“Greg is a skilled guard with great athleticism, but equally as important, he is a high character young man who we are thrilled to welcome to our basketball program,” said St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin. “He has a tremendous work ethic and drive to be successful on and off the court.”
Williams starred at Lafayette Christian Academy where he averaged 15 points, six rebounds and three assists as a junior, helping lead the Knights to a 29-5 overall record and an unblemished 14-0 district mark. After guiding Lafayette Christian Academy to its first state championship in 2017, Williams was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament and earned Division IV Player of the Year honors.
Competing for the Houston Hoops program under head coach Tim Schumacher on the Nike EYBL circuit, Williams showcased his innate scoring ability on several occasions, as he shot 60 percent from the field to lead his team to consecutive winning seasons.
In the summer of 2015, Williams was named the Most Valuable Player of the Future 150 Summit Camp in Birmingham, Ala. The high-flying guard also took home the dunk contest title, winning the hardware over nine other participants.
“Before we came [to St. John’s], they already expressed to us their excitement about the possibility of him joining,” Greg Williams Sr. said recently. They feel real good about him and what he can bring to the program not just on the court but off the court. He’s involved with the United Way so he was going to pick that up if, in fact, St. John’s is the place that he chooses. “St. John’s offers a wonderful variety of things. It’s a great education. He plans on looking at Communications and from what I understand St. John’s has a great program. I know the Big East is a little different now, but it’s still tough, hard-nosed basketball. And we’ve played against a lot of the kids in Under Armour and [Nike] EYBL so he knows all of them and feels comfortable playing. There’s a whole lot of good things about St. John’s.” Williams previously visited Tulane and Nevada. All three schools are coached by men with NBA coaching or playing experience: Mullin at St. John’s, Mike Dunleavy at Tulane and Eric Musselman at Nevada. “They had former NBA head coaches [Mullin only played and worked as an executive], so I wanted to see if they used NBA sets, things of that nature,” Williams Sr. said. “I wanted to talk to them about their NBA contacts, those things are important. So when you look at basketball, you can’t just focus on the blue bloods, the Kansas’, Dukes, North Carolinas, Kentuckys because there aren’t many head coaches in college basketball that were former NBA coaches. When you’re really trying to get ready, or see if you can play at that highest level, then I think these guys could tell him the truth because they’ve been in draft rooms and they’ve made decisions up or down on thousands of kids.” Lafayette Christian coach Byron Starks says St. John’s is getting a player who can contribute right away. “I think whatever schools gets him is going to have a great person, most importantly,” Starks said. “On the court, he’s a combo guard. He can play one, two, multiple positions and he’s a great a rebounder for a guard of his size. Shoots the ball fairly decent and is extremely athletic in terms of getting to the rim and getting the shot that he needs.” Williams joins Montverde (FL) Academy forward Josh Roberts in St. John’s class. They remain in the hunt for Prolific Prep (CA) power forward Jordan Brown.St. John’s will also add highly rated transfers Sedee Keita and Mikey Dixon along with current freshman Boubacar Diakite, who is redshirting this season.
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