Why Zed Williams is Playing Defense for the Haudenosaunee in the World Championships

How has the transition been for Williams leading up to the World Games?

“Zed certainly seems to handle the ball at a high level, which is not surprising. When he’s in transition, he is very comfortable. His strengths for us are the one-on-one matchup versus the bulls. You know, that version of himself on offense or Matt Rambo for example. That is the matchup that Zed Williams with the six-foot pole is perfectly suited for. Where Zed needs more growth and experiences is when he’s playing off-ball and now he’s more of a communicator and a decision maker of when to slide and when not to slide.” 

Could we see a Matt Rambo vs Zed Williams matchup when the two teams meet on Saturday?

“That very well could happen. It was funny, after our scrimmage against Albany, Zed was a bit frustrated because no one dodged him.

And I said, ‘Well, look at you, of course no one dodged you.’

And he said, ‘Well, you know, Rambo and I, we go at our matchups, we challenge our matchups.’

I said, ‘I know, but most people aren’t you and Rambo, but I assure you, when you go against Rambo, I’m sure he’s going to continue to be who he is.’

So it will happen for sure.”

Any final thoughts on what to expect from Zed Williams this week?

“He’s going to be offball 83% of the time if the ball is possessed democratically by the opposing team. But, you know, if we can go against the team who’s got one stud dodger, then Zed will be on the ball more. If we go against a team that’s got multiple dodgers and says, ‘Let’s not go get that guy, you know, nobody wants to dodge Zed Williams.’ And he’ll be on-ball 5% of the time. So much of his growth and our team’s development this week and a half here in San Diego is based on Zed’s growth off-ball.”