Experienced Beyond His Years : Burbank Freshman Juni Williams Already an Impact Player at Age 14

It is rare when a freshman makes a boys’ varsity basketball team, even rarer when he plays.

Once in a blue moon, a freshman comes along who can crack the starting lineup.

Burbank High’s Juni Williams is rarer than a blue moon.

Williams, 14, a guard, is a starter who seems to have taken Burbank’s quest for a Southern Section title into his own hands. Williams became a starter at midseason and not only helped the Bulldogs win their first league championship in eight seasons, he has been the team’s leading scorer the past six games.

“I want to win, and if no one else steps up, I will,” Williams said. “I want my teammates to look at me as a team leader.”

That’s a freshman talking. But not a normal ninth-grader by an stretch.

Williams is 5 feet 11 and 150 pounds of muscle. He is quick as a cat, strong enough to rebound and dunk against big men yet nimble enough to hit a jump shot from 20 feet. Coaches who have seen Williams play are unanimous in saying he has all the attributes for greatness.

“He’s huge, and I couldn’t believe how composed he was,” said Bryan McSweeney, after his Dana Hills team lost to Burbank, 65-61, in Tuesday’s first round of the Division II-AA playoffs.

Williams scored a season-high 19 points against Dana Hills. He made eight of 10 free throws, including seven of eight in the fourth quarter.

“I knew about him,” McSweeney said. “But I didn’t expect to see a freshman like that. He’s got unlimited potential.”

A Foothill League coach called him a freak of nature, to be so physically and mentally mature at such a young age. Burbank Coach Jeff Davis calls Williams a phenomenon, but said Williams’ success is no fluke.

Davis knows that Williams averaged more than 30 points a game--and once scored 48--last summer while playing for the Untouchables, a team in the American Roundball Corp.

The Bulldogs are 17-8 and play host to Santa Barbara tonight in a second-round game.

“I think he can make All-American,” Davis said. “He’s an Adonis Jordan-, Jimmy Jackson- type. This kid improves every day, and he’s not a big-headed guy.”

Davis particularly likens Williams to Jackson, whom he saw score 36 points as a freshman for Toledo McComber-Whitney High in the Ohio state regionals. Jackson went on to Ohio State and now plays for the Dallas Mavericks.

“Juni does the same types of things, stepping up the fourth quarter, having the confidence and daring opponents to stop him,” Davis said. “I haven’t seen anybody that can guard him. The only difference was Jackson was 6-5 and played the whole season as a 15-year-old.”

Williams, who won’t turn 15 until March 15, says he doesn’t feel like a freshman.

“I just feel like all the other guys,” he said.

Williams said he prepared himself for varsity competition by playing for a traveling all-star team called “B Ball” that was dominated by seniors. Williams has been playing with B Ball since seventh grade.

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t surprised myself,” he said. “But it feels really good just to know my ability is that good.”

While coaches have been bowled over by Williams on sight, his teammates weren’t so easy to impress.

Carlos Baker, the team captain and odds-on favorite for most valuable player, bonded with Williams this season, in part because both appear destined to continue their athletic careers in college. Baker, who has signed a letter of intent to play football at Nevada Las Vegas, said Williams was sloppy and made many bad decisions on the court early in the season.

“He’s still got a long way to go,” Baker said. “But he’s getting better every game. We call him ‘rookie’ when he makes mistakes. Everybody was kind of iffy about him at first, but everybody’s enjoyed being around him.

“We don’t see him as a freshman now. He’s amazing.”

Williams is averaging 9.2 points a game. He has made 48% of his shots, 69% of his free throws. Those numbers are not overwhelming, but they are meaningful because many of his baskets and free throws have come at crucial times.

“He’ll hit the big three-pointer right when we need it,” Baker said. “It’s not always noticeable. We’ll be up by 10 and the other team will start to make a run, and then Juni will hit a three and demoralize them--shut them down, mentally.”

In his first start against rival Burroughs, Williams made two three-point shots in the first minute and Burbank led, 24-12, after one quarter en route to a victory. In a 64-58 title-clinching victory at Canyon, Williams scored seven of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and made both ends of a one-and-one with less than a minute left with Burbank leading by three.

Then came the playoff game against Dana Hills.

“He saved our butt making those free throws,” Baker said. “I can’t imagine what he’ll be like as a senior. People can’t stop him now.”

The only thing Williams has yet to do in a game is dunk. It’s coming.

Davis said the freshman had his elbow above the rim while

making a layup against Dana Hills. Canyon Coach Greg Hayes watched with suspended belief as Williams sprung high off the floor on jump shots.

“I noticed it in the game, but when I saw it on the film, I said, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” Hayes said. “He just elevated. We went up and he just took a higher floor than everyone else.”

Williams said he’s been hesitant to dunk during games. But he says the time will soon come when he not only dunks but takes absolute control of a game.

“I think he still gets nervous in games and thinks ‘Layup or dunk?’ when he penetrates,” Baker said. “He’s worried about what the coaches will think. But the guys want him to dunk.

“I’d love to see it. A freshman dunking? I know I’d get pumped up. . . .”

For the past three seasons, Hayes has had the Foothill League’s premier scorer in Greg Minor.

Now Canyon has to worry about defending against Williams.

“He’s developing a three-point shot, and he’s already’s got a great first step to the hole,” Hayes said. “What are we going to do? Let him dunk or give up the three?

“(Legendary former UCLA) Coach (John) Wooden always said the most important characteristics in a basketball player are quickness and jumping ability. He’s got both, and he’s just going to get better.”