Is Elliot Williams playing in the McD's AA game?

[CenOhioDukeFan]

The game is on Thursday night, March 26th. I heard Duke recruit Elliot Williams had some knee problems at the end of his high school season. Does anyone know if he's playing Thursday night or not?

[Shammrog]

The game is on Thursday night, March 26th. I heard Duke recruit Elliot Williams had some knee problems at the end of his high school season. Does anyone know if he's playing Thursday night or not?

I read somewhere he looked really, really good in the practices for McD (they cited it as a sign his knee was "nearly 100%" or something to that effect.) So, I would guess he is back to (near) full strength and playing.

[Mike Corey]

I read somewhere he looked really, really good in the practices for McD (they cited it as a sign his knee was "nearly 100%" or something to that effect.) So, I would guess he is back to (near) full strength and playing.

Yes, he'll be playing.

And it's always nice to meet fellow Columbus-area Duke fans.

[Huh?]

"Among the guards Elliot Williams stood out scoring the ball. He knocked down a couple threes and finished at the rim in transition."

A quote from rivals....LETS GO!

[mgtr]

It seems odd that the McD game would be on Thursday night while the NCAA tourney is on. Do we know who is broadcasting the game?

[dkbaseball]

It seems odd that the McD game would be on Thursday night while the NCAA tourney is on. Do we know who is broadcasting the game?

It's on Wednesday.

[roywhite]

A poster on TDD indicated that EWill finished 2nd in the slam dunk competition at the McDonalds competition. First place was Demar DeRozan from Los Angeles who is going to USC (along with his pal Lil' Romeo).

EWill's knee must not be too bad.

[Ignatius07]

I was wondering how he'd do in the slam dunk competition. Between he and a healthy Henderson (and Smith on occasion), Duke will put up quite a few highlight reel dunks next season.

[Shammrog]

Yes, he'll be playing.

And it's always nice to meet fellow Columbus-area Duke fans.

(Who is from Columbus??? Not me - but, my brother in law (who is half my age) is a freshman at Ohio State. And my sister in law got her PhD there last year.)

(Neat town, BTW!)

[Classof06]

There were scouting reports on ESPN Insider for McD AA practices on both Sunday and Monday. For each practice, they only talked about players of note and EW was talked about both days, which is great. If I'm not mistaken, he might be the only player that appeared on both scouting reports.

On Sunday, they mentioned Elliot's competitive fire, saying he really helped set the tone. They said he made his presence felt on defense first and foremost, where his lateral quickness was "exceptional". They praised his explosiveness and said that he had absolutely no problem running the point. When running the point, they said he had "great" vision and passing. This was where they said they were confident he had healed from his knee injury.

On Monday, ESPN said the competitve and defensive intensity picked up from Sunday and that EW was pretty much the ring leader, setting the tone once again. They said EW was able to get several steals leading to fastbreak opportunities for his team throughout the practice. Elliot often guarded Kemba Walker from the West team (supposedly the next great UCONN PG) and they said EW did a great job of pressuring Walker but staying in front of him even though Walker is shorter by 4 inches and extremely quick.

The only negative thing they said was that he needs to hold the follow-through on his jumper; he has a tendency to not hold it. They said when he holds his follow-through the shot normally goes in. Clearly, this is something that can easily be fixed.

All in all, I'm excited by what I read and can't wait to see EW for my first time tomorrow night.

[Lord Ash]

I remember that the Greg Paulus/ Josh McRoberts show a few years back was the best two man exhibition I have ever seen, ever, in any sport. Unfortunately it didn't quite translate, but yikes... I think the show opened with Josh hitting a pair of threes on assists from Greg, and just got more ridiculous from there, including a few pretty spectacular passes (a between the legger I think by Greg?) and a cheerleader crushing dive, also by Greg.

[roywhite]

Seems to me that Christian Laettner scored something like 3 points when he played in the McDonald's game back in 1988, so there are plenty of examples of players whose performance in this game was not a predictor of their level of success in college and beyond.

Nevertheless, I'll be watching Elliot with great interest this Wednesday! Gotta check out the next generation.

[SilkyJ]

It seems odd that the McD game would be on Thursday night while the NCAA tourney is on. Do we know who is broadcasting the game?

ESPN. ESPN2 has the slamdunk/3pt contest (at least on the west coast)

A poster on TDD indicated that EWill finished 2nd in the slam dunk competition at the McDonalds competition. First place was Demar DeRozan from Los Angeles who is going to USC (along with his pal Lil' Romeo).

EWill's knee must not be too bad.

Wow. I knew he could dunk, but I didn't think he would even be in the competition...

Didn't D-ewing finish 2nd out of nowhere too?

(Who is from Columbus??? Not me - but, my brother in law (who is half my age) is a freshman at Ohio State. And my sister in law got her PhD there last year.)

(Neat town, BTW!)

The first poster, CenOhioDukeFan is clearly from Central Ohio, which I'm guessing is where Columbus is. IIRC, Mike Corey goes to grad school out that ways...

[Shammrog]

Hey All - check out ESPNs "zoom" gallery from the McDs preliminaries. NICE shot of Elliot ramming one home in the slam dunk contest.

[kramerbr]

"Elliot Williams- He did a terrific job defending Evans causing him a lot of problems with his quickness and aggressiveness. Despite concerns about Williams thin frame, he should eventually be a top notch defender for Duke. His athleticism continues to standout for the East team."

From rivals.com.

[DavidBenAkiva]

I love it that one of the criticisms of Duke a few years ago was our lack of athleticism. NOT a concern anymore with Henderson, Smith, Williams (doesn't it feel right to have a Williams on the team!) and Czyz. Can you imagine a fast break with Smith, Henderson, Williams, Singler, and Thomas! Yikes! (I guess that it would also be interesting to see a fast break with Paulus, Scheyer, King, Czyz, and Zoubek...)

Williams was up there during the dunk competition. He really elevated quickly and had some good hang time. I think that he over jumped, and that hurt his chances. It seems that the winner of the dunk competitions tends to be strong players that are more filled out - Lebron, Henderson, Blake Griffen last year. Williams is not filled out. He's a stick. But he looks exceptionally long and quick. 6'4" with hops and lateral quickness. They say that he likes to play chess in his free time. I remember another Williams at Duke that liked to play chess... I am looking forward to the McDonald's game tomorrow night.

On a side note, this was one of the worst dunk competitions I had ever seen. There was almost no enthusiasm from the crowd and a lot of missed dunks. There were hardly any dunks that were interesting or more than just normal. The last dunk of the event by Demar Derozen was pretty nifty - he layed it off the glass with his left hand and then immediately threw it in with his right - bang bang. It was a neat display of dexterity more than a power dunk. I'll give him credit for it and I liked his enthusiasm and canned acceptance speech - "I was just trying to get my teammates involved, get the crowd into the game..." It was a Bull Durham moment!

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