Rugged, diligent Williams shooting for the stars

(as published in Whoosh! magazine Jan. 20, 2004)

UIC coach Jimmy Collins calls 6-foot-5-inch, 215-pound Armond Williams his “little big man.”

Williams, who plays power forward for the Flames, is a bit smaller than your typical power forward, but it seems like he was on the short end for most of his basketball life, even when he was growing up in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on the far West side.

During his elementary school years, he would visit “Little Jack Park” across from his childhood home on Ferdinand and Pine to practice and play basketball.

“Everybody was four or five years older, and I was just a little snotty-nosed kid hanging around,” Williams said. “I shot up one summer, and then everybody wanted me on their team.”

Even at Austin High School, Williams was a power forward on a team full of guard-sized players under coach Frank Lollino Jr. Williams put up spectacular numbers as a senior with the Tigers, but often the adjective “unheralded” would accompany his name in newspaper articles.

Williams averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds per game as a senior, while shooting 64 percent from the field to lead Austin, which played in the rugged Red West conference. But it was the little things that Collins liked.

“When I recruited Armond, very few people were after him,” Collins said. “They didn’t get an opportunity to watch him in practice. I went over and watched him practice. I watched his demeanor. I watch how he intertwined, not only with his players, but with his coach.”

Williams was always a high-energy player in high school, but he needed to make adjustments on the college level – and make them quickly. Playing power forward in high school and playing it college are vastly different.

In his first season as a Flame in 2001-02, Williams stepped in off the bench and played some power forward, because of the season-ending knee injury to forward Joe Scott and the team’s lack of toughness in the post area outside of Kyle Kickert.

Like Cory Little, who was recruited strictly as perimeter player, before him, Williams embraced the challenge of giving up inches in the post. And he earned even more respect from his coaches and teammates for his hustle and determination.

When a ball was scurrying loose toward the press table in UIC’s game at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena in Dec. 19, 2002, Williams launched himself into the table to save it in-bounds. The force knocked over a few pens and a cell phone onto the court, shook a few laptop computers, and nearly knocked WGN Radio off the air and, at the same time, probably earned Williams a bruise. But it turned into two points at the Flames’ end of the floor.

“You have to want to be a rugged player, and I consider myself a rugged player,” Williams said. “I love the contact. I enjoy doing it. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to want to dive on the floor for a ball.

“You have to enjoy doing those things to want to do them,” he said.

Williams often wrestles for position with players several inches taller than him, and in the rebounding game, he uses his quickness to create better angles and to get to longer rebounds that might escape the basket vicinity.

He’s also good in the open floor when the Flames are running the break, flying ahead of the bigger and slower opposing forwards to go up a slam down a dunk off an alley-oop pass.

“I love to dunk,” said Williams, who has also his glamorous side. “I like to get the crowd into the game. That helps the team out in the long run.”

THE FORMATIVE YEARS

Growing up as the only male in his mother’s house can make one a little scrappy. Williams lived in his childhood home with nine women. Williams’ parents, Diane and Armond, got divorced when he was young.

I grew up in house full of women,” Williams recalled. “My older sister (Tomeka Thomas) was basically my big brother. I used to hang around with her and her friends all the time.”

But it was basketball that helped Williams make new friends. “It was a chance to bond with other males,” he said. “To hang out, and be one of the guys.”

Williams started playing basketball on regularly after a school career day in fourth grade at Douglas Academy, where a classmate declared his intention of becoming an NBA player.

“I thought about [the NBA],” he said. “I thought, ‘that’s kind of cool.’ ”

Williams honed his game by venturing out to the park on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The sport also kept Williams close to his father, a mail carrier, who also played basketball with his colleagues.

“Even though my parents were divorced, my father was always around,” he said.

Williams started high school at Westinghouse – with his friends and current Flames teammates – Martell Bailey and Cedrick Banks. He knew Bailey since fifth grade and Banks since eighth grade.

However, Williams left Westinghouse for Austin during his sophomore year. “It was just meant to be,” he said.

He also moved in with his father in Hillside during his junior year at Austin.

His grandmother, Elizabeth Thomas, was also a guiding force in Williams’ formative years in life and in basketball.

