City of Basketball Love

By Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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Tyrone Williams expects big things out of his senior year. 

After playing in the South and the Pacific Northwest, Williams’ new Division I home is back on the East Coast at Old Dominion, where he’ll play for coach Jeff Jones. And he’s planning to combine his experiences from his previous stops to make this year his most well-rounded season yet. 

“[Jones] is expecting me to score the ball,” Williams said. “And one of the challenges I'm taking on this year is I also want to guard the best player out there on the floor, so I can show them that I can do it both ways.”

Williams transferred to Old Dominion as a fifth-year senior — after junior college and a stint at Oregon — and his list of goals includes a conference championship, leading the team in steals, and hopefully an all-conference nod.

“I love it [at ODU]. It's the type of culture I like to be in. I feel at home again,” Williams said. “I think that it’s going to be a good year.”

His road to ODU was a winding one.

Williams led Olney Charter to a 19-3 record in 2019 and won the Philadelphia Public League’s National Division Player of the Year. But at the conclusion of his senior year he still didn’t have any collegiate offers, so he opted for the JUCO route, choosing Grayson Community College in Grayson, Texas, over nearby Harcum College.

“The reason I went to Grayson is because my mentor played for [Grayson head coach] Scott Monarch,” Williams said. “And he let me know he could put me in a good position if I just go down there and kill.”

Williams listened to his mentor, former UTEP standout Marvin Kilgore.

The 6-foot-5 guard scored 1,756 points in three seasons at Grayson. He averaged 27.6 and 27.7 points per game in his final two seasons, leading the entire NJCAA in back-to-back seasons. He suited up with fellow Philadelphia products Samier Kinsler (West Catholic) and Aseem Lucky (Lincoln).

“I went into JUCO not knowing anything about it,” Williams said. “It was kind of tough. I had to find my own way. “I'm thinking it was going to be like a university. I didn't know it was a dog-eat-dog environment. It was all about go get yours and make a name for yourself.”

During his sophomore year when earned second-team NJCAA All-American, Chris Crutchfield, then-head coach of Division II East Central University (Oklahoma), told Williams at a practice, “I want you to come to my school.”

Crutchfield was one of the only coaches who talked to Williams during his sophomore year. By the end of the season, however, Williams was getting Division I interest. 
“After the season, around April, I got a call from my coach asking about my grades, and he told me, ‘Oregon and Penn State offered you today.’ It was weird,” Williams said. 

But what Williams didn’t know was Crutchfield had been hired as an assistant coach at Oregon. Crutchfield called a few days later, after the news became official, and Williams committed to Oregon in September before his third season at Grayson.

Williams went from being a vital part of a 109-ppg offense at Grayson to only attempting 44 field goals during his only season at Oregon. 

Williams played in 23 games, averaging just 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per game. He saw the court sparingly in conference play.

“I learned a lot from not playing. I sat back and learned a lot,” Williams said. “Just wait your turn and grind for everything. … On any given day, a person can come up and take that spot. It's always somebody out there — maybe faster, stronger, bigger — that can do what you can do, but even better.”

Williams reinvented himself as a defender. And after Oregon ruled Jermaine Couisnard out of the NIT with a shoulder injury, Williams ended up playing 20-plus minutes in every game of the Ducks’ run to the NIT Final. Oregon lost 61-58 to Wisconsin. 

Williams entered the transfer portal in March and joined Old Dominion a month later, part of a platoon roster revamp that included Devin Ceaser (Buffalo), R.J. Blakney (Dayton), Sam Hood (Brunswick Community College) and Leeroy Odiahi (Indian Hills) as incoming transfers for the Monarchs and effectively replaced four outgoing transfers. 

Last year, the Monarchs went 19-12 but were upset by Texas State in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. This year, Williams, the other incoming players and returning junior Chaunce Jenkins will be responsible for trying to get the Monarchs back to the NCAA Tournament and win their first conference championship since 2019, when they were in Conference USA. 

Williams still keeps in contact with his coaches from Olney Charter, like Jason Lawson, and is motivated by their continuing encouragement.

“They just give me motivation, let me know to keep going. That matters a lot because I didn't have a lot of [recruiting]. I made a lot of decisions on my own. I told myself, I'm going to get up and go to Texas,” Williams said. “I didn't have anybody push me to go somewhere with, ‘Oh, we have this for you, we have that.’”

“So to see people still reaching out from back home now, letting me know to keep going, especially the ones that (saw) me from the bottom. It gives me motivation.”