Marcus Williams establishes himself as the frontrunner for MVP of the NCAA tournament with yet another fantastic scoring and passing display. Joakim Noah shows off his half-court skills this time in a physical grind it out setting. Randy Foye carries his team to victory and shows why he might be the most talented shot-creating guard in the country at the moment. Rudy Gay and Allan Ray come up flat when their teams need them him the most. Those and much more in our sixth installment of the NCAA Tournament stock watch.
Sweet 16, Thursday Games, Stock Up, Down and Neutral prospects
Round of 32, Sunday Games, Stock Up, Down and Neutral prospects
Round of 32, Saturday Games, Stock Up prospects
Round of 32, Saturday Games, Stock Down and Neutral prospects
Round of 64, Thursday Games, Stock Up, Down and Neutral prospects
Round of 64, Friday Games, Stock Up, Down and Neutral prospects
Stock Up
Marcus Williams, 6-3, Point Guard, Sophomore, UCONN, Stock Up
26 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 7 turnovers, 6-13 FG, 11-11 FT
Mike Schmidt
Marcus Williams, a player whos performed as well as just about anyone throughout the tournament so far had his best game yet against Washington and was largely responsible for Connecticut coming away with the victory.
Right from the beginning, Williams displayed his passing abilities, throwing the ball the length of the court to Josh Boone for an easy dunk. He continued by hitting a couple three pointers, and used his strength and craftiness to get to the free throw line. On offense, Marcus showed just about everything, including some great passes, nice layups, and long range jump shots. In addition, Williams made some amazingly clutch baskets late in the second half and in overtime. After hurting his ankle in the extra session, he walked it off on the sidelines for a couple minutes before coming back to make a tough layup, a key pass, a huge steal and two free throws in the final minute to ice the UCONN victory. If there was any weakness for Williams against Washington, it was the 7 turnovers that were the result of some forced passes, and a few out of control drives to the basket that can be credited to the fact that he was trying to step up as his teams go-to guy. Many of these turnovers happened during the beginning of the second half, when UCONN was out of sync and the whole team was playing sloppily. Williams was able to calm the team down, and lead them back for the victory.
Marcus Williams has displayed every skill necessary for him to improve his draft stock throughout the NCAA Tournament, continuing to show why hes considered the top point guard in the country, but also showing more shooting and scoring ability than weve ever seen from him. He is definitely on the watch list of the numerous playmaking deprived teams in the lottery right now due to his passing, scoring, and clutch abilities. With this performance hes become the frontrunner for the NCAA tournament MVP award, especially if he can lead the Huskies to a national championship.
Right from the beginning, Williams displayed his passing abilities, throwing the ball the length of the court to Josh Boone for an easy dunk. He continued by hitting a couple three pointers, and used his strength and craftiness to get to the free throw line. On offense, Marcus showed just about everything, including some great passes, nice layups, and long range jump shots. In addition, Williams made some amazingly clutch baskets late in the second half and in overtime. After hurting his ankle in the extra session, he walked it off on the sidelines for a couple minutes before coming back to make a tough layup, a key pass, a huge steal and two free throws in the final minute to ice the UCONN victory. If there was any weakness for Williams against Washington, it was the 7 turnovers that were the result of some forced passes, and a few out of control drives to the basket that can be credited to the fact that he was trying to step up as his teams go-to guy. Many of these turnovers happened during the beginning of the second half, when UCONN was out of sync and the whole team was playing sloppily. Williams was able to calm the team down, and lead them back for the victory.
Marcus Williams has displayed every skill necessary for him to improve his draft stock throughout the NCAA Tournament, continuing to show why hes considered the top point guard in the country, but also showing more shooting and scoring ability than weve ever seen from him. He is definitely on the watch list of the numerous playmaking deprived teams in the lottery right now due to his passing, scoring, and clutch abilities. With this performance hes become the frontrunner for the NCAA tournament MVP award, especially if he can lead the Huskies to a national championship.