ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 29, 1997 TAG: 9703310139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK THE ROANOKE TIMES
He was a high school player who couldn't get a scholarship offer. Now, Shammond Williams is playing in his second Final Four in three years.
If Shammond Williams somehow thought he would be where he is today, well, no one else did.
When Williams came to North Carolina's basketball program, he saw Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Jeff McInnis and Donald Williams.
"I saw a chance to be part of a great situation, a place where I could learn,'' Williams said. "Not many people have the opportunity I did.''
At Fork Union Military Academy, Williams became a player. A year earlier at Southside High in Greenville, S.C., the guard had one offer - from North Greenville Junior College.
"The Citadel wanted me,'' Williams said, "but didn't want to offer me a scholarship.''
He went to Fork Union, where coach Fletcher Arritt "taught me how to really play the game,'' Williams said. "I owe him a lot.''
So, Williams finds himself in a second Final Four in three seasons today, when the fourth-ranked Tar Heels (28-6) meet Arizona (23-9) at the RCA Dome.
"All I ever wanted to do was become a better basketball player,'' Williams said. "I've been trying to prove that you can work hard and get where you want to be. When the door of opportunity opens, you have to be sure enough to step in.''
Williams followed former high school teammate Merl Code, a year older, to Fork Union. Code went to Clemson. At FUMA, from a veritable nobody, Williams found himself being recruited by Virginia Tech, Cal, Florida, N.C. State and Kentucky, among others.
Then, UNC showed up. South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler, a Dean Smith protege who didn't need a guard, called his former coach about Williams. UNC assistant coach Phil Ford went to FUMA to watch Williams.
"Shammond was a very good student in high school,'' Smith said. "I'd never heard of him. A friend of mine said he'd seen a kid playing in the Charlotte summer league who was going to Fork Union. That's the first I knew of him.''
A year later, Smith really wanted Steve Wojciechowski, and used up the maximum contacts on him. Wojciechowski chose Duke. Suddenly, Williams looked pretty good.
"We were looking at him as a backup point guard,'' Smith said.
What the 6-foot-2 junior has become is invaluable. Williams doubled as the most outstanding player in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA East Regional - the first UNC player to do so since James Worthy in 1982.
"The Shammond Williamses can hardly wait to play against those [highly recruited] players,'' Smith said. "They say, `I'll show you. I'm as good as you are.'''
This season, Williams broke Donald Williams' single-season UNC 3-point goal record. Donald Williams was the scorer on the 1993 national championship team. Shammond Williams is no relation. His basketball family tree extends to budding Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett, a younger cousin.
Smith said Williams' quickness is a quality that's difficult to find. "You can't teach quickness or size,'' the UNC coach said. "You can teach people do do something with those abilities, though.''
Williams has grown into his role, even in this, his junior season. He was skittish at best as a freshman and improved last year as the Heels' point guard, although he never has been a true playmaker.
Now, he starts games at the point, then moves to shooting guard when freshman Ed Cota comes off the bench. "Ed, being there, has given me a lot more freedom in my game,'' Williams said.
Williams ranks second to sophomore Antawn Jamison in scoring (14.4 points) for the ACC champions. He's upped that average by two points per game in the NCAA Tournament. He also ranks second in the ACC in free-throw shooting (.815).
How did he improve so much so quickly?
"He's an incredible gym rat,'' Smith said.
Williams spends two hours a lot of nights, after 11:30 p.m., working on his game. He also shows up on the floor for afternoon practices as much as one hour early.
"I just want everybody to understand that basketball is a sport in which you can work hard and improve,'' said Williams, who will be 22 next week. "You don't have to settle for people not recruiting you. You can work at it, and hopefully things will work out like they did for me.''
When Williams was signed by the Tar Heels, he knew most UNC fans probably wondered what kind of "Sham'' they had gotten. He didn't have Stackhouse's headlines. He was a point guard one year behind McInnis who didn't figure to play much until McInnis left early for the NBA after last season.
His 3-point accuracy is up to almost 43 percent. He's improved his ball-handling immeasurably. And, what's most important to Smith, "he enjoys the man-to-man confrontation.''
After playing for Arritt at Fork Union, Williams went from a player nobody wanted to one who finally made his choice of schools among three of the top-five seeded schools in this NCAA Tournament - Kentucky, UNC and South Carolina.
"Getting to North Carolina was an opportunity,'' Williams said. "I've just tried to take advantage of it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Williamsby CNB