GLENDAL – When college basketball coaches sit with their players at a “green room” table on NBA draft night, as Tommy Lloyd of Arizona should do with Bennedict Mathurin on Thursday, it’s not just a show of support , it is also a significant advantage for recruiting.
Guess who helped make this player the first-round choice of nearly everyone in the Green Room? Who helped them get a guaranteed two-year deal worth at least $ 4 million?
Top recruiting targets around the world who dream of someday making an appearance in the green room and seven-figure salaries might notice when cameras regularly show families and coaches who played a role in their development.
But maybe things will be different this year. Perhaps some elite collegiate coaches will take notice when they see Cody Williams of Gilbert Perry High School sitting in the Green Room. Because he will sit with his brother Jalen, perhaps the fastest rising player in this year’s draft.
Jalen Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard, was recklessly recruited by Perry in 2019 and spent three seasons turning Santa Clara into a West Coast conference pick, but in a championship where Gonzaga has the vast majority to attention is paid to. BYU and Santa Maria.
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Then that spring, he exploded completely after the excellent performance in the NBA combine and team training.
So who knows what Cody Williams, now a senior four-star rising 6-8 at Perry, could become in just a few years? Cody, who is already attracting interest from Arizona and being recruited to a higher level, says he’s a different player than his brother, but they both share a passion for defense.
In addition to the NBA Combine’s eye-popping field performance, Jalen Williams took first place in the 7-foot 2.25-inch wingspan, an inch and a half ahead of UA’s Dalen Terry, who took second place with 7- 0.75
“People don’t know he’s a lockdown advocate,” said Cody Williams. “He has a 7 foot larger wingspan in the combine. He is an underrated passerby. He opens up guys, he’s really selfless and he’s super versatile. He can shoot the ball from the depth, so he suits a lot of teams.
“When he started to get up and they saw him on the combine and during his training, I wasn’t surprised.”
Cody Williams, who played for Perry at Section 7 Showcase over the weekend, will be making his jump on the recruiting boards this spring. During a post-match interview, Williams said he wasn’t sure how many scholarship offers he had, but that they included Washington State and Nevada (247 reported that ASU, Colorado, and USC also renewed the offers). .
Williams is expected to receive even more offers this summer, although he said he wasn’t focused on that possibility and noted that Arizona coaches were encouraging.
Arizona already has a Perry alum on the roster, freshman center Dylan Anderson, while the Wildcats have also expressed interest in up-and-coming second forward Koa Peat, who left Perry over the weekend to try his hand at USA Basketball’s U17 squad.
“They just said they keep working hard, they are really interested and it will work,” Williams said of the AU coaches. “So I just put my head down and land.”
He doesn’t have to look long for a model that will help him.
Jalen Williams broke into starting eleven at Santa Clara in ten games in his 2019-20 debut season, earned an honorable mention as runner-up in the league and finished second among WCC top scorers last season ( 18.0 points), while he was a finalist for the presented Lou Henson Award he was named the best middle-senior in the nation.
“He’s definitely grown up since his freshman year,” Cody Williams said of his brother. “A lot of people may not have the year they wanted freshman year and swap, but he just stood in Santa Clara, put his head down and put him on the ground. It really worked for him ”.
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 o [email protected]. Su Twitter @brucepascoe
