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Tennessee basketball: Vols F Grant Williams named honorable mention All-American

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 21: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to the basket against Deaundrae Ballard #24 of the Florida Gators in the second half of a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 21, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 62-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 21: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to the basket against Deaundrae Ballard #24 of the Florida Gators in the second half of a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 21, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won 62-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball forward Grant Williams is getting more love. The Volunteers sophomore is on the Associated Press honorable mention All-America team.

After earning SEC player of the year and First Team All-SEC, Tennessee basketball’s Grant Williams is now getting national recognition. His work with the Vols this year did not go unnoticed by the AP, and he earned honorable mention All-American honors as a result.

You can see all three AP All-America teams listed here. Although Williams wasn’t one of the 15 players to make one of the teams, it’s still an accomplishment to make honorable mention. He joins Kevin Knox of the Kentucky Wildcats, Yante Maten of the Georgia Bulldogs and Collin Sexton of the Alabama Crimson Tide as SEC players to achieve such recognition.

Williams averaged 15 points and six rebounds a game this past season while adding nearly two assists. He was certainly the best player on Rick Barnes’s team. Now, to be fair, Admiral Schofield was the best down the stretch.

But Williams was great for most of the year with the exception of a few off-games. And he was always mentally tough enough to respond well to any criticism from his coach, teammates or fans. Intangibles matter, and Williams had them.

The scary part about this, though, is what Barnes said Monday. He noted that Williams could still improve his conditioning. In addition to conditioning, Barnes said he doesn’t yet have the drive Schofield, Lamonte Turner and Kyle Alexander are showing.

If he develops that in the offseason, which those guys all did after their second year, he could take his game to an insane level next year. Remember, the guy is only a sophomore, and he’s already made a huge impact on the program.

Tennessee basketball’s expectations continue to go up next year considering the talent they have returning. If Williams takes half the strides into his third year that Schofield and Turner took this past year, he’ll be a contender for National Player of the Year.

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