TROY WILLIAMS COMMITS TO INDIANA UNIVERSITY - ALL-MET ELITE

TROY WILLIAMS

 COMMITS

TO

 INDIANA UNIVERSITY 

 ALL-MET ELITE

HAMPTON VA.

 

Small forward Troy Williams – one of the nation’s most athletic wing players.

Williams, a 6-foot-7 player from Hampton, Va., who is spending his senior year across the state at Oak Hill Academy, was impressed with IU during an official visit to the school last weekend and felt like a top priority of Hoosiers coach Tom Crean.

“This is all Tom Crean because there’s not many people who could come here and recruit against (North) Carolina and get a kid from this area,” said Boo Williams, Troy’s uncle and AAU coach. “(Crean) made a commitment early in the process that this was his guy … and it was a great decision by Coach Crean.”

Williams is ranked as the nation’s No. 37 player by Rivals.com and No. 42 by Scout.com, and he becomes the highest-ranked player in the Hoosiers’ five-man class.

He excels at slashing to the basket from the wing and finishing above the rim in transition. He’s one of high school basketball’s best dunkers. He’s also an aggressive rebounder.

“He’s kind of like a home-run hitter,” Boo Williams said. “He’s going to have big dunks and big plays, and I think Coach Crean will have some things he needs to work on. But he’s an exciting guy to see play.

He added with a laugh: “… When he hits it, he hits it far. When strikes out, he strikes out far.”

Boo Williams said a year at Oak Hill will advance his nephew’s physical and mental development.

Boo Williams, who coaches the legendary Hampton-based AAU club that’s named after him, said Troy Williams will be the first player in the 30 years of his program to play for IU, and Williams said Oak Hill coach Steve Smith told him he’s never had a Hoosiers player either.

But Troy Williams was attracted to playing for a program that wanted him so much.

Williams’ commitment comes days after the Hoosiers were ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 – more good news for a program that’s surging after the nadir of the post-Kelvin Sampson era.

“Look at what they were five years ago,” Boo Williams said. “Crean really has that program headed in the right direction. Academically, the strength coach, the staff, there’s no crack in the foundation. Plus, he’s got a good team.”

Williams picked the Hoosiers over North Carolina, where he visited the weekend of Oct. 12, and also liked Louisville a lot, Boo Williams said.

U of L already has four commitments for the 2013 class, so the Cardinals likely have filled their available spots.

Troy Williams had been expected to not make a college commitment until the spring, Boo Williams said, but that changed as he realized in the last week that IU was the place for him. He’ll sign with the Hoosiers next month.

Crean’s pursuit of Williams was evident on Thursday, when attended Big Ten Media Day in Chicago that morning and afternoon, then flew to Virginia to watch Oak Hill’s scrimmage against Hargrave Military Academy in Danville, Va., that evening. He was the only head coach recruiting Williams to attend the game.

During the spring Williams was strongly considering an offer from the University of Kentucky and narrowly his list to UK and UNC, saying a commitment to one or the other was imminent.

However, that spring decision was postponed, and the Wildcats are not thought to have been recruiting Williams since at least early summer.

Williams becomes the fifth member of IU’s 2013 class, joining Stanford Robinson, Luke Fischer, Devin Davis and Collin Hartman.