“My grandmother liked to spoil me,” Williams said. “After her husband (Floyd) passed, I kind of became her husband. She made sure I had everything I needed. She made me breakfast before I went to school. She would rub down my knees before I’d go on the AAU basketball trips. She made me lunch for the trips.”

Thomas died in May of 1996, but Williams will never forget her inspiration.

“She’s still watching,” he said.

COLLEGE CAREER

Williams came to UIC in the fall of 2000, reuniting himself with Bailey and Banks. The trio, along with Lincoln Park’s Aaron Carr, finally decided to play together under Collins. However, only Carr was able to qualify academically to play as a freshman.

After Williams sat out to 2000-01 season to concentrate on his studies, he joined the team, but was caught in a bit of numbers game. Little was the starter at power forward and with veterans Kickert and Thor Solverson getting time at center, Williams was relegated to 10-15 minutes per game as a sub.

But that’s when Williams found himself as a college player. He wasn’t the biggest player, nor was he the most skilled, but he was a bundle of energy. In addition, not playing huge minutes gave him incentive to work hard and improve his game.

“My work ethic developed over time, with maturity,” Williams said. He certainly made huge strides in his junior year, upping his averages in scoring from 6.2 to 13.6 points per game, and in rebounding from 4.0 to 7.6 from his sophomore year.

Williams broke out with a 21-point, 10-rebound performance at Northern Illinois Dec. 28, 2002 as the Flames buried the Huskies 73-45. He then dropped 30 points and 15 rebounds on Loyola on Jan. 22, 2003 and served noticed to the Horizon League.

He earned Second-Team All-Horizon League honors and began to shed the “unheralded” label.

“He’s a kid that never got a lot of publicity,” Collins said. “He wants to be noticed. That helps him to work twice as hard.”

Williams ranked fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage last year, but Collins recited some more important statistics: “He’s our leader in taking charges and diving on the floor for loose balls.”

Williams spread out the credit for his 64-percent shooting efficiency.

“Martell had a lot to do with it,” said Williams of his teammate, which led the nation in assists average last season. “He’s a great point guard. Sometimes, I might think he won’t see me, but he always seems to find me.”

Because Williams is a tireless worker and team player, Collins definitely sees a basketball future for him. Williams has been working on extending the range of his jump shot to further frustrate defenses.

“I’ve been encouraged by Armond,” Collins said. “I’ve been telling him my wish is for him to come back next year and play the three position. There’s no question he’s a world-class athlete. He’s strong and he elevates so well. I’d like him to drop some 15-footers, because that stretches defenses. Teams are going to have a more difficult time guarding us and it gets him ready for the next level.”

Even when UIC went into its recent three-game losing streak, Williams took it personally and held himself accountable for the team’s lack of energy after a putrid 56-48 home loss to Detroit on Jan. 3.

“I didn't get any offensive rebounds,” Williams said. “Normally I do. “Everybody needs to understand each other more instead of looking at things in the negative,” Williams said. “We need to bring all the positives out and try to put it together as one strong fist to give a mighty blow to our opponents.”

After a big victory over Cleveland State on Jan. 17 – UIC’s third in its last four games – Williams felt the team was coming together.

“We’ve been more focused,” he said. “We were in a lot of different places [mentally]. We’re now focused on a common goal.”

UIC AND BEYOND

Williams wasn’t always motivated in the classroom. It showed when he failed to make the qualifying standards to gain eligibility as a true freshman.

“The only thing that troubled me a little bit about Armond [while recruiting him] was that I didn’t know how serious he was about his academics,” Collins said. “But he’s shown, not only in freshman year, coming in and sitting out, that he’s focused on his academics. When you find a young man that is focused like Armond, he’s just going to get better and better in everything he does.”

“There were times where I never wanted to do anything, just play ball,” Williams added.

Williams went through an epiphany while sitting out the 2000-01 season, and learned to appreciate the golden opportunity that awaited him.

“It was an opportunity for me graduate on a free ride, and most importantly, I’d be the first family member to graduate from college,” Williams said. “That’s what inspires me.”

And, if things don’t work out for Williams in his professional basketball career, he’ll be looking for something to fall back on.

“I’d like to play basketball somewhere and get paid for it,” he said. “If not, I may go back to school and become an architect.”

Maybe Williams can get a head start and draw something up for the Flames to make a return trip to the NCAA tournament.