After contemplating his top two choices over the weekend, Jordan Williams decided on Maryland over St. John’s on Sunday and committed to head coach Gary Williams Monday night.
“I spoke with him about 10 minutes ago,” the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Williams, a senior forward at Torrington (Conn.) High, said Monday by phone. “My decision was based mainly on the academics. I want to major in criminal justice and Maryland has the top criminal justice program in the country. If something were to happen where I would get hurt and couldn’t play basketball, then I would have something to fall back on.”
Williams shut down trips to UMass and Providence after narrowing it down to Maryland and St. John’s and also had interest from Arizona, Cal, Siena and Marquette. He joins 6-8 Brooklyn Lincoln forward James Padgett in providing Maryland with a pair of skilled and strong post players. Maryland has no more scholarships to give for ’09, unless someone were to go pro or leave the program for other reasons.
“St. John’s, I love the coaching staff,” Williams said. “They’re great people. I liked them a lot. It was a really tough decision but I felt that Maryland would be the best place.”
Williams could be an impact player within a year or two. He averaged 28 points, 15 rebounds, 7 blocks and 3 assists last season. He has scored more than 1,000 career points despite missing half of his freshman year, and he is within 250 or so points of the school record set by his uncle, Murray Williams.
“He’s going to be a four,” Torrington head coach Tony Turina said. “He’s 6-10, he’s a power man. He finishes better than many big men. He’s got great great hands and he can run the floor well. Once he commits to the weight room in college, I think he can be a much better college player than he is in high school because he’s going to be pushed every day in practice and every game.
“Whenever he played against top schools and top players in Connecticut, he came away dominating the game. His upside is tremendous.”
“I will probably be a four or a five,” Williams added. “My post play is going to come in at first, but I want to work on my outside game, shooting more 3s and slashing a little bit more.
“They’re projecting me to come in and play next year,” he added. “(Coach Williams) said they’re excited and they have a spot for me. I’m excited to come in and take that spot.”
SYRACUSE NOTES
Syracuse also picked up a commitment from 2010 prospect C.J. Fair, a 6-7, 200-pound power forward from Baltimore (MD) City College High. Also at Syracuse, Antonio “Scoop” Jardine will redshirt this season because of a stress fracture in his left leg.
Alessandro / October 20, 2008
On the local front, where does Norm Roberts turn now that Bruce and Williams are off of the board?
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Adam Zagoria / October 20, 2008
Great question. They had been in a holding pattern until Jordan decided. Unclear where they go from here. I’ll see what I can find out.
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TerpHamm / October 20, 2008
Ah yes! This makes me very happy to be a Terps fan at this time. We may not have a great looking team this year, but Padgett and Williams give us two quality big men to go along with Burney and Dupree next year. I’m hoping we can scoop up Buie and Epps as well…it looked like they had a great time at Maryland Madness, any word on that Adam?
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67terp / October 20, 2008
Jordan, I’m glad you’re a Terp! Welcome. I’m looking forward to watching you play and develop as a player in the ACC.
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Peter / October 21, 2008
In the quest for playing time, do you think this gives Seton Hall a leg up in the Arsalan Kazemi sweepstakes?
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Adam Zagoria / October 21, 2008
Kazemi’s adviser, Anthony Ibrahim, said he wants Arsalan to be a go-to type of guy, as opposed to a glue player, so it could help Seton Hall, which clearly has room for additions. I wouldn’t rule out Rice with Kazemi, either. Ibrahim is very high on Ben Braun.
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