C Amir Williams (Worcester Wolves - England)

[Bill Lucas]

The other 4 freshman got a one month head start on their enrollment over Williams.

What is it besides classes that the other 4 recruits did during this time? If nothing, what is the advantage to enrolling early?

Basketball players do their weight lifting in the off season. I seem to remember threads in years past alluding to the conditioning and weight lifting that takes place during this time of year.

 

[NINJA BUCK13]

This was from Amir Williams in the middle of May.........

Via twitter~~~

Welcome to the program..........

Quote:
-- A tweet this morning from Buckeyes incoming freshman center Amir Williams of Detroit: "Started that workout for Ohio State the other day. My body is in too much pain right now."

Somewhere, Dave Richardson just smiled

He'll be a bit behind, but not too much. He's been doing the OSU off-season work out all summer long but I'm sure he wasn't pushed like he would've been if he was on campus.

 

[lord vegas]

Behind the 8ball

I guess I just would prefer Williams route. He still gets in for the 2nd part of summer school courses. So he'll still be able to take 1-2 classes before the real school year starts, which is more then most incoming freshman are able to claim.

As a 18 year old kid I think i'd enjoy spending at least one month at home seeing my friends for awhile before going our separate ways... so long as I wasn't missing any team practice.

The summer on campus is important because of the pickup games and conditioning. The pre and post conditioning testing numbers for tOSU are impressive. Gaining inches on your vert, stamina and increasing your foot speed could be the difference between never seeing the court and minutes. Not to mention building your body up to avoid injury.

And even more important are the pickup games. Going against top level talent day in and day out is crucial to perfecting skills, learning the system and building team chemistry. Amir will see what works and what doesn't banging against Sully every day very quickly. And some of these games are against legit pros. Conley, Cook, ET, Penn and a few others come back and play against the kids and give them pointers.

 

[BigJim]

The summer on campus is important because of the pickup games and conditioning. The pre and post conditioning testing numbers for tOSU are impressive. Gaining inches on your vert, stamina and increasing your foot speed could be the difference between never seeing the court and minutes. Not to mention building your body up to avoid injury.

And even more important are the pickup games. Going against top level talent day in and day out is crucial to perfecting skills, learning the system and building team chemistry. Amir will see what works and what doesn't banging against Sully every day very quickly. And some of these games are against legit pros. Conley, Cook, ET, Penn and a few others come back and play against the kids and give them pointers.

Exactly. We didn't get (or want) breaks from bball during the summer if we stayed on campus, especially at the D1 level. Some kids may be able to improve just as much away from campus but for most, you just can't match the availability of quality equipment, players, etc. to work with/against. And every additional week to take advantage of that can make a difference.

 

[neilmj]

Yup, getting to play against all the bball Alumni that return for summer always helps.

 

[Oh8ch]

The other 4 freshman got a one month head start on their enrollment over Williams.

What is it besides classes that the other 4 recruits did during this time? If nothing, what is the advantage to enrolling early?

These guys are in the gym playing pick up games all the time. Numerous benefits to that - something akin to summer 7 on 7 football.

 

[NINJA BUCK13]

It's weird to see a 6'11" monster wearing the #23 and not David Lighty for the first time in 6 seasons........Williams should be solid defensively but needs to improve drastically on the offensive end. Williams is now 6'11"/245 though he's listed at just 220lbs on the official roster.

___________________________

http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/

-- Freshman center Amir Williams is listed on the roster as 6 feet 11 and 220 pounds. Even though he missed the first five weeks of summer conditioning while getting his transcript in order, Williams has gained 25 pounds since July and it is "all the right type of muscle," Matta said.

"He has the ability to challenge shots around the basket, he?s rebounded the ball well, finishing around the basket, and the biggest thing is, he?s had a great work ethic to get better," Matta said.

"He just has to be ready to bang in the Big Ten," Sullinger said. "The Big Ten is a physical conference, and if you ain?t ready to bang, you might as well get out of the Big Ten."

 

[GeorgiaBuck2]

Did Cam Newton and Jared Sullinger have a kid?

 

[buckeyesin07]

Even though he only got a few minutes yesterday, he made some things happen which is what you've got to do to get more playing time--had a block and hit both free throws. Well done.

 

[BuckTwenty]

I'd love to see Amir's role expand here at the end of the season. The last few times we've seen him, it really looks like the light bulb of his game has turned on for him. He's definetly got a presence when he's out there.

 

[DZ83CK]

Amir did play well against Minnesota. He does have the ability to make plays above the rim, which it seems that the other big men on the team are lacking in somewhat. I think he's going to be a good one for OSU. He's just got to move his feet quicker defensively than he was earlier this year.

 

[1926Buckeyes]

I'd love to see Amir's role expand here at the end of the season. The last few times we've seen him, it really looks like the light bulb of his game has turned on for him. He's definetly got a presence when he's out there.

Agreed. I think it will definitely help OSU when they play MSU again and in tournament play. Right now it's far too easy to double Sullinger with two big guys and it makes it extremely difficult to get things going. I think getting Williams in there just for 10 - 15 minutes can both free Sully up for one on one play and give him a rest.

 

[LitlBuck]

Agreed. I think it will definitely help OSU when they play MSU again and in tournament play. Right now it's far too easy to double Sullinger with two big guys and it makes it extremely difficult to get things going. I think getting Williams in there just for 10 - 15 minutes can both free Sully up for one on one play and give him a rest.

I keep on asking the same question to you guys who want to play Williams and Sullinger at the same time. There are two issues involved. Number one is who is Sullinger going to guard. Certainly not a perimeter player so who The second issue is who are you going to take off the court when Williams and Sullinger are on the court at the same time.

 

[sepia5]

I keep on asking the same question to you guys who want to play Williams and Sullinger at the same time. There are two issues involved. Number one is who is Sullinger going to guard. Certainly not a perimeter player so who The second issue is who are you going to take off the court when Williams and Sullinger are on the court at the same time.

1. It depends on who we're playing. If we're playing a team like us that essentially uses 4 guys that can play on the perimeter on offense, it doesn't make a lot of sense to use Williams and Sullinger at the same time (though it's not like Thomas has proven he can play perimeter defense anyway). If, however, we're playing a team, as we were when we matched up against MSU, that puts two true low post players on the court at the same time, it would be really nice to have Williams and Sully out there at the same time, because to not do so is creating a mismatch down low. I can forsee the same problem if we meet up with, for instance, UNC during the tournament. In short, no one can identify who Sullinger would be guarding when both he and Williams are on the court without knowing what the opposing lineup looks like.

2. Probably either Smith or Thomas, again, depending on what the opposing lineup looks like.

 

[neilmj]

Kind of late, but I'd love to hear why Amir didn't get any PT against MSU. He was exactly the type of player we needed.