Mikey Williams, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard from San Ysidro in San Diego, Calif., is scheduled to begin his official visit to Kansas today. Currently, Williams is the No. 20 ranked player in the 2023 class and the 6th best point guard. Now, I need to make it clear that I did everything I possibly could to get some type of preview visit from Williams/family member/etc, but was unsuccessful, so I've just decided to provide some of my own thoughts and feelings here this morning.
It would be great to have the opportunity to talk to Williams or somebody in his family, as one thing I'd love to do is get an updated list on his recruitment. Currently, his Rivals.com profile lists Kansas, Alabama State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Grambling State, Hampton, Howard, Jackson State, Memphis, New Mexico, Norfolk State, North Carolina Central, Oregon, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Southern University, Tennessee, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Texas Tech, UC San Diego, UCLA, and USC.
Now, I don't know much about those schools in terms of where they stand with Williams, but I can't imagine that a school has spent more time recruiting Williams than Kansas. Coach Townsend has been all over the five-star point guard for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of schools back away from Williams when it looked like he was going to make the jump to the pros, but that wasn't the case with Kansas. Townsend, Self, and company remained in contact with Williams and his family and made it clear that they were very much interested in getting him on campus if he ultimately made the decision to attend college.
Well, Williams, at least at this time, plans to attend college next season and Kansas is, without question, very much in the mix. I'm not going to sit here and say that Kansas is the team to beat for Mikey Williams, because I don't know if that's the case or not. However, I do believe that Kansas is right at the top of his list. Obviously, the opportunity to play for the best coach in college basketball is very appealing, as is the opportunity to play for the program that ranks No. 1 all-time in wins.
Furthermore, Williams, at Kansas, would have the opportunity to showcase his skills on the biggest stage the game has to offer. According to the latest numbers, Williams has 3.7 million Instagram followers and 76.5 thousand Twitter followers, so he's got a huge presence on social media. With NIL advancing the way it is today and so many kids taking advantage of that, Williams would have the opportunity to shine at Kansas. I'm not saying he wouldn't have that opportunity elsewhere, but when you combine everything that Kansas has to offer, especially, strictly speaking, from a basketball (coaching/program success/etc) standpoint, Kansas has a ton to offer Williams.
Also, I just talked to someone that has followed Williams quite closely the last couple of years, and he made it perfectly clear that he's a really good kid. Now, there might be people around Williams that try to protect him or project some type of image, but in terms of the kid himself, I've been told he's a real joy to be around and a great teammate. In today's world, especially with all of the social media, it's easy to make judgments based on very little of what we actually see.
If Williams was a bad kid and was a bad teammate and wasn't viewed as the type of player that would improve a roster at the high-major/Division I level, I'm guessing the number of programs interested in the elite guard wouldn't be what they are at this time. Furthermore, Kansas wouldn't have invested the time it has recruiting Williams, in my opinion, if they saw red flags. Kansas has recruited Williams long enough to know what type of person he is, both on and off the court.
It would be great to have the opportunity to talk to Williams or somebody in his family, as one thing I'd love to do is get an updated list on his recruitment. Currently, his Rivals.com profile lists Kansas, Alabama State, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Grambling State, Hampton, Howard, Jackson State, Memphis, New Mexico, Norfolk State, North Carolina Central, Oregon, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Southern University, Tennessee, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Texas Tech, UC San Diego, UCLA, and USC.
Now, I don't know much about those schools in terms of where they stand with Williams, but I can't imagine that a school has spent more time recruiting Williams than Kansas. Coach Townsend has been all over the five-star point guard for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of schools back away from Williams when it looked like he was going to make the jump to the pros, but that wasn't the case with Kansas. Townsend, Self, and company remained in contact with Williams and his family and made it clear that they were very much interested in getting him on campus if he ultimately made the decision to attend college.
Well, Williams, at least at this time, plans to attend college next season and Kansas is, without question, very much in the mix. I'm not going to sit here and say that Kansas is the team to beat for Mikey Williams, because I don't know if that's the case or not. However, I do believe that Kansas is right at the top of his list. Obviously, the opportunity to play for the best coach in college basketball is very appealing, as is the opportunity to play for the program that ranks No. 1 all-time in wins.
Furthermore, Williams, at Kansas, would have the opportunity to showcase his skills on the biggest stage the game has to offer. According to the latest numbers, Williams has 3.7 million Instagram followers and 76.5 thousand Twitter followers, so he's got a huge presence on social media. With NIL advancing the way it is today and so many kids taking advantage of that, Williams would have the opportunity to shine at Kansas. I'm not saying he wouldn't have that opportunity elsewhere, but when you combine everything that Kansas has to offer, especially, strictly speaking, from a basketball (coaching/program success/etc) standpoint, Kansas has a ton to offer Williams.
Also, I just talked to someone that has followed Williams quite closely the last couple of years, and he made it perfectly clear that he's a really good kid. Now, there might be people around Williams that try to protect him or project some type of image, but in terms of the kid himself, I've been told he's a real joy to be around and a great teammate. In today's world, especially with all of the social media, it's easy to make judgments based on very little of what we actually see.
If Williams was a bad kid and was a bad teammate and wasn't viewed as the type of player that would improve a roster at the high-major/Division I level, I'm guessing the number of programs interested in the elite guard wouldn't be what they are at this time. Furthermore, Kansas wouldn't have invested the time it has recruiting Williams, in my opinion, if they saw red flags. Kansas has recruited Williams long enough to know what type of person he is, both on and off the court.
