Pivotal Player: Jason Williams
By Jay Bilas
Special to ESPN.com
Someday soon, we may take it as a given that Jason Williams is the best point guard in the Class of 2003, better than Jason Gardner of Arizona, Kenny Satterfield of Cincinnati, or Brett Nelson of Florida.
|  | | Jason Williams may end up being the best from a star-studded Class of 2003. |
Right now, it is an arguable point, with Gardner probably winning the argument. Williams gives off the air of being a work-in-progress at the point position, and the talk out of Durham from Williams, his teammates and his coach point to how good he will be, rather than how good he is.
Well, Jason Williams is outstanding now and has had a remarkable year by any standard.
Heralded as the finest point guard coming out of the high school ranks last season, Williams inherited a pressure-filled job from the departed William Avery. Gardner did too, but Gardner did not inherit the experienced teammates that Williams did, yet seemed always to be in control of every situation. Williams has always appeared to be feeling his way through games, trying to balance his spectacular abilities with the need to make mature and calculated decisions.
In high school, Williams was always the best decision on the floor, and he called his own number a lot, passing as a reaction to the way he was defended upon making a move. Now, Williams is responsible for the four other players on the floor with him, and often has to fight his instinct to just take it and go. Williams has learned his lessons not only from Mike Krzyzewski, but from Shane Battier and Chris Carrawell. He has been tutored by Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojciechowski and has become a mature decision-maker rather than a young kid blessed with enormous talent.
Lessons learned and internalized, total investment in his career made, Williams is now the point guard everyone has expected him to be. Williams is strong, quick, fast with the ball, and can handle it with amazing dexterity. While he is not a great shooter, he is a very capable one, and that enables him to drive at will. At his best in transition, Williams is among the nation's most dangerous point guards in the open court because he can pass, pull up or pitch it to open shooters, or take it all the way and finish at the rim.
There are two ways that Williams can be stopped: fouls and poor decisions against pressure. Williams is a good defender, but does not put great pressure on the ball like Tommy Amaker and Bobby Hurley once did. He is vulnerable to giving up drives, and if he picks up early fouls, Duke is vulnerable as a team. When pressured, Williams can single-handedly break a press, but often makes errors trying to accomplish the dazzling play rather than the easy play. While he has limited his turnovers late in the season, Williams is still just a freshman, and he is not immune from getting momentarily rattled.
That said, Williams is as dangerous as any point guard remaining in the tournament, and he is Duke's most pivotal performer.
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