L’Anse Creuse ‘hungry’ for success with GVSU signee Williams
Caron Williams’ senior basketball season started the night his junior campaign ended.
Hours after L’Anse Creuse lost to Chippewa Valley in a district championship game, Williams sent a text to coach George Woods, asking if he and his teammates could practice the following day.
“We all went into the gym the next day, got our minds right,” Williams said.
Now Williams, fresh from signing a letter of intent to play at Grand Valley State, is eager to lead the Lancers to something special in his final season with the Harrison Township team.
“Caron wants to win the league championship, the district championship and fight for a championship in the regional,” Woods said.
“Everybody in the state of Michigan knows Caron can score. He led Macomb County in scoring last year with 25.2 points a game. He’s a great shooter, he’s a floor general.”
And he has an unsatisfied desire to win.
“We’re hungry for this,” Williams said. “We need it. We’re ready for the season.”
Boys basketball practice begins Monday across the state.
Williams’ teammates and family members were alongside him last week when he signed with Grand Valley State, one of about a half-dozen Division II colleges that made offers to the 6-foot-3 combo guard.
“It was a good decision for me,” Williams said.
The rapport he built with firstyear coach Cornell Mann and his staff swayed Williams to sign with the Lakers.
“(Mann) was focused more on Caron as a person than as a basketball player, and that really changed the focus of who Caron wanted to play for,” Woods said.
“My job was to make sure he got the right opportunity.”
“I love the coaches,” Williams added. “I thought they were ‘real’ to me. I like ‘real.’”
Grand Valley, Woods said, is getting a well-rounded player and person.
“He’s got character. He’s hardworking. He never takes a day off,” Woods said.
Williams joined the Lancers as a ninth-grader on a senior-led team.
L’Anse Creuse featured youth when Williams was in the 10th and 11th grades.
“For the first three years, I was mainly a catch-and-shoot player,” Williams said.
“We were fighting to get him recognized throughout the state of Michigan and to put our program on the map,” Woods added. “I allowed him to do things that I normally wouldn’t allow every player to do.”
In his senior year, Williams will be a more complete player, he said.
“Coach Woods told me I need to learn how to get to the basket more and help my teammates get better,” Williams said.
“The goal this year,” Woods added, “is to change the mentality a little bit and not score 30 points a game, but work as a team.
“We lost two guys from last year’s team, but we’ve got two additions that are going to be really good for us. It should be a real good season.”
L’Anse Creuse finished 1013 overall last season, including a 5-5 record in the MAC Gold.
South Lake and St. Clair shared the division championship, but only South Lake stayed in the Gold. St. Clair moved to the Silver.
The realigned Gold includes Lincoln, winner of the Silver title last season, plus Eastpointe, Fitzgerald and Warren Woods-Tower.
L’Anse Creuse, which also features 6-4 Chad Jacobs and 6-3 Jimmy Tamburrini, has a schedule that includes games against defending MAC White champion Romeo and defending MAC Red co-champion Dakota, plus a MAC crossover contest against Port Huron at Little Caesars Arena, a home game against Detroit University Prep and a visit to Detroit Central.
“I think the MAC as a whole is very competitive,” Woods said. “(The schedule) is a good challenge for us.
“I want to put them in the fire and see what they do with it.”
The Lancers open the season at home against St. Clair on Dec. 7.