Wojciechowski reveals why Elliot Williams is starting
Elliot Williams drives to the basket for Duke against Wake Forest in Durham.
Feb 24, 2009
Tags: ACC
Elliot Williams as a starter might have been a hard idea to grasp when the lineups for the St. John's game were dished out. Not if you were looking in on Duke's practices in preceding weeks.
So why exactly was William's put in the starting lineup while Greg Paulus, and Nolan Smith were left on the bench?
"Ball pressure has always been a huge key to our program and the way we like to play defense," Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski said. "We weren't getting that at the level we liked or that we needed."
The coach said that after the Blue Devils lost four out of six games it was time for a change. The coaches knew exactly what they wanted out of Williams on the basketball court.
"For him to focus on being the first line of our defense with his ball pressure," Wojciechowski said. "You don't always know how those things will turn out. But to credit Elliot he went in and he attacked it, he showed great enthusiasm and energy and competitive spirit."
Obviously the change has worked in the short run. Williams has played well in the two games he started. He has scored 11 points each in his last two, and had four steals against Wake Forest. He was named the ACC Rookie of the Week on Monday.
I like the way he is playing right now and on top of the defensive intensity he can bring, he can jump straight out of the gym. That never hurts. But before I call him the savior of the season, let's see how he is doing after five games or so. Remember when Duke made the change in the starting lineup a couple weeks ago when senior Greg Paulus was thrust back into his slot? He scored 18 points in the win against Miami, then was back to the bench after just three starts.
After that Miami game Coach Krzyzewski labeled Paulus the leader of the team in a somewhat emotional post-game press conference. Paulus hasn't come close to repeating that Miami performance yet. So Williams needs to keep his head on straight and continue what he is doing. Or else the merry-go-round starting lineup will continue.
