Guy/Noah

[cougcowboy]

Guy Williams played just when I was just old enough to start following Cougar sports. I remember checking boxscores of his senior year; but he was already injured. So I never saw him play or knew of his development. I hear some say he was the best Cougar basketball player of all time.

For those older than me:
How tall was Guy when he came to Pullman? Did he continue to grow, or was he 6'9" as a freshman? I ask as I am curious if Noah is going to grow.

Can someone try and describe his development? Could he shots as a freshman? Sophomore?

How was he defensively? Was he a lock down defender with his athleticism? Or was defense not a priority for him?

Did he play with the same chip on the shoulder that Noah plays with?

 

[CougEd]

Guy Williams played just when I was just old enough to start following Cougar sports. I remember checking boxscores of his senior year; but he was already injured. So I never saw him play or knew of his development. I hear some say he was the best Cougar basketball player of all time.

For those older than me:
How tall was Guy when he came to Pullman? Did he continue to grow, or was he 6'9" as a freshman? I ask as I am curious if Noah is going to grow.

Can someone try and describe his development? Could he shots as a freshman? Sophomore?

How was he defensively? Was he a lock down defender with his athleticism? Or was defense not a priority for him?

Did he play with the same chip on the shoulder that Noah plays with?

We really never got to see Guy as he injured . However he was magic . Not a great shooter but shot well enough. Great on the break , a good passer . Was really smooth. He didn’t play like his son. Didn’t play with a chip.

most never saw guy when he was young because he transferred in when San Fran was put probation .

 

[Glad Cougar]

Guy Williams was a transfer from University of San Francisco and, I believe, already 6'9" when he arrived. I think he played 2 years at WSU, coming in as a junior.....but somebody else can correct me if I"m wrong. Guy had great athleticism. I actually can't remember much about his defense, but I think it was more than adequate. It's my opinion and recollection that Guy was much more gifted offensively than Noah, but Noah may have the edge when it comes to defense. Guy had a nice outside shot that came with him from USF but also excellent at taking the ball to the basket. His personality was not as fiery as Noah, IIRC.

Glad Cougar

 

[7ICoug]

Guy was a transfer from San Francisco (WCC) after his Sophmore season as the Don's were put on NCAA probation. He played just the last bit of his career at WSU. He was 6-9 when he arrived (probably included his shoe's).

He was skilled but lazy as Coach Rav indicated. Scored 11 with 6 boards as a Jr at WSU. He was scoring like a machine his senior year 19/9 when he went down.

He was actually more melo than Noah when I saw him but the game was different.

 

[M-I-Coug]

Guy was about 6'9" and I don't think he grew anymore. He was great, and had him in my speech class at Dagy.

I don't think Guy played with the same chip on his shoulder, as Noah. Guy was quiet, but his performance on the court was great....as was Craig Ehlo, and Aaron Haskins. Of the three, Craig was of course the better shooter, but Guy's presence in the paint was really good.

 

[SaveFerris]

In his junior year Raveling was quoted saying something like "Guy thinks you get an extra point based on degree of difficulty". His decision making improved his senior year and he was almost unstoppable wherever he played on the court.

I never saw him play at USF and have also wondered about his early years as well. I do remember everyone wanted him when USF cancelled their program. Raveling well was Raveling but he had been an assistant coach one summer on some sort of all-star or USA team that Guy Williams played on. So they knew each other and that was was said to be key in Guy coming to Pullman. It was a huge transfer at the time.

 

[COCoug]

He was definitely full grown when he came to Pullman. When the USF program was essentially shut down he had to sit out a year at WSU. I remember seeing him during a game standing in the aisle that separates the top and the bottom section. He was wearing his USF letter jacket still, and had a huge patch for being the NCAA regional MVP as a freshman or soph. Funny to think of guys wearing letter jackets anymore! Also weird he was by himself in the crowd and not allowed to sit on the bench with the team. My friends knew who he was and they told me he would be the best to ever play at WSU. He could have been except for a slippery spot on the court in Eugene.

 

[COUGinNCW]

I’m pretty sure I remember watching Guy play for USF when I was a kid at the Spokane Coliseum when gu was forced to play there by the WCC when they first joined the league because Kennedy Pavilion was too small. Also saw a lot of WSU GU games there as well. USF teams were pretty damn good back then and Guy was kind of a Magic Johnson type player as a very tall guard that you didn’t really see in that ERA.

 

[Cougsocal]

Guy was 6" 9" 200, the only lottery pick athletic talent to every suit up for the Cougs. On a very athletic team, he was head and shoulders above. Before he went down, not only was he averaging 19 and 9, during the pre shot clock and pre 3 point line era, he was relegated to playing point-forward. Teams figured out early that neither Winkler or Ehlo couldn't beat the press to save their lives, so Guy, at 6'9," was charged with bring the ball up the court and starting the offense. He blew out his knee on a spin move at center court in Eugene bring the ball up court. His foot stayed put on the duck decal, when rest of his body completed the 360 -- it was nasty.

His signature move for the fans was to start the offense by passing to Steve Harriel at the top of the key and then using Harriel as the screen on his way to an alley oop, taking advantage guard to forward transition. They weren't your ordinary variety alley oops, they were dunk and duck to avoid head injury type. If the ball was anywhere in the same zip code he would get to it and slam it down. Beasley would do nuts. He also had a sweet shot from the top of the key and a post up, turn around, jumper in the key. When he went down he was also leading the Cougs in blocks, steals and assists. Total package, offense, defense, guard like ball skills, length and insane hops.

The problem with Guy Williams was his teammates were as bigger fans than the crowd, and didn't wanted to miss the show either, so there was a lot of standing around on offense. The team actually played significant better after the fateful day. 12-5 before. 6-1 after (before the NCAAs), including the UCLA win, when UCLA was UCLA.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Cowboy, you triggered a lot of memories from several folks here. The only thing I would add is that father and son did not have/do not have the same personality. My perception in having seen both is that Noah has had to work a lot harder for everything. Guy was probably born with a basketball in his hand, and he could do pretty much anything that he actually took the time to learn...and it didn't take much time. Noah, on the other hand, is a grinder. From all that we've heard, his shooting improvement from last year was mostly due to hours and hours and hours of work. You can also see the personality difference in the defensive intensity. Noah is almost always intense. Guy (as I recall) was intense when there was a lot of emotion in the game, or when he felt dissed by the other team, and he was a very good defender when in the mood to do so. But Noah is always in the mood to defend. Guy probably was blessed with a few more physical tools, but Noah's personality is such that he develops everything he has...and appears to find new depths as he does so. I have no idea how good Noah can be, and I doubt that Noah knows, either. We will enjoy watching him, to find out!!