Facing No. 4 Louisville not as scary as what UM freshman Ja’Leah Williams faced in 2019
Ja’Leah Williams, the University of Miami freshman starting point guard, faces a daunting task against fourth-ranked Louisville on Tuesday night, but she is not scared.
Playing basketball against the Cardinals’ loaded roster at the Watsco Center is nothing compared to what she dealt with on May 17, 2019, when she was in a hospital operating room having a metal rod inserted in her back.
Williams was a budding star at Pompano Beach Blanche Ely High her sophomore year, starting to get noticed by college recruiters when doctors delivered a devastating diagnosis: She had severe scoliosis that required spinal surgery.
Although doctors did not rule out playing basketball again, Williams had her doubts. She would have to sit out the summer travel basketball circuit, which meant she would fall off the radar of many college coaches. She watched as friends and teammates started getting offers while she struggled to get off the sofa and walk.
“I was definitely worried I wouldn’t play again,” she said by phone Monday. “Before the surgery my back was like a letter “S”, my posture wasn’t right, I was leaning to one side and one rib was poking out. But once I started recovering from the surgery, I started moving, walking, and progressing pretty quickly.”
Through it all, UM coaches stuck with her.
Hurricanes assistant coach Fitzroy (“Fitz”) Anthony started attending Williams’ games when she was in eighth grade, and believed in her. He and head coach Katie Meier checked in on her regularly and assured her they would save her a spot if she recovered.
“They made me feel like I was already in their program, like I was a member of their family, even though I had not committed to them,” Williams said. “They’d call me and sometimes I didn’t feel like eating and they’d be telling me how important it is to eat. Basically, they were calling me 24/7 making sure I was ok, like an extra set of parents, and that just felt special to me that they had faith in me.”
She wound up picking UM over West Virginia, North Florida, and FAU.
“She got lost in the shuffle because she had an incredibly serious surgery,” Meier said. “She came to one of our camps that summer, but she couldn’t participate. I sat and talked to her on the side and she showed me the X-ray of her spine before and after. There’s this metal rod there and I’m going `Oh my god, that’s significant. You’re going to play again?’ And she was like, `Yeah, yeah, in about 30 days I’ll be working out again.’’’
Williams was back on the court her junior season and led the Tigers to their first state title since 1992.
“All the coaches that worked with her raved about her, but my concern was we loved her athleticism, and how could she possibly be so athletic after this surgery,” Meier said. “But she is. I kept asking Fitz, `She’s still as good, right?’ He said `Yes. She’s Ja’Leah. She’s good.’’’
She arrived on the UM campus full of confidence, stealing the ball from senior teammates at the first practice.
Williams admits she was “very nervous and shaking” when Meier told her she would make her first start against then-No. 4 Indiana. She remains in the starting lineup and will be a big key against a Louisville team that is 18-2 and 8-1 in the ACC. The Cardinals are coming off a 77-65 win over No. 21 Duke.
“It will be a real maturation process for Ja’Leah and [freshman] LaShae [Dwyer],” Meier said. “Ja’Leah’s skill set allows her to catch and rip and explode to the basket. That’s a real important quality. She’s a good finisher and she does well off ball-screen reads. She’s in the gym all the time, accepts coaching and is a positive, wonderful person. She’s eager and curious and has a real nice composure to her for a freshman.”
Williams, an honor roll student in high school, has a 3.1 GPA so far at UM and has high basketball IQ. “She’ll ask `Are we in the bonus? Who has the next jump ball?’ She’s dialed in and asks questions you don’t usually hear from a freshman,” Meier said. “I expect her to be highly competitive [Tuesday] against a highly ranked opponent with a lot of All-Americans. It won’t faze her at all.”