Arizona Basketball: Wildcats can withstand Brandon Williams departure

Guard Brandon Williams has made the decision to leave Arizona Basketball. How big a blow is this for the 2020-21 roster?

One of the bigger stories in the preseason a year ago came from Arizona Basketball, losing starting guard Brandon Williams for the entire season after undergoing a procedure to deal with continuing knee issues that have dated back to his high school days.

Williams was dealing with those knee issues during his freshman campaign for the Wildcats, averaging 11.4 ppg and 3.4 apg. He had a number of solid performances, including going for 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Utah Valley and scoring 20 points in a win over Oregon State.

The combo guard was set to be partnered with five-star point guard prospect Nico Mannion for last season but the surgery took Williams out of the picture. Mannion played well overall (14.0 ppg and 5.3 apg) but had his fair share of rookie struggles that would’ve been nice to have another ball-handler such as Williams to take over when needed.

Mannion is now gone but head coach Sean Miller made sure to have multiple guards on the roster regardless of Williams’ injury status. James Akinjo from Georgetown was a midseason transfer, while Seattle U grad transfer Terrell Brown averaged over 20 ppg last season. And there’s top-100 freshman point guard from Estonia Kerr Kriisa joining the team as well.

The hope was that Williams would be part of the unit, able to come along slowly and get back into gear before leading Arizona in the Pac-12. Unfortunately, the decision, which has been long rumored for the past few months, came that the guard would pursue professional opportunities and leave Arizona Basketball for good.

He’s not a superstar player that would’ve propelled the Wildcats to a national title, but not having a proven double-digit scorer in a power conference is still a big deal. His athleticism and ball-handling skills were improving and the former top-50 prospect would’ve been a key piece this upcoming season.

The good news for the program is that Akinjo did receive the waiver from the NCAA to play on day 1 of the 2020-21 season, rather than wait until January 1st. He’ll be the starting point guard for Arizona and should be an effective contributor. It also solves the scholarship crunch, as the team was one over after landing several international recruits this offseason.

Good luck to Williams as he moves onto the next phase of his basketball career. With finally healthy knees, look for him to tear it up and potentially find his way back towards the NBA once proven he can produce for long periods of time. Arizona will miss him but with Akinjo, should still be in contention for one of the top spots in the Pac-12.