If the tournament held on January 2nd at The Greenhouse by Westminster Warriors was called The Battle of London, then Junior Williams will now be known as “The General”.

You’d be forgiven if you looked at the Warrior’s box scores from this year and assumed the 5’10, 175lbs PG has lost it (except for the 37 point explosion vs Marjons!).

Compared to his resumé; played College ball at OCU stateside (winning 3 conference Championships in 4 years and his team being ranked top 5 nationally every single year), GB international at the Senior, U18, U23 and University level, BBL for Crystal Palace, London Towers (where he won a Championship), Scottish Rocks, London United and MK Lions-him now being a 33 year old Player/Coach for a D2 Westminster team seems less than impressive.

Going to actually watch his games though and you’ll see a totally different story unravel.

The Battle of London featured 4 teams; Westminster themselves, Brixton Topcats, Edmonton Storm and London Met all of which are D2 except for London Met who are D1. To say Junior Williams could dominate at will is an understatement. It appears he sacrifices his own stats and minutes to develop the younger players on the team but when he needs to, will step up. Like against London Met. Being a D1 team, pride  is on the line and it became apparent Williams was not gonna let his team lose. With 4 minutes left in the game, Junior only has 2 points and the game is tight. In the last 4 minutes he scores 10 points to lead the Warriors to a 60-54 win. Job done.

The biggest thing with Williams is he plays the game the way a PG should. He is pass first, a leader, and makes the right decisions. In the years I have watched British basketball, no-one comes close to matching his vision (Steve Vear is the nearest). To answer the question as to why Westminster have been so successful over the past few years, I’d look no further than Junior.

I could go on for another few hundred words, but I’m gonna shut up-watch the vid. Oh, and if you were wondering, unsurprisingly, Westminster did win the whole tourney.

*Note-Also bear in mind, these highlights are from TWO games of only 40 mins running clock..that is a LOT of highlights for 2 games.

Related posts:

1. EBL Junior Final Fours Weekend 2010; Results & Analysis
2. Video: The Battle of London 2010
3. Morakinyo Williams and Duquesne Get Tight Win
4. Morakinyo Williams and Duquesne Lose to Temple
5. “Basketball in the UK Needs Fresh Ideas”-Des Williams