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DUKE'S ELLIOTT WILLIAMS TRANSFERRING OUT
Jun 24, 2009 | 6:56AM | report this

Elliott Williams is leaving Duke.

The school announced that the sophomore guard has decided to transfer for "family medical reasons."

Williams, whose mother is sick, will file an appeal for a waiver in an attempt to play this season closer to his hometown of Memphis.

More than likely, according to sources, Williams will play for his hometown Memphis Tigers.

It may not look like a major blow to Duke, since Williams only averaged 4.2 points last season, but he started 11 of the last 12 of the season and with the departure of Gerald Henderson to the NBA, Williams' role was expected to increase significantly.

Looks like Memphis...

Memphis or Ole Miss

Calipaliar will convince him that The University of Kentucky is closer to Memphis than The University of Memphis.

Cal didn't want him the first time so i doubt he'll want him now unless he does it just depite Memphis

(06-24-2009 04:22 PM)MC Blazer Wrote: [ -> ]Calipaliar will convince him that The University of Kentucky is closer to Memphis than The University of Memphis.

I saw this title and thought... Duke Ellington is transferring out. I assumed he was transferring to Utah.

(06-24-2009 04:22 PM)MC Blazer Wrote: [ -> ]Calipaliar will convince him that The University of Kentucky is closer to Memphis than The University of Memphis.

Considering EW has been going to school at Duke and seems to be quite bright, I am reeeeally hoping he doesn't fall for this.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry...4/15739669


"Closer to home" needs to be close to home
Posted on: June 25, 2009 5:11 pm

Duke transfer Elliot Williams plans to move "closer to home" and ask the NCAA for a waiver to play next season because his mother is battling cancer. He will reportedly choose between Memphis, Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. But the problem with those two statements is that they don't seem to jibe, because there's no chance the Memphis native would get a waiver to play at Tennessee or Kentucky, and even Vanderbilt is a stretch.

At least that's what one Division I coach told CBSSports.com.

According to a Division I coach who has dealt with transfers, the NCAA has "tightened up" the criteria for waivers since allowing Tyler Smith to transfer from Iowa to Tennessee without penalty when Smith's father was battling cancer. Smith wanted to "be closer to home" because of his father's illness, so he picked Tennessee, which is 248 miles from his home in Pulaski, Tenn. The NCAA granted the waiver. But the source said the guidelines are now stricter (even if they aren't clearly defined).

"I know a player who transferred to a school 106 miles from his home, and the NCAA denied the waiver," the source said. "They wanted to know that the player was going to have 'day-to-day responsibilities' with the family member before granting the waiver, and they said that you can't have 'day-to-day responsibilities' if you're 106 miles away."

Assuming that ruling is consistent with the NCAA's current way of thinking, it appears unlikely that Williams could get a waiver to play at any of the schools he's considering except for Memphis. Consider:

* Vanderbilt is 212 miles from Memphis.
* Tennessee is 391 miles from Memphis.
* Kentucky is 423 miles from Memphis.

In conclusion, best I can tell, unless Elliot Williams wants to sit out a year, he must transfer to Memphis.

And that's why it seems to be a near certainty that he'll play for the Tigers next season.

(06-25-2009 06:29 PM)WesternBlazer Wrote: [ -> ]http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry...4/15739669


"Closer to home" needs to be close to home
Posted on: June 25, 2009 5:11 pm

Duke transfer Elliot Williams plans to move "closer to home" and ask the NCAA for a waiver to play next season because his mother is battling cancer. He will reportedly choose between Memphis, Tennessee, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. But the problem with those two statements is that they don't seem to jibe, because there's no chance the Memphis native would get a waiver to play at Tennessee or Kentucky, and even Vanderbilt is a stretch.

At least that's what one Division I coach told CBSSports.com.

According to a Division I coach who has dealt with transfers, the NCAA has "tightened up" the criteria for waivers since allowing Tyler Smith to transfer from Iowa to Tennessee without penalty when Smith's father was battling cancer. Smith wanted to "be closer to home" because of his father's illness, so he picked Tennessee, which is 248 miles from his home in Pulaski, Tenn. The NCAA granted the waiver. But the source said the guidelines are now stricter (even if they aren't clearly defined).

"I know a player who transferred to a school 106 miles from his home, and the NCAA denied the waiver," the source said. "They wanted to know that the player was going to have 'day-to-day responsibilities' with the family member before granting the waiver, and they said that you can't have 'day-to-day responsibilities' if you're 106 miles away."

Assuming that ruling is consistent with the NCAA's current way of thinking, it appears unlikely that Williams could get a waiver to play at any of the schools he's considering except for Memphis. Consider:

* Vanderbilt is 212 miles from Memphis.
* Tennessee is 391 miles from Memphis.
* Kentucky is 423 miles from Memphis.

In conclusion, best I can tell, unless Elliot Williams wants to sit out a year, he must transfer to Memphis.

And that's why it seems to be a near certainty that he'll play for the Tigers next season.

Well it doesn't matter anyway. The first to write the story including Vandy, TN, and Kentucky was the Commercial Appeals high school beat writer, Jason Smith. He got that list from a list Elliot had coming out of high school. How I know this, is three reasons 1. Elliot's family (dad) contacted Pastner a couple of months ago about the possibility a few weeks ago, before EW finished the season at Duke and Elliot's mother started getting ill 2. Dan Wolken (Tiger basketball beat writer, calmed those getting upset about the school list Jason put in his story and several national media guys ran with) put a twitter out telling everyone that Jason used Elliot's list of finalist out of high school to go in the story. 3. Elliot met with Pastner a couple of days ago and has since been getting his paperwork completed to enroll.

So you are right, there is no list. It is apparently Memphis and an official announcement should follow soon. You can ask Tiger B'ham, but I don't even think there has been any communication from the family or the coaches in reference to Kentucky and Tennessee (they don't have any schollies anyway), actually the only team I've heard tried to squeeze Memphis out was some contact from OM and Andy Kennedy. I'm not sure on the source for this, but they have been right before.

I know I'm a fan, so my opinion may be slanted, but besides staying at Duke, Memphis makes the most sense. It gets him back home to be with his family and allows them to see him play without leaving home. Memphis is short on guards, especially those that can play the point. With EW, we will have him competing with Willie Kemp for the PG spot, plus EW can play at the 2 or even the three in college.

This could be a potential C-USA championship team talent wise, just not much experience.

PG: Elliott Williams / Willie Kemp
SG: Robert Sallie / Doneal Mack
SF: Wesley Witherspoon / Derrick Williams (maybe) / Martin Ngloro
PF: Latavious Williams / Angel Garcia
C: Will Coleman / Pierre Henderson-Niles

Looks good to me.