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Alan Williams is the best college basketball player you haven't heard of
Ethan Miller
The California-Santa Barbara big man put up huge numbers last season, and he's poised for a big senior year.
With the way professionals past and present roll through the nationally renowned Drew League -- a summer-long Pro-Am tournament that takes place in South Central Los Angeles -- it's not difficult for great players to get lost in the crowd. Playing next to former NBA All-Star Baron Davis and Drew League legend "Money Mike" Efevberha, Alan Williams could be categorized as one of those guys.
"For teams like that when you're playing with guys like that, you just have to go out there and play a role," Williams said in a conversation with SB Nation about his offseason. "It's been a really good experience getting to go up against that kind of competition."
Williams' willingness to do the little things might conceal his level of skill, but those familiar with the work of the California-Santa Barbara big man know better. Williams may just be the best college basketball player in the country no one has heard of. Any way you break it down, he was one of the most statistically impressive players in the country last season.
Watch Williams play
Watch Williams play
The 21.3 points and 11.5 rebounds that Williams averaged last season underscores his abilities, but they don't even begin to tell the whole tale of his value. Defenses knew exactly where the ball was going every time down the floor -- he took 37.2 percent of the Gauchos' shots, fourth-most in the NCAA -- and there was nothing that they could do about it. The owner of an excellent 57 percent true shooting percentage is even more impressive when you consider the volume of shots he takes. Williams uses brute strength and impeccable touch to be among the nation's best post scorers. He's always working for position in the post, using his wide frame and innate understanding of angles to create space.
While you might be wondering if Williams is simply an offensive accumulator in a bad league, you should guess again. Santa Barbara's tempo was in the lowest 15 percent of the NCAA last season, meaning if anything his numbers were depressed by a slow pace. Plus, he's not just a one-way player. Although he admittedly takes the occasional play off or commits silly perimeter fouls when he's winded, his 9.1 percent block rate shows his presence as a rim protector.
But while mentioning all of those skills, rebounding has always been where Williams excelled most. In high school, Williams was a lightly recruited prospect that neither Rivals nor ESPN rated. Outshined by Daniel Bejarano, a top-75, four-star recruit who went to Arizona before transferring to Colorado State (where he averaged 16 points per game last season), Williams was something of an afterthought even on his own team.
"The number one thing that Al built his game around was rebounding," UCSB head coach Bob Williams told me. "When he was in high school, he didn't get the ball much his freshman, sophomore, junior years. His senior year he got the ball a little bit, but then his freshman year here was the same thing. We didn't run a single play to him all year. If he was going to score, he was going to have to go get it off the glass."
Photo credit: Stephen Dunn, Getty Images
That lack of usage during Williams' developmental years has paid dividends as his rebounding continued to blossom. He rated as the fifth-best statistical rebounder in the NCAA last season with a 21.9 percent total rebounding rate. In fact, he was one of only four qualified players last season with an offensive rebounding rate above 15 percent and a defensive rebounding rate above 27 percent. It's impossible to be that kind of rebounder through luck, as Williams explained to me.
"I'm strategically placed where I want to be at all times for rebounds," Williams said. "I study my teammates' shots, and know where their shots are going to come off so I can be where I need to be when the ball comes off the rim. I watch the flights of their balls, and try to move my man somewhere else so that I can get where I need to. But also, I just want it more."
That "want" Williams stressed in our interview is something that was instilled in him at a young age by his parents. His mother, Jeri, was the highest ranking female African-American in Arizona law enforcement before being selected to become Chief of Police in Oxnard County, Calif. His father, Cody, is a judge in Phoenix after serving an eight-year term in city council.
"Both of my parents are down-to-earth, really cool people," Williams said. "The kind of work ethic that they put in to work every day rubbed off on me. They always taught me to be humble and to not think you're better than someone else, and I think that's what's helped me play these different roles I've needed to play."
Defenses knew exactly where the ball was going every time down the floor, and there was nothing that they could do about it.
Undoubtedly, Williams was raised well. His coach raves about him as someone who is a "better person than player," and of the athletes I've had a chance to talk to, he's among the most eloquent speakers. He would be a fit in any locker room, which is important as he moves toward the next level of his career. That level could include the NBA, where his ability to slide into any role asked of him will be a strength. Plus, for a low-major school, Santa Barbara has an excellent recent track record of getting players to the league (see Orlando Johnson and James Nunnally).
Still, his coach doesn't think he's quite ready for that jump yet.
"I think he has to lean his body and extend his shooting range a little more," Coach Williams said. "He's going to have to be more efficient with decisions he makes with the ball and not take plays off defensively. But I'll tell you what, he's productive against anyone we play against. The bigger opponents we played, he was dominant. He can rebound against anybody."
The numbers back up the coach. In the three games that Williams played against UCLA, UNLV and Cal last season, he averaged 22.7 points and 9.7 rebounds on 55 percent shooting. And as far as improving in the areas that Coach Williams mentioned? The 6'8 center told me the biggest thing that he's working on this offseason -- outside of his conditioning is extending his range -- is that he feels comfortable out to about 17 feet now. He even has been taking some threes.
Maybe if he starts making threes, he'll get noticed more by the general public. But until then, he'll just have to continue living in the anonymity that comes with being a small-school superstar on the West Coast.
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