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The state's next big-time player

Jack Bogaczyk
Daily Mail Sports Editor

WHEN the basketball season began, more than a few of St. Albans' basketball foes didn't know the Red Dragons' center from Adam.

That's changed so significantly that even Division I coaches now know who's posting up on a team for which athletic Kentucky signee Adam Williams is the poster boy.

"I've had people see Adam Fletcher and ask me if he's a transfer," Williams said. "There's no way anyone who saw him last year would believe what he's doing now. He goes out and gets 25 points and 15 rebounds and he does it consistently.

"It's nuts."

Fletcher has surprised just about everyone except himself. He's grown by 2 inches and 20 pounds since last season. His statistics have sprouted even more impressively.

He has plenty of time to get where he wants to go. He's only 16, a junior, and on Saturday night, Marshall head Coach Ron Jirsa drove over from Huntington to watch the 6-foot-9, 215-pound prospect against Hurricane.

Jirsa figures to be the first of many recruiters in the new Red Dragon gym, where there's another reason to visit besides watching Williams' fluidity and ability to take over a game -- thanks in large part to Fletcher.

"We've helped each other an awful lot, in my opinion," Williams said. "When people pack it in on Adam, they can't double me. When they box-and-one me, Adam might get 30-40 points on you. We never had an inside game last year. Now, it's pick your poison."

Fletcher already has received interest from 16 Division I programs, including Marshall and West Virginia. Fletcher hobbled through most of eighth-ranked St. Albans' victory Saturday after re-spraining his right ankle in the first quarter and then tearing open a foot blister late in the game.

Still, he managed 11 rebounds and a couple of blocks to go with nine points.

"He's near 6-9 and still growing," said veteran St. Albans Coach Tex Williams, father of the Dragon star guard. "There's got to be major-college potential there, and I think a lot of people are going to be interested because of his feet.

"You don't find many 6-9 kids who have the legs and feet he does. His downstairs is pretty doggone good. He runs the floor. He knows how to get into position to score. He rebounds. He knows how to find the open man.

"I've got to be honest. I didn't think Adam would come along like he has. I didn't know whether he'd be determined enough to improve like he has. A lot of kids are