Derek Williams gets in defensive position during practice at the Crum Center. (cl)
Diversity is something that many college basketball teams strive for, and the SMU men are no exception.
Four players from Texas, three players from the Pacific Coast and three players from Senegal, of all places. Imagine how it feels to be the only guy from the East Coast.
Derek Williams knows how it feels, and he seems to have adapted just fine.
The 6-foot-1 point guard from Queens, N.Y., is the only SMU player from east of the Appalacians, but he led the team in points (13) and minutes (36) in the Mustangs’ season opener at the University of South Florida on Friday.
“I think the diversity is good,” said SMU head coach Matt Doherty. “All the guys enjoy each other and respect each other. That’s part of college-learning to experience different cultures.”
This year isn’t the first time that Williams has experienced a different culture than he is used to.
After graduating from John Bowne High School in New York City, Williams chose to play basketball in tiny Snyder, Texas, at Western Texas College.
Williams said his AAU basketball team had played in a tournament in Texas, and he was noticed by Mark Berger, who was then the head coach at the school.
Berger followed Williams around and eventually convinced him to play basketball in Texas.
Williams was one of three players on the team from the New York City area. Two of his high school teammates, Brawley Chisholm and Michael Thorogood, were also on the team.
What made the opportunity more exciting was that the program was competing for the first time in more than a decade. The school had shut down the basketball program 13 years prior to the 2006-2007 season, and Berger was trying to bring it back from the ashes.
With the help of Williams, he was able to do just that.
In his second year on the squad, Williams guided the team to an 18-11 record. He scored at least 16 points in each of the team’s last 14 games and averaged 19.1 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds.
According to Doherty, Steve Lutz, an assistant coach at SMU, took notice of Williams and the Mustangs offered him a scholarship.
The rest is history for Williams, who will be introduced as a starter this weekend in the Tip-Off Classic.
