KU Jayhawks join K-State Wildcats in pursuit of four-star guard Donovan Williams
College basketball fans across the Sunflower State might want to get familiar with Donovan Williams.
The 6-foot-5 and 200-pound guard from Lincoln, Nebraska is suddenly receiving recruiting interest from both Bruce Weber and Bill Self now that he has established himself as a prolific scorer and one of the nation’s top remaining unsigned prospects.
Kansas and K-State each had assistant coaches in attendance for his most recent game, in which he scored 31 points on Tuesday. The Wildcats have already offered him a scholarship. The Jayhawks are thinking about doing the same. Williams plans to make an unofficial recruiting visit to Lawrence on Monday when KU hosts Oklahoma State at Allen Fieldhouse.
He’s looking forward to the trip.
“I’m very interested,” Williams said during a phone interview. “I wouldn’t say that I am dying to commit anywhere right away, but obviously you have to respect their history and respect what they have going.
“If any team like that comes in contact with you, you have to pay attention to it. I’m not going to put them at the top of my list or prioritize them more than any other school, but they are definitely a school I need to keep track of. It’s Kansas, that speaks for itself. Who wouldn’t want to go play there?”
The Jayhawks are the most recent school to get involved with Williams. He currently holds scholarship offers from K-State, Oklahoma State, Texas and a handful of mid-major schools. Oregon and Texas A&M have shown interest. KU first contacted him on Monday and sent assistant Norm Roberts to watch him play on Tuesday.
Williams played in the same AAU circles as current KU players Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji and was honored when the Jayhawks reached out to him.
“I really like them,” Williams said. “Obviously, they are a top school in the country. They send plenty of players to the NBA. It caught my eye when I originally got a message from them. I was just very surprised when I got a text form them. I am actually close with Christian and Ochai. That gives me a little bit of knowledge knowing that I could possibly play there with them. The communication has been great, back and forth, so far.”
Williams is averaging more than 30 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game for Lincoln North Star High School. He originally committed to Nebraska as a junior but withdrew his pledge after the Cornhuskers switched coaches from Tim Miles to Fred Hoiberg.
Williams spent the offseason recoving from a torn ACL, which slowed his recruiting process and most college coaches wanted to see what he could do after the injury before extending scholarship. Texas was the first to offer, followed by K-State and Oklahoma State.
Williams appears to be K-State’s top remaining target for the 2020 recruiting cycle. Weber was in attendance two weeks ago to when Williams scored 44 in a game. The following night, he scored 50.
“They are definitely up there, for sure,” Williams previously said of the Wildcats. “They were my second offer. I talk to them every day. I have a great relationship with Bruce and (associate head) coach (Chris) Lowery. It is a very great relationship that I have with them right now. On Monday, I will finally get to meet Coach Self and see where it goes from there”
His recent play has been so impressive that he described his 31-point outing on Tuesday as his “worst game of the season.” His team lost 69-67.
“Give me a decent game,” Williams said, “and we win, easy.”
Williams plans to announce a list of finalists after his high school season ends in March, then make official visits to those schools and announce his college destination in April.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 4:00 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks join K-State Wildcats in pursuit of four-star guard Donovan Williams."