The Stanford Cardinals picked up a very exciting prospect over the summer. Part of the historic Sierra Canyon high school team, which LeBron James and Dwyane Wade‘s sons play for, Williams led them to an almost perfect season as a high school senior. He was one of the top-ranked forwards in the entire nation going into college and was a consensus 5* recruit.
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Williams committed to Stanford and has revealed the reason to Jeff Goodman.
Our @therealZiaire joined @GoodmanHoops as part of his series interviewing the elite freshmen in college basketball. Get to know his name #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/LxMnkbndRx
— Stanford Men's Basketball (@StanfordMBB) November 27, 2020
“Honestly at the end of the day from my position, it was a no-brainer. Being an aspiring venture capitalist, entrepreneur, I think it has the connections, the alumni, the students and the network. I don’t know man, it was a good instinct and I feel like I made the right choice. On the court as well. The trust Coach has in this program and the team that we have, we are looking real good right now. I think we will shock some people out there this season.”
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Stanford Cardinals birthing a new star
The Cardinals aren’t exactly a program that every player aspires to go to. They have only one NCAA Tournament, which came in 1942. They haven’t been invited to the tournament since 2014 and have been mostly a mid-level team in college basketball. However, Williams alone may be exciting enough to pull Stanford into the tournament.
The Cardinals open their season against the Alabama Crimson Tide on November 31. However, all eyes will be on Ziaire. Williams would have had a fantastic end to his high school career if the pandemic wouldn’t have hit. Considering he is the best small forward of this year’s freshmen class, it will be interesting to see how he changes the tide for the Cardinals.
The best players in recent Stanford history would be the Lopez brothers, Brook and Robin. However, that lack of big-name talent in the recent past didn’t scare Williams away from joining, who seems pretty confident in his ability to lead the Cardinals this season.
His inclination towards academics and non-basketball pursuits is also encouraging to see. He is clearly headed for big things; hopefully, those are on the court.
