Jordan Williams, in Washington D.C. for a workout with the Wizards, spoke to area reporters today about his decision to stay in the NBA draft and not return to Maryland.
Several interesting tidbits have been revealed by Jordan today but most interesting among them is that Maryland alum and Sports Center anchor Scott Van Pelt allegedly helped advise Jordan on his decision to not return to Maryland, per the Washington Post:
Van Pelt "was a big factor in helping me make my decision" to go pro, Williams said following a pre-draft workout for the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center. "Just giving me feedback, what he thought about it. Just trying to make me make the right decision. He did a great job, and I give him a lot of credit for going out of his way.
"He's a really busy guy, so for him to go out of his way to do that is unbelievable."
But now SVP is saying this is inaccurate. That wouldn't be shocking, considering Steve Yanda wrote the story. SVP via twitter:
notthefakeSVP Scott Van Pelt
This is silly. I texted today w/ Jordan about it, and its just not accurate Will speak w/ Post after show and sort this out.
So, yeah. I guess we'll have to see how this plays out. Should be interesting to hear how this plays out. Maybe it was a miscommunication by Jordan or Steve Yanda.
There were a few other tidbits from Jordan today, these via Jeff Barker on twitter:
sunjeffbarker Jeff Barker
Jordan Williams says he knows fans thought he ditched the team, but says NBA decision was hard. "People thought I just up and left class."
sunjeffbarker Jeff Barker
Jordan Williams said that when he left Maryland in March, he asked teachers if he could take incompletes & preserve his abillity to return.
So at least Jordan was conscious about not screwing over Maryland by being ineligible if he had returned and he also wants to return to school to get his degree. Hopefully he does that within 5 years so his departure won't hurt our academic progress report.
We wish Jordan the best and hope he gets drafted in the 1st round. Sadly, this is pretty much the only news Terps fans have had to read in the last few weeks.