While spending the summer in quarantine, former Arizona Wildcat basketball player Corey Williams decided to undertake the tenuous project of remodeling his home in Tucson.
Williams, an Arizona guard from 1992-96 and now a college basketball analyst for ESPN, found a box his mom had given him with all of his recruiting mementos from his high school days at Batavia High School in Illinois and decided it was time to take a stroll down memory lane by sharing a few stories on social media.
The Star talked with Williams about his recruiting stories, including a time when the Chicago Sun Times falsely reported that Williams was going to Duke, and how Bobbi Olson played a momentous role in him committing to Arizona.
The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
What’s been the motivation for sharing some of the little-known details about your recruitment?
A: “I just wanted to show the older guys my age to reminisce and show the younger guys this is how it used to be. I go through the box and I’d see a postcard from Lute Olson. Coaches aren’t doing that anymore with paper mail. The recruiting process has changed so much, so I thought the basketball junkies would get a kick out of seeing how it used to be. And the effort and the energy that was put into a recruit because you knew you were going to have a kid for four years.”
Former Wildcat Corey Williams has been sharing his memories on social media lately.
Your top four schools were Duke, Arizona, Syracuse and Michigan. When did Lute Olson enter the picture for your recruitment?
A: “When a kid gives his four final schools, that’s when you start to hear from the head coaches because the head coaches aren’t going to waste any time until they know they have a real shot. So at first it was Arizona assistant coach Tony McAndrews who recruited me and then Olson got involved in my recruiting at the end of my sophomore year when I had a breakout season.
“Coach McAndrews was the reason Arizona was No. 2 on my list. Duke was my top choice.”
The Chicago Sun Times wrote a story in 1991 reporting that you were going to Duke, but you actually hadn’t made a decision. How strange was that to wake up to?
A: “Yeah, it was crazy. I let it be known that I liked Duke because of academics and they were really successful. I remember around the time, Doug Collins was the coach of the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan until 1989, and his son Chris Collins was growing up in the suburbs and also liked Duke. So one day, somebody asked me if I’d like to play with Chris as a teammate. And just thinking they were asking about high school stuff, my answer was ‘Yeah, I’d love to play with Chris’.
“They took that and all of the sudden I woke up the next day and saw in the newspaper that I was apparently going to play for Duke next year. Then I was getting all these calls and had to explain ‘no, that’s not true, I haven’t even visited Duke.’ Me and my coach laughed because there was no Internet, there was no way to verify this. It was a sportswriter guessing and it wasn’t true.”
OK, so you didn’t visit Duke, but you visited Arizona? How did that play out?
A: “I had a great relationship with McAndrews and knew a lot about Lute Olson while he was coaching at Iowa so I knew Arizona was my No. 2 school. I came out with my parents and it was a great visit. The school took care of us. My parents went out to dinner with the coaches, I went out partying a bit that night.
“By the end of the weekend I was sure this was where I wanted to be. Between McAndrews and Bobbi Olson, it was a wrap. Bobbi Olson single-handedly signed more recruits than any coach Arizona has ever had.”
How did Bobbi Olson work her magic?
A: “For mothers, meeting Bobbi seals the deal. This woman didn’t have a fake bone in her body. She was the most genuine person. She loved all the players like they were her own. She met with my mother and my mother could get that vibe off of her that this is a real woman who’s going to care for my boy.
“I think a lot of recruits will tell you, Bobbi Olson and her connection with parents and mothers is one of the main reasons Arizona was so successful in the ’90s. You can’t find a player’s mom who didn’t love her. I only took one visit my whole college career and it was Arizona. I loved it.”
With knowing the ins and outs of recruiting, what did you make of Arizona’s largely international class for 2020?
A: “I played 12 years of basketball in Europe as well, so I know the game over there quite a bit. And this may upset some people, but on average, these international guys are better skilled with fundamentals. (In America) we put a lot of emphasis on dunks and athleticism, but dribbling, defense fundamentals, passing position work, and understanding ball movement are things that coaches try to implement once freshmen get on campus.
“I’m thinking the shift towards international players may mean a better fundamental base. So getting international players is actually a great move for a program.”
