to play for a super talented team.

What in the world to I mean by ^this ludicrous statement?

I mean that CJ’s unselfishness and overall balance of skills on the court creates a situation where his effectiveness would be maximized by not having any scoring pressures placed on him.

I view CJ Williams as a potential Brian Howard. A potential Jeremy Hyatt (as a senior). A poor man’s Nate McMillan.

CJ Williams is the guy that the loose ball seems to find. He’s the guy who wants to guard the other team’s best player at crunch time. He’s the guy that will force the attitude on the team to listen to the coach. And, he’s the guy who will be the first to shake the other coach’s hand and represent the University in the most favorable light.

Two things are for certain as Williams enters his sophomore season in Raleigh driven to spark a Wolfpack resurgence.

First and foremost, he’ll be thrust into a leading role as the team’s starting shooting guard, assured of more consistent playing time after a freshman season in which his minutes fluctuated wildly. (Williams logged more than 15 minutes in 16 games yet did not play in five others.)

Secondly, the former Jack Britt High School standout is attacking Year 2 with newfound aplomb, confident he has expanded his game and feeling more comfortable as a vocal leader for the Pack.

I take a different view than the previous quote on one item — I’m not sure that CJ will be the starting shooting guard. CJ is clearly a ‘wing’ who can play the two or the three spot. If we have heard correctly, Coach Lowe has moved Farnold Degand to the shooting guard position in a move I applaud. So, it wouldn’t surprise me to see both Degand and Williams start the season on the wings with Javi Gonzalez and Julius Mays battling for the starting point guard position.

The ‘X-factor’ here is the potential emergence of Scott Wood, whom we have made no secret of our excitement. If Wood can truly emerge as a viable option as the wing forward in his freshman year, then I see Williams moving to a pure two position until Lorenzo Brown arrives next year.

Williams’ abilities to score from the perimeter will factor into the equation. Equally important may be his development as a young leader.

Lowe still lauds the poise Williams showed a year ago.

“The one word for C.J. is steady,” he said. “Even though he was just a freshman, he always seemed to be in the right place. He didn’t take a lot of bad shots. He knew what we were doing all the time.”

Lowe now wants his sophomore shooting guard to showcase his heightened confidence to not only become a reliable playmaker but an energizing force for the whole team.

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09-10 Basketball

15 Responses to Focus on CJ Williams

  1. 61Packer 11/04/2009 at 1:25 PM #

    SFN, all this is making me believe we just might finish higher than 10th in the ACC this season. Stop it!!!

  2. Thinkpack17 11/04/2009 at 1:26 PM #

    Good Article. I don’t know if CJ will be able to score as much as we need him to but this year will definately add another dimension to his game. I think he saw this coming and tried to prepare accordingly. I watched him play in Durham this summer and he is definately a long way from the kid I saw play at Jack Britt.

  3. TOB4PREZ 11/04/2009 at 3:02 PM #

    nvmnd

  4. Broccoman 11/04/2009 at 3:18 PM #

    I think there is actual potential now. The question is will the coaching bring out the potential.

  5. packpowerfan 11/04/2009 at 3:33 PM #

    I mentioned this earlier in the fall, but I had a summer PE class with CJ, and he was a stand-up and stand-out kind of guy. CJ talked a lot about how he wanted to be “that” kind of player, and help the team prove the pundits wrong this year. I have a lot of confidence that he can deliver some good results, but I don’t know if that “good” means one win beyond what we are expecting, or a handfull.

    Beyond all that, it is nice to see a genuinely good kid playing for the team (not saying we haven’t had a lot, but Javi slept through the only Stats class that I saw him show up for.) CJ was always the first in the gym in the morning and the last out. He did what he could to keep everyone energized and moving, and he’s an overall good guy. Watching how he interacts with other players and students kind of makes me think of how Terry Gannon talks about his relationships when he was playing. I wish him, and this team, the best this year.

  6. zahadum 11/04/2009 at 4:18 PM #

    I think we need around at least 12-14 ppg from CJ this year in order to be anything above awful.

    More specifically, I think we need two perimeter players to average double figures in order to give Tracy some room to operate without being mobbed all season. One of those has to be CJ. Who the other one will be (or even can be) I’ve no idea.

  7. JeremyH 11/04/2009 at 4:47 PM #

    well i hope Scott Wood is everything he’s cracked up to be. a knock-down three point shooter is something we haven’t had in a while, and could sorely use for instant offense. that and javi and mays moving as fast as they claim they will. Costner was that kind of player his freshman year. also archie miller. lakista mcculler : )

  8. RickJ 11/04/2009 at 5:54 PM #

    “IMHO, Williams is the type of player just craving to play for a super talented team.”

    Totally agree – earlier on this site someone posted that Tracy Smith was the only player on our roster that could start for any other ACC team. After thinking about this, I came to agree with this sentiment. Then I wondered if every coach in the league could take one player off our roster, who would get the most votes. Here, I believe it would be C. J. Williams. To put in perspective of “the type of player just craving to play for a super talented team”, think UNC and Duke. I believe C. J. would make a real contribution to either of these teams though not as a starter.

  9. tjfoose2 11/04/2009 at 7:24 PM #

    Football is my sport; I’m more of a basketball layman… but I have been impressed from what I have seen of Scott Wood. I think he will surprise this year.

  10. McPete 11/04/2009 at 8:52 PM #

    tjfoose2,
    have you seen Wood play, or do you mean you like what you’ve read about him thus far?

  11. dwm77 11/05/2009 at 1:28 AM #

    I believe it may be a misnomer that Farnold is the starter at the 2. When I first heard about it, sounded like he was moved to the 2 to take him out of the mix at point, and nothing more. I would expect to see CJ at the 2 providing Johnny Thomas or Wood prove capable at the 3.

  12. theTHRILL 11/05/2009 at 2:19 AM #

    Brian Howard – now there’s the kind of player every team needs. His value went beyond the stats sheet.

  13. rtpack24 11/05/2009 at 11:11 AM #

    Nice article on CJ. He showed signs of being a good player last year and he does play hard always. I think that we will be able to tell if we have a culture change in our basketball program by 5 games into the season. Hopefully they will surprise everyone.

  14. packalum44 11/05/2009 at 2:02 PM #

    I saw signs from both Mays and CJ that they could be good players on this level. Wish they would have played more. Never saw those signs in Javi or Farnold.

  15. Wolf74 11/05/2009 at 5:28 PM #

    “Never saw those signs in Javi or Farnold.”

    Actually I did see some of those signs in Farnold before his injury. Since then he has been hampered. IF he has recovered, he may be able to achieve or exceed that level. I hope so because we will surely need it.

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