UConn won the NCAA tourney in April and Denver won the NBA Finals in June but there is still 1 more basketball champion to be crowned this summer. The Basketball Tournament (aka the TBT) kicks off on July 19th with 8 regions of 8 teams playing in Dayton/Louisville/Lubbock/Syracuse/West Virginia/Wichita 1/Wichita 2/Xavier. Each region will send 1 team to the quarterfinals, with the championship game taking place during the 1st week of August, and the winning team walking away with $1 million in prize money. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the weeks ahead interviewing as many TBT participants as possible. We continue our coverage with Chaz Williams, who will be playing for The Commonwealth after hosting his annual summer camp.
As a freshman at Hofstra you were named to the CAA all-freshman team: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? Mostly my confidence, but also having a leader like Charles Jenkins helped me flourish. He was my roommate and was by my side and showed me what it takes to be a great player so I just followed in his footsteps.
Why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose UMass? I committed to Hofstra as a sophomore in high school. When Coach Tom Pecora left to take the job at Fordham I decided to explore other opportunities. I had a few visits lined up: I loved Seton Hall but it was a small campus like Hofstra and I wanted to go to a bigger school and get the full-fledged college experience. Coach Derek Kellogg and I had a great conversation: he told me that he just wanted me to become the best player that I could be.
You are 5’9”: did you consider your size to be an advantage or a disadvantage on the court? When I was younger I always felt like it was a disadvantage because I did not know how to capitalize on it, but as I got older I viewed it as an advantage.
In the 2012 NIT you made it all the way to the Final 4 before a 10-PT loss to eventual champion Stanford: what is the secret to winning games in March? Just staying together and performing as a team. You have to believe in yourself and understand the urgency of the situation when it is 1-and-done. It is time to ball and I tried to lead by example.
In December of 2013 you set a pair of career-highs with 32 PTS/school-record-tying 15 AST (and only 1 TO) in a 9-PT win over BYU: where does that rank among the best all-around games of your career? It was definitely the best all-around game of my college career. It was 1 of my most prestigious games and 1 I will always remember. I was locked in and only missed a few shots that night.
You were named 1st-team All-A-10 for 3 years in a row from 2012-2014: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? It was an amazing honor since there were so many great players in the conference. I credit my coaches/teammates because without them it would not have been possible. The coaches put me in the right positions and I was able to flourish. I am never satisfied so even after winning it the 1st time I still tried to compete for things like conference POY and conference titles: it is just part of my DNA.
You finished your career with 840 career AST, which remains top-25 for anyone in D-1 since 1986: what is the secret to being a great PG? Just having a connection with your teammates off the floor. I was just mentioning to my fiancee how I have a great off-court bond with 1 of my old teammates. You cannot put your teammates in bad situations so you have to know their tendencies and where they like to shoot from. You just try to make the right reads. Records are meant to be broken but it is a true honor to still be up there with the greats.
You have spent the past decade playing pro basketball in the D-League and several foreign countries: what is the biggest difference between basketball in the US vs. basketball overseas? The physicality, for sure. In Europe there is a LOT more that you can get away with. In the US everybody is fast/athletic: in Europe they might not be as athletic but they make up for it by playing smart.
For the past few summers you have hosted the Make Em Believe Skills Academy: what makes your camp different from other camps? I am not here to talk badly about any other camps but my purpose is to help kids reach their full potential. A lot of the campers have parents who went to UMass or know about my own career. I went to a lot of camps when I was a kid: the main guy would show up for 20 minutes on the 1st day and then return on the last day to hand out trophies, but I am the kind of person who is at the camp the whole time.
You are playing for The Commonwealth team in the TBT: how is the team looking so far, and what will you do with your share of the $1 million prize money if you win it all? Our team is looking amazing! I love the group and we all played together before so it is easy to build off-court bonds. I think we have a great chance of winning: we are a sleeper and have been here before as an underdog. I would give some of the prize money to charities that fight cancer/diabetes.