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Putnam Science Academy basketball coach Tom Espinosa plays a deep bench, with 10 of his 15 players typically seeing quality minutes. There is a lot of talent to choose from for those top 10- 11 spots, so if he doesn’t see something early, it’s easy to fall behind the pack.
“And one thing that makes it easy on me too is effort and commitment,” Espinosa said recently. “We have 15 guys on this team. If you don’t commit 100 percent, you’ll be the 15th guy. Some guys get the message, some don’t.”
Consider D’Maurian Williams among those who took heed of his coach’s words.
“We had that conversation,” Espinosa said.
Williams is a postgrad player from Arizona, meaning PSA’s coaching staff didn’t get to see him play at all. His ending up at PSA was more of a word-of-mouth kind of thing. Then the 6-foot, 4-inch, 200-pound guard suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the entire preseason. When practice officially started, Williams, now healthy, was still a compete unknown. And Espinosa said the first week wasn’t a great start.
So the two talked about commitment and buying all-in, which the coach didn’t think the player was doing. Williams agreed.
“He was just letting me know that I could go stronger and harder in practice. He was right,” Williams acknowledged. “I was taking off certain reps and things like that. He just wanted me to go hard every rep and every chance I got. I feel like I’ve done that.”
He certainly has. Williams has worked his way back into the good graces of the coaching staff and into regular minutes. He drew praise from Espinosa after each of the team’s first three games in the Bahamas to open the season (all wins), things like “played excellent,” or “made things happen” or “gave us a spark” or “difference-maker.” That was a pretty quick turnaround for Williams, who has also earned the respect of his teammates.
“I didn’t know anything about him,” Hassan Diarra said. “He was out all preseason. All I knew was he was from Arizona. But he does a lot of stuff well. He’s a great on-the-ball defender. And offensively, he’s tough and can score from all three levels. He brings a lot of energy.”
Williams is averaging seven points through the Mustangs’ first four games, and stuffing the stat sheets with handfuls of assists, rebounds, and steals as well.
“They did a good job of keeping me mentally strong when I was out with my knee, so I came back in the right mindframe,” Williams said. “But I don’t think anything else changed for me. Once I got healthy, I just had to get my feet wet.”
Williams is one of the quickest players Espinosa has ever coached, and his toughness and strength allow him to handle contact on his way to the rim. Following his senior season at Westview High School, he had a solid number of scholarship offers from D-I schools. They just weren’t the ones he wanted. So he passed, essentially betting on himself that he could make a bigger splash in Putnam. And bigger schools (think Pac 12, West Coast Conference for the moment) are showing interest, including those back west, closer to home…and warmth.
“It’s freezing out here,” he laughed. “That’s been the biggest issue for me. I’ve been in snow before, but to live in it, I think it’s going to be a little different. I’ve visited snow, but then I left it and went home. This is cold up here.”
The winter might be cold, but since making the decision to go all-in on this team, things are just starting to heat up for Williams.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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