Jason Williams becomes first freshman starter at point since Hurley

Jason Williams had used the move many a time on unfortunate high school opponents, leaving them flatfooted and resigned to watch Williams drain a jumper or bank in a layup, another victim of the McDonald's national player of the year.

So when he dribbled down the court one pickup game in Card Gym and found Nate James in his way, Williams decided he needed to get by. The freshman threw the ball out with his left hand, pulled it back with his right and learned one of his first lessons of college.

"You find out not all the moves you used to do in high school work here," Williams said. "They don't work at all."

He told this story with the smile that rarely leaves his face, the friendly grin that shone for the cameras when he introduced guests on The Rosie O'Donnell Show last March and met President Bill Clinton at the White House two weeks later. It's an expression he hopes will still be there in the middle of February, when the Blue Devils are playing four ACC games in 10 days and opposing fans are taunting and opposing point guards tormenting him.

Things change quickly when you're a freshman starting at point guard for a top college basketball team. The move that used to embarrass high school defenders suddenly embarrasses you against a veteran who was playing in Final Fours before you were old enough to drive.

But Jason Williams knows how things change, how you go to bed one night and the world looks one way, then wake up the next morning and don't recognize a thing.

When Williams committed to Duke last August, he pictured himself feeding the ball to Elton Brand in the low post, learning the ropes from Will Avery, running fast breaks with Corey Maggette, throwing alley-oops to Chris Burgess.

Then, after a five-week stretch of defection, they were all gone. The squad Williams envisioned playing for no longer existed.

His chance to be part of something great begins today, when Williams will become just the third freshman to start at point guard under Mike Krzyzewski. Williams is one of only two scholarship players with just a G listed as his position and will rarely leave the floor as a result.

But if the stress of being a young player running a young team ever makes Williams wish he had never made that visit to Duke, he can simply turn to the Blue Devils' bench for counsel and comfort. Assistant coaches Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojciechowski know a thing or two about the pressures of manning the Duke backcourt, especially as a freshman.

And then there's Krzyzewski, a former point guard himself, who's coached a string of stars at the position by treating his on-court leader differently from his other players.

"It's because he has more responsibility; he has more to think about," Krzyzewski said. "The younger you are, the harder that is. If you are paying attention to everybody, you tend to forget about your strengths, you're so concerned with everyone else's."

The coach has two good reasons to believe that Williams will survive his rookie campaign with his sanity intact. Their names are Tommy Amaker and Bobby Hurley, the first two freshman point guards to start under Krzyzewski.

"I just told Jason he needs to be exactly like Tommy and Bobby," Krzyzewski joked this summer. "If he didn't have the talent level, I'd be more concerned. He does have talent. We have to allow him the opportunity to grow and make mistakes, like we did with Tommy and Bobby."

Ten years after another Catholic school kid from New Jersey took over a team that lost the national player of the year and a point guard who started every game from a Final Four squad, Williams hopes to follow a small piece of advice Hurley gave him this summer.

"The only thing Bobby Hurley told me is no matter what happens to stay strong mentally," Williams said. "He doesn't really talk that much, but that was all he had to really say to me. I'm going to go through a lot of ups and downs this year, but if I stay strong mentally I'll be OK."

Unlike Hurley, Williams has the size and strength to shove back when opponents try to push him around this season. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound guard also boasts a quick first step and explosive vertical leap that will make life as a freshman point guard a little easier.

Nobody doubts Williams has the tools to shine in college basketball, but there's that one thing that concerns everyone.

"He's just young," Carrawell said. "But if he goes out there and plays, he can play with anybody, that's not a problem.... He's got to approach it like a pickup game where no one can guard him."

James was able to guard Williams once in a pickup game, but, as Carrawell has seen, few have succeeded since. As the freshman knows, things change, which means there's no reason he can't be tormenting some senior once March rolls around.