Will the Real Courtney Williams Please Stand Up?
The Indiana Fever at Atlanta Dream on August 26, 2024. Photo Credit: Minnesota Lynx
Courtney Williams the PG!
October 1, 2024
I have told this story to several people over the years but given the WNBA regular season has recently ended, I thought it appropriate to share it with a much larger audience. When most people watch a pro sporting event, they have a very limited knowledge of the background of most players on the competing teams.
One time I sat behind a group of fans at a WNBA game. They were trying to figure out who the player was who was destroying their home team. I leaned over and briefly said “she is on the Olympic team.” One responded “oh.” End of discussion.
With that in mind, I bring up the case of Minnesota Lynx point guard Courtney Williams. She has been in the WNBA since 2016 when she was picked 8th in the draft by Phoenix who had little need for her. After six games, she was traded to the Connecticut Sun where she played through 2019. She then spent two years in Atlanta, one back in Connecticut, then one Chicago before reaching Minnesota this season where she may be getting her most recognition due to team success. Her arrival there has certainly contributed to it!
She is now considered by many one of the best point guards in the league averaging 11.1 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds and only 2.5 turnovers per game over the 40-game regular season. Offensively she is best known for her mid-range jumpers and this season, some special drive and dish passing as the Lynx starting lead guard. For most, the story ends here.
A rare few may check to see if Courtney was a successful high school and college player. One source to check would be ESPN HoopGurlz where “Courtney Williams” is ranked 10th amongst prospects in the 2012 class. One problem might be noted if the reader goes past the name. This Courtney Williams is listed as 6-1 from Texas and the Lynx point guard is listed at 5-8. Wrong Courtney Williams! Even Wikipedia got it wrong for several years having a picture of a Texas A&M player attached to the biography of this WNBA point guard.
A recent YouTube video (credit to “Back 2 Sports”) did not make this mistake and lists Courtney Williams as the best WNBA player never to have been ranked nationally according to ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 (the most widely followed public national rankings of high school players). For most, the story would stop here but the story continues. [Note: We have a new group managing the ESPNW rankings and recruiting analysis, and seemingly today – a “Courtney Williams” type would be hard to miss in the current grassroots environment.]
Courtney Williams with the runner versus LA Sparks. Photo Credit: Minnesota Lynx
Lynx point guard Courtney Williams grew up in small town Folkston, Georgia, which is near the coast and about an hour’s drive north of Jacksonville, Florida, a long way from Georgia’s basketball hub (Atlanta). She was a successful player at a class A public (private regarded as much stronger) school called Charlton County High School. She was largely unknown except to perhaps mid-major D1 schools in nearby Jacksonville as of Courtney’s junior year. The Power 5 (now Power 4) schools had no legitimate interest in her. That she played on a major Florida-based club’s B team through the summer after her sophomore year most likely only served to confirm the opinion that there was no need to look at this small-town player.
Here is where I (yes, Bob Corwin) came into the picture. I got a call from a rival club administrator who asked me about Courtney of whom I had no knowledge. I was asked to go watch her in a game at Echols County High School (just over an hour’s drive from me) during Courtney’s junior year. The pursuing coach came up to me at halftime asking me what I thought. I replied, “I think she is a Power 5 player.” The response was something to the effect that none of that level had shown any interest.
I and that coach contacted several Power 5 schools. Simple answer was “no interest.” Unlike so many players then (and even less so now), Courtney had no interest in accumulating lots of offers. She just wanted a major D1 program (or one where she felt she could be challenged) to succeed at that level. She attended camps at three Power 5’s (Miami, Georgia Tech and Auburn) at various times. At one, she outplayed the star recruit according to third parties present. In each case, none were willing to make an offer with either “not interested” or “need to see more” appearing to be the response. Florida (a school Courtney was very interested in as the closest Power 5 to her hometown) was told about her, but they refused to go see her play. I personally approached a Florida State Assistant Coach who knew of Courtney but did not think she was good enough based on her knowledge. I told her (without success) to go see her again. [Note: Remember, these were not the current staffs.]
Anyway, having struck out at all the above, Courtney visited South Florida in Tampa. Assistant Coach (now Associate Head Coach) Michele Baxter really liked her game. An offer was made and accepted. No fuss, fanfare or major press conferences with the deal quietly done in the summer before her senior year.
The high school story does not end here. After her senior year, Courtney was not deemed worthy as being one of the best (not sure if was 20 or 24) players in Georgia, being passed over for the senior all-star game in spite of taking her high school team to the Final Four in Macon, Georgia. The combination of being in 1A public basketball so far from Atlanta and playing on Florida-based club teams probably were reasons for the snub. Getting the last laugh, Courtney is the only Georgia-grown player from her graduating year in the WNBA as of 2024.
USF Associate Head Coach Michele Baxter on what she saw in Courtney that others who did not recruit her missed:
”For one thing, her incredible athleticism and her midrange game (coming off the bounce and elevating over the defender). She was always competitive and played hard.”
At South Florida
USF Associate Head Coach Michele Baxter on Courtney’s development over four years at USF:
“She had an incredible work ethic. We worked hard on skill development, particularly going to her left and extending her range to beyond the three-point line.”
Williams averaged 7.4 ppg as a freshman reserve. Her last two season in Tampa she averaged 20.3 and 22.4 ppg finishing 9th amongst Division 1 scorers her senior year after which she was drafted 8th in 2016 by Phoenix. Courtney was part of USF teams to win NCAA first round games her freshman, junior and senior seasons. During her sophomore year at USF, the Bulls lost in the WNIT semi-final to Rutgers.
USF Associate Head Coach Michele Baxter on what Courtney Williams meant to the USF program:
”Being an incredible role model for the players who came after her in terms of her work ethic, loyalty and trust that we could help get her to the next level.”
WNBA
As stated above, Williams has moved four times after her rookie 2016 season. One thing that carried from team to team was solid play from the 2017 thru 2024 seasons. Over these eight seasons, she has never logged less than 26 minutes per game, scoring between 10.4 and 16.5 ppg, and shooting between 41.8% and 47.3% from the field (all solid numbers!).
A move to point in 2023
According to Courtney Williams, “I never imagined being a point guard would be on my bingo card. Last year in Chicago, they said they needed a point guard and I responded I'll try it."
USF Associate Head Coach Michele Baxter on Courtney moving to the point:
“Last year Chicago needed her to do it out of necessity and she did it very well. It goes to show you that she is willing to do anything to make her team better.”
Courtney’s assists rose to 5.9 per game as a lead guard the last two regular seasons compared to fluctuating mostly between 3 and 4 per game in earlier years. Turnovers rose about one (to 2.5 per game) these last two seasons as primary ball handler with career average 1.9 per game. Being a lead guard is, in this writer’s opinion, the most critical position on a team as it relates to winning. In this slot, the player must look to protect the ball, involve others in the offense and know when to call their own number. A lot of shooting guards play some point at times but often the offense does not run as smoothly.
To Williams’ credit, if you were not familiar with her history, you might assume she has been a WNBA point guard for far longer than two years. In finishing second overall in 2024, the Lynx have played some of the best executed basketball in the WNBA. While she may not be the Lynx headliner (that’s Napheesa Collier), Courtney Williams has played a critical role in her team’s success.
Now you know the rest of the story!
Special thanks to University of South Florida Associate Head Coach Michele Baxter for contributing quotes for this article.