This fall, one of the forgotten prospects in Arizona's 2019 Class was Westview High School's 6-foot-4 senior guard D'Maurian Williams. Once considered as one of the elite prospects in the class, Williams saw his recruitment tail off quite a bit after a subpar spring and summer performance for himself. After seeing college programs waver in his recruitment, Williams looks prepared to have a huge senior season.
Williams got off to an excellent start last week in his team's narrow championship loss, 82-69, to Pinnacle High School in the championship of the Welcome to the Jungle pre-season tournament. In the loss to a very loaded Pinnacle team, Williams finished with a game-high 34 points - proving his ability to score against top-rated competition in the state. Williams' scoring outburst was big-time and made a statement that he is well deserving of much more recruiting attention.
Williams currently has offers from Idaho State, Portland State and Montana, and previously received loads of interest from numerous high-major programs. While I won't go into specific details as to why his recruitment actually dropped, this young man is well deserving of much higher college recruitment.
"Shaq" as he is known by his close friends and teammates, is a load for opposing guards in the state to defend, as he has excellent size and strength physically. He also has a high basketball IQ, and is a competitor that plays hard and is a winner. After a subpar performance in the spring, I felt that Williams lost some confidence in his play, and digressed as a player and as a college prospect. He now seems to have regained the form that had me very high on this young man just (6) months ago.
Williams will be a spring signee now, after it was thought that he would originally be a fall signee. I believe he will still become one of the hottest spring signees and will elevate his overall recruitment with a strong finish to his high school career.
I will continue to keep a close eye on Williams this high school season, as he looks to build on his overall recruitment, in preparation for a big spring for himself.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Williams has excellent size for the guard position, and is a well-built specimen, and is impressive in his ability to make plays for himself and others. Williams grew a great deal physically early, and developed an understanding for the game at an early age. He is able to take the game into his own hands and come up big for his team, while handling the basketball as a primary ball handler. Williams is a nice prospect that likes to have the basketball in his hands and make plays for himself and others. A nice floor general with an ability to make plays off the dribble, Williams is a solid shooter of the basketball, but still needs to add consistency from longer ranges on the floor. He has a strong handle of the basketball and is able to handle defensive pressure, while making players around him better - a valuable asset. There are very few players with his combination of size, strength and skill level. A strong finisher at the rim. A good defender with solid lateral quickness and good court anticipation. A fundamentally sound prospect that should be able to compete immediately at the collegiate level.
