Everyone complained about the transfer epidemic this past year in college basketball. It’s also rears its ugly head at the HS level.
Playing time always seems to be the main reason for someone leaving, but not always.
Bob Baptist of the Columbus-Dispatch on Ohio State big man Amir Williams. While sitting on the bench for the Buckeyes, instead of getting upset and transferring, Williams stuck it out, waited his turn and worked harder.
Like many prized high-school athletes, Amir Williams didn’t know what it felt like to sit and watch his team play a basketball game without him.
“What they were saying about transferring and stuff like that, none of that stuff ever crossed my mind. But it was in everybody else’s mind.”
Williams, 6 feet 11, was a McDonald’s All-American at Detroit Country Day School. When he arrived at Ohio State 15 months ago, there were expectations that he would team inside with Jared Sullinger, who would slide to power forward. But that rarely happened, and Williams said he “hit a rough patch” at one point during his freshman year, in which he averaged 6.6 minutes a game.
“You have to talk them down off the ledge,” Dave Dickerson said, “because things are not coming to them as easy and things are a little bit different from the recruiting process.”
Ohio State coaches discussed the concerns of Williams and his family with them, and Dickerson said Williams’ father was instrumental in convincing his son that if he worked harder, his time would come.
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