Ohio State's basketball season begins Friday with a season-opener against UMass-Lowell. Leading up to that game, Eleven Warriors will dive deep into a different aspect of the 2014-15 Buckeyes with a new story each day this week.
To this point, Amir Williams' career at Ohio State has had significantly more downs than ups.
It's been filled with countless "what-ifs" and people trying to figure out why Williams hasn't been able to produce the way many thought he was capable of when he came to Columbus.
A McDonald's All-American in the 2011 class, Williams was rated as a four-star recruit by 247 Sports as the 53rd-overall prospect in that class. He came to Ohio State by way of Detroit and was supposed to be a potential replacement for Jared Sullinger after Sullinger played two seasons for the Buckeyes before entering the NBA Draft.
But for some reason, it hasn't quite clicked for Williams in his first three years as a Buckeye. He's averaged just 4.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game over his first three seasons.
But hopes among the coaching staff remain high Williams' best season will be his last.
"I hope we can get Amir playing at a consistent level. He's had a great camp so far," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said at Big Ten Media Day. "I think he has a good understanding of 'This is my last go-round,' and the sands from the hourglass are falling through. I'm expecting big things from Amir and I think he's kind of feeling the same thing."
Williams has seen his minutes go up in each of his first three seasons at Ohio State, but he's still only averaging 15.9 per game for his career and a lot of that has been because of his inability to stay out of foul trouble.
He went from playing only six minutes a game as a freshman when he played alongside Sullinger to 23 per game last year as a junior. He's been the team's primary big guy for the last two years, but his production just hasn't quite been there.
"I think his strength and his conditioning has probably been better than it's been at this point," Matta said, "What I've noticed at this point is that he has a very good demeanor – a calmer demeanor – he's more in tune and more engaged with what we're doing and that's very exciting."
Perhaps some added competition will add fuel to Williams' fire. The addition of Temple graduate transfer Anthony Lee this year gives the Buckeyes another big guy in their rotation to go along with Williams and backup Trey McDonald. Minutes may be even harder to come by so that competition could push Williams to play better.
It remains to be seen if Matta's just talking in coach speak when it comes to Williams or if there's actually a different player than the one who has often been scrutinized by Ohio State fans for not playing up to standard.
That picture will become more clear as the Buckeyes open their season Friday against UMass-Lowell at the Schottenstein Center.
But Ohio State's amount of success this year could heavily depend on the play — good or bad — of Williams.
“It’s just his energy level," forward Sam Thompson said of Williams. "He’s always had the ability to dominate the game offensively, but he’s just brought that constant energy, that constant toughness and it’s really shown in the way that he’s been dominating practice.”
We'll wait and see if that shows up in games.
