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Williams: Rock Around The Block
12/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 25, 2004
By John Roth
Blue Devil Weekly
Shelden Williams has been called The Landlord since the ninth grade, when he blocked 16 shots in a high school varsity game that just happened to be televised. The commentators gushed that Williams owned the lane and all the other players were like his tenants. Next morning, the local paper picked up on the nickname and he's had it ever since.
Williams isn't likely to block 16 shots in a college game -- the Duke record is 10 -- but his presence in the paint now is no less imposing than it was then. As a 6-foot-9 sophomore last year, Williams emerged as the anchor of the Blue Devils' defense by becoming the first player in school history to block 100 shots in a season. His final total of 111 topped the ACC and eclipsed Mike Gminski's old school mark of 97.
But the Blue Devils were far from a one-man team when it came to blocks. With sophomore Shavlik Randolph and freshman Luol Deng chipping in with another 100 rejections between them, Duke ranked fourth in the country in blocked shots and posted the second best team total in the school record book -- just five behind the 1999 Final Four squad that played two more games.
There has been some theorizing that blocked shots are bound to decline this year with the departure of Deng and the necessity of Williams and Randolph to avoid foul trouble (and now with Randolph out indefinitely with mono). It sure hasn't looked like it so far, as Williams has swatted away 28 shots in Duke's first eight games while only committing 21 fouls and now disqualifications. Duke's has blocked 74 shots as a team while only being blocked 26 times. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski clearly wants his post players to compete aggressively on the defensive end, but he also wants them to be smart about it.
"Even though we are thin up front, we still have to protect our basket," said assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski, who works closely with the big men. "It's a matter of making good decisions. When the shot is there to be blocked, block it. If it means taking a charge or coming over to stop penetration and get a deflection, you have to make the right decisions. Hopefully with another year under their belt, they'll be prepared to make those decisions."
Williams says he understands the situation.
"I don't want to put myself in the position where the first thing that I always think about is to try to block a shot," he noted in a preseason interview. "If that happens, I'll see myself more on the bench than on the court. A lot of times I'll think to myself that I can get this one, but it would be a smarter play to cut him off and get in front of him. Then if he tries to shoot over me, I can try to get it. It's more about being aware of the situations around me."
Williams averaged 3.0 blocks per game last year, almost double his 1.6 average of the previous season when he was concentrating on making the transition from high school to college ball.
"My freshman year it was more a matter of me fitting in," he said. "I know a lot of times I would want to do something but was hesitant and that would cost me. Last year I think I did a better job of using my instincts. If someone was coming at me, I would step in front of him, and a lot of times I would raise my hand and not even jump and I'd get the block like that. It was knowing the game more to put my body in position where I could make more plays.
"The more you play and the more you put yourself in that position, the easier it becomes. It just becomes natural to you. You work on it but it's a slow process and it happens when it happens."
"It didn't surprise me, I knew he could block shots," Randolph said of Williams' 2004 exploits under the basket. "Playing against him every day, I know how hard it is to get a shot off on him.
"He's a very good shot-blocker. I think it's his combination of strength, athletic ability, his long arms and timing. It makes him a big-time threat on the defensive end. I think he also did a decent job of keeping his body out of position for getting in foul trouble.
"Shelden's the type of guy who can block it help side or he can block it straight up if you try to make a move on him," Randolph added. "I'm more of a guy who will come from help side to block one. I'm not the guy who will get backed down and then just block one like Shaq or something."
Those 240 rejection notices served by the Blue Devils last year did nothing but enhance the effectiveness of the team's ball pressure and perimeter defense, which typically has set the tone for the program's entire style of play under Krzyzewski.
"I think it gives our guards confidence to get in passing lanes better and to deny their man and contest, to know that they've got us on the back lines," Randolph said. "There's a little bit of an intimidation factor, too. It's one thing to get the ball stolen because someone was in a passing lane. But then to get your shot swatted is almost like a slap in the face."
Williams enjoys administering the in-your-face treatment, but he keeps a close watch on how far he swats those shots.
"A lot of times people try to make statements by throwing the ball way into the stands, like ÔDon't come back in my lane' and all that stuff," Williams said. "I used to do that when I first started blocking shots, but my dad always told me that while it's cool and gets the crowd going, it doesn't do any good for your team. So a lot of times I try to tip it where I can get it or a teammate can get it, so we can start a fastbreak. "In high school I had a teammate who I think used to let people get by him so I could block the shot and start the fastbreak, so he'd get more points. I always try to keep the ball in bounds so I can make another play on it and help put points on the board."
If Williams continues to put points on the board like he did in the in the first eight games, when he averaged 15.6 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, people will be talking more about his scoring and rebounding than blocking.
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