Benny Williams Named an SI All-American Finalist
Syracuse basketball's 2021 class may only have one player in it, but that player is one of the best in the nation in Benny Williams. On Monday, SI All-American released the All-American finalists and Williams was included in the list of 50 players.
AllSyracuse.com caught up with Director of Basketball Recruiting Jason Jordan about why the future Orange forward made the cut.
"What I really liked about him is the growth in his game across the board," Jordan said. "Covid really showed who's going to work for it and who's going to say, 'oh man I didn't have any competition' or 'I couldn't get in this tournament.' What I've learned is that the elite guys have really found what it means to go out and work on their game. How beneficial that has been. He's obviously one of the guys that has done that. I just really like how he's a do it all guy, yes, but I feel like as a playmaker, he's grown substantially.
"Benny's on a traveling all-star team with Efton Reid, we'll start with him, and then Charles Bediako. It's just a traveling all-star team. Let's just be honest. You'd probably make the intelligent case that he's the best player on the team. I hate to say positionless because that's become a little bit of a cliche, but he really is. He's best when he's a playmaker, making plays from the wing. As he's improved his ball handling, I could see him at the point forward position. He's such a great playmaker, so heady, great basketball IQ, great passer. He can score when he wants to, but he has just a great feel for the game. And you can tell that's grown year over year. So he's a guy that we definitely had to include in the top 50 and a guy who has a legitimate chance to make one of our three teams."
There will be a first team, a second team and a third team, each with five players, when the list is trimmed down from 50 to 15.