This is a story about getting a second chance in life and taking advantage of
it. Former Middle Tennessee State forward JaCorey Williams was the beneficiary
of that second chance. Could it lead him to the NBA?
Williams has a long way to go before that becomes reality. But he helped his
cause earlier this month by leading the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in
scoring. NBA scouts say it wasn’t the greatest PIT field ever, but Williams
averaged 20.3 points and seven rebounds and shot 54 percent from the field. That
got some scouts’ attention.
Those three days in Portsmouth were a microcosm of Williams’ last two years, yet
another opportunity to show that the mistakes he made in the summer of 2015
while playing at Arkansas were long behind him. Those who know him best aren’t
betting against him.
“If he gets in an [NBA] camp, JaCorey will figure out a way to outwork everybody
else,” said Middle Tennessee assistant coach Ronnie Hamilton, who spent
considerable time helping Williams refine his raw talent into a multi-faceted
skill set. “He’s just got to get in the right situation.
“Portsmouth was a testament to that fact. He went there with something to prove,
and he led the whole thing in scoring. If he got to Chicago [and the NBA Draft
Combine], I think he’d play really well there. He thinks he’s the best guy on
the court every single time he plays.”
Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis echoes those thoughts as well.
“He plays with great edge,” Williams said. “The game might not be going well for
him early, but he can right himself midstream and get right back going. When we
play teams from high-level conferences, JaCorey thinks he’s the best player on
the floor every time. And that spills over to his teammates.”
When Williams thinks back to the summer of 2015, he might remember it as the
worst time in his life. The wounds were self-inflicted, too. Williams was
arrested for passing counterfeit money and also investigated for an assault in a
Fayetteville, Ark. nightclub. Though the counterfeit charge was later reduced to
a misdemeanor, the damage had been done. Arkansas coach Mike Anderson had little
choice but to kick Williams off his team.
Enter Davis, who had heard about Williams’ travails and decided to inquire as to
whether they were indicative of the player’s character, or just aberrations. As
Davis watched Williams on film, he saw a live-wire athlete who needed to pack on
a few pounds of muscle and learn some fundamentals, but otherwise could be a
difference maker.
Davis and his staff vetted Williams as though he were a candidate for public
office. First Hamilton called his friend Chris Monroe, who had coached Williams
in AAU ball.
“You’ve known me for years,” Monroe told Hamilton. “I would not vouch for
JaCorey if I didn’t think he’d represent your program and coach Davis the right
way.”
Next came a meeting with Williams’ parents. “His mom owns a couple of
restaurants,” Hamilton said. “So you knew he came from a good, hard-working
family. That made us feel good.”
Arkansas coaches were called, too. “Each one had a different perspective,”
Hamilton said. “But basically, the story was that young, immature guys can
sometimes make mistakes.”
The athletics directors from MTSU and Arkansas also spoke. And finally,
Williams’ lawyer and the district attorney in Arkansas were consulted. After all
that, Davis felt comfortable offering Williams a scholarship. Davis’ bosses gave
him wide berth in making that call, given that the last 52 players who completed
their eligibility at MTSU graduated.
Suffice it to say playing for Davis was a bit of culture shock for Williams. At
Arkansas — which traditionally deploys an aggressive, attacking style on both
ends of the floor — Williams used his athleticism to make plays. Davis is a
stickler. Screens and box outs must be executed properly and defense is
emphasized (and must be played a certain way). Williams recoiled at first, but
came to understand how Davis was coaching him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a guy take advantage of a redshirt year better than
JaCorey did,” Davis said. “He gained about 21 pounds. He worked tirelessly on
his game, a ton of individual stuff before and after practice. He’s a guy that’s
just into ball.”
Davis realized that when Williams, who couldn’t travel with the team during his
redshirt year, drove to away games on his own. Williams was in St. Louis in
March 2016 when the No. 15-seeded Blue Raiders shocked the college basketball by
booting No. 2-seeded Michigan State from the NCAA tournament.
“From Murfreesboro to St. Louis, it’s a four-and-a-half, five-hour drive,”
Williams said during the 2017 NCAA tournament. “I made it four-and-a-half, kind
of speeding, kind of excited to watch these guys play. There was no question I
was going to go to the game, no matter how far it was. I don’t care if it was a
10-, 12-hour drive. I wanted to show my teammates I was there to support them. I
was just as excited as they were to play in the game.”
Williams would get his own opportunity to play in the NCAAs. But first he had to
live up to Davis’ expectations and fit in with a veteran, accomplished team. In
particular, Williams had to mesh with junior guard Giddy Potts and senior
forward Reggie Upshaw. He did that and more.
“I’m not really the most vocal guy at times, and Giddy, he’s never really that
vocal,” Upshaw said. “JaCorey is the guy, if we need somebody to kind of spark
the huddle or just during the game when the five that are out there huddled up,
he’s the one guy you always hear his voice the most.”
“He’s grown up as a man — on and off the floor,” Potts said. “He helps guys in
so many ways, and he just give our team a spark when he’s in the game, and when
he’s out of the game, just having the vocal presence in the huddle.”
Williams led MTSU in scoring and rebounding, helping the Blue Raiders win the
Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles. The latter was the only way
the Blue Raiders could claim a return trip the the NCAAs. For a second
consecutive year, they delivered on that stage, beating Minnesota 81-72 in a
first-round game.
Butler was too much for MTSU to handle in the second round, but in his final
college game, Williams produced game highs of 20 points and nine rebounds. His
recovery from that pivotal summer of 2015 had come full circle.
Now he gets to see if his comeback story can continue at an even higher level.
Is there a chance for a player who’s not quite a power forward, not quite a
wing, but has a toolbox full of skills?
“I think the Draymond Greens of the world have given guys like JacCorey Williams
a chance to make clubs in the NBA,” Davis said. “Everybody wants skill level.
Even at the forward spot, guys have got to be able to play make, keep the floor
spread with perimeter shooting. The days of the two conventional bigs are almost
extinct.
“It’s hard when you don’t have guys who can pick and pop, or drive it from 18,
20 feet. JaCorey is as good a midrange, 17- to 18-foot shooter as we’ve ever had
here, he can pass and handle, and he guards multiple positions. He’s a valuable
cat to have on your roster.”
During the NCAA tournament, Williams was asked about the second chance Davis —
and MTSU — gave him.
“Coming here basically changed my life,” Williams told Al.com. “It lets you know
that you can go through any type of adversity throughout your lifetime and you
can get yourself together, get another chance, let everyone see the real you,
and that’s what I did.”
Chris Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. You
can email him here, follow him on Twitter and listen to the Blue Ribbon College
Basketball Hour.
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