Student-Athlete Spotlight - Jan. 23
Jan. 23, 2007
The Student-Athlete of the Week allows fans to learn more about the student-athletes who represent St. Bonaventure University. This week's edition features senior Paul Williams, a 6-10 center from North Bergen, N.J., who is in his second full season with the Bonnies. Williams leads St. Bonaventure in rebounding and is the team's second-leading scorer.
What were some of the things you worked on most in the off-season?
Probably number one is strength. I felt that last year at the end of the season I was getting weaker because I wasn't preparing my body for the season I was going through. People told me what to eat more, so in the off season I tried to gain a lot of weight so if I lost weight during the season I would still have a decent weight during conference time.
Did you spend a lot of time in the weight room?
Yeah, back home I have a personal trainer that I'm good friends with. He worked me out every day. I was working out with my old (high school) teammates like (Villanova's) Mike Nardi. We would work out about four or five times a week with him.
How do you feel physically 2/3 of way through season?
I feel a lot better than last season at this time. I feel a lot more confident shooting free throws. With my strength I don't feel like I get tired as easy as I did last year.
Was there a change you made to improve your free throw shooting?
I was always told that I have a good touch, so I just worked on it and tried to get confidence. With me, free throw shooting is definitely just about confidence. When I used to go to the line, I feel like I always put a lot of pressure on myself to make the free throw ... not knowing that I'm going to make it. This year I go to the line knowing I'm going to make it ... I go out there and I just say I'm going to make this free throw. With that in my head I have better confidence when I'm shooting.
You have nearly as many offensive rebounds as defensive rebounds. Is there a certain reason for this?
I find it easier, but a lot of people look at me like I'm crazy. People who play basketball know a defensive rebound is a lot easier than an offensive rebound. My high school coach put it in my head that every opportunity you have to go to the offensive glass, go to it, and I guess I just engraved that in my head. If you're on the offensive end, you're allowed to box out their players, you don't have to just let them box you out. A lot of times I know when my teammates are going to shoot the ball or when they have a play to shoot the ball, so I put myself in a position to get an offensive rebound. I know that helps our team when I go to the offensive glass or get offensive rebounds. I definitely need to get better on defensive rebounding. Coach obviously expects more from me from that, so I just try to get better at it every game, because he expects me to get double figure rebounds every game.
Do you feel like you're getting a lot more attention from opposing teams this year than you did last year?
Yeah, I feel like they're paying more attention to me. Especially at the high post because I feel like I've shown that I have the ability to hit the 15-foot jump shot, or the baseline jump shot. Last year they completely sagged off me, and I was hesitant to shoot that shot, I have to admit. This year with me working on it during the season I feel more confident in the game, so I think that a lot more teams respect me. And in the low post, I feel like I haven't accomplished what other big men have in this league, but I feel that a lot of coaches respect my game at the offensive end as well as rebounding.
What are your goals for the team for the rest of this year?
I just want us to all stay together knowing that we've all gone through some hard times at the beginning of the season when it didn't go our way or how we expected it to be. With this new season we're 2-3 and could easily be 3-2, but we're not. My goal is just to stay together and make the Atlantic 10 Tournament (in Atlantic City, NJ) and go back to New Jersey where I'm from. My mom would be happy and I would be happy. The last two years we haven't gone to the tournament. If not on a winning record, at least on a positive note knowing that we went to a tournament we couldn't get to last year. I would at least be leaving something behind knowing that I contributed to rebuilding a program.
Do you feel like this is a different team now than it was back in December?
I feel like we are understanding our roles more. We just need to get better on defense. We don't have a problem putting the ball in the basket -- our problem is stopping people. Now that we recognize that and have good teams ahead of us like Xavier and UMass, if we can put together a lot of stops I know we can score. We just need to show people that we can stop them and show teams that we can stop them. If we do that, we could be a tough team to beat.
Being a team leader this year, what are some things you are trying to do to inspire or motivate your teammates?
Just try to be positive. I'm not much of a talker or a rah-rah-type guy, but I just try to show my teammates that I go hard every practice. I play hard all the time. Sometimes I let my emotions get the best of me, but I think my teammates can expect that I'll play hard all the time, dive on the floor for loose balls and do little things as a big man. I'll pass the ball because I just want people to score and want the best for this team. Against LaSalle I didn't necessarily want to score 20, but it just happened that opportunities came my way. I don't have to put up 14 shots a game in order to get 20 points ... I just take what comes my way and accept it. I let my teammates know I'm not a selfish guy and I think that's a quality as a leader to show them that you're not selfish and that you care about the team and the program.
What are your goals for after graduation?
I'm just going with the flow and I'm enjoying college right now. I'm a sociology major, I'm about to graduate in May. I want to play basketball somewhere, but at this time in my life I couldn't tell you what I have in mind right now. I like working with kids who problems at home ... maybe coaching. I feel like I connected with kids in an internship I did at Limestone (elementary school). I let them know that I haven't had an easy life myself. I did bad things and look back on my life, and had I not had basketball, I probably wouldn't be here right now. If someone can find something they're good at, they can succeed in anything.
