A one-man grudge match

Jamaal Williams was back in Albuquerque, N.M. shooting hoops preparing for the Sweet Sixteen, when his past caught up with him.

For two years, Williams hadn't spoken with or seen New Mexico coach Ritchie McKay. Didn't want to. Then, suddenly, McKay showed up in the middle of an open practice, walked all the way across the court, embraced Williams in a hug and told him "good luck."

That was it.

It was an awkward moment for Williams, who had left McKay and the Lobos in a confusing breakup after his sophomore season.

"I was like, 'Why is he doing this?'" Williams said of the encounter. "I felt like all the attention was on us to see what was going to happen."

Williams played two seasons for the Lobos, one under coach Fran Fraschilla, and one under McKay, previously an assistant at Washington under Bob Bender. With the coaching change came a new style -- a guard-oriented offense based on the three-ball. Williams watched as his minutes diminished. He butted heads with McKay.

Even though he was second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points, and third with 5.1 rebounds per game, Williams increasingly found himself on the bench. In his last game he played just 12 minutes.

"At the end of the season, when he stopped playing me, I definitely got the picture that my services were no longer needed there," Williams said. "The last thing that was said to me was: 'Is it safe to say that you won't be returning to the University of New Mexico?' I said yes."

Days later Williams was packing his bags for Washington.

On Saturday at noon, Williams will come to face-to-face with his former team and former coach when the Huskies and Lobos meet at the Wooden Classic in Los Angeles.

Williams knows just three players on the Lobos -- Mark Walters, David Chiotti and Jeff Hart. He doesn't speak with any of them. The only people he keeps in contact with are the other players who transferred away from New Mexico.

"We have something in common," he said.

There are no regrets from Williams -- far from it. The senior forward has seen a dramatic improvement in his own game since arriving at the UW. He's now the starting forward on the No. 13 team in the country, fresh off a Sweet Sixteen run.

"I don't know if they would have pushed me to the same level coach Romar has," Williams said. "They probably would have just let me be complacent, just being good. I left a school that was just content with trying to make the NCAA Tournament."

The Lobos went 26-7 last season, won the MWC Championship, and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Villanova.

"This game is not about me against New Mexico -- it's about us getting better," Williams said. "My proof is in the success that I've had at this school."