By Ryan X. Smith (The Whetstone, Contributor)

All-American point guard, AJ Williams is coming back to Dover – but not as an opponent.

Born in Wilmington, he is familiar with and is known in Delaware, but mainly for his basketball skills at Cabrini College near Philadelphia.

Williams is the new graduate assistant for the men’s basketball team, replacing Devin Jones.

“Wesley would have been one of the schools I would have considered playing for if I didn’t go to Cabrini,” Williams said. “I was recruited here and knew a lot about Coach Kabasa and how great this program is. He presented me with the opportunity to coach after we played Wesley my senior year.”

At Cabrini, Williams won four conference championships and made it to the D3 National Championship. He also was a three-year starter and is eighteenth on the all-time Cabrini scoring list, with 952 points. He won a player of the week award.

“AJ is someone I looked up to while he was at Cabrini,” said Williams’ former teammate Corey Frizzera. “He always pushed me on and off the court to be the best player and person I could be.”

Frizzera said he still stay in touch with Williams, and he’ll be part of the Cabrini team when it plays Wesley at the end of the semester.

“We still keep in touch even after he took the GA position at Wesley and I look forward to playing against him this season,” he said. “That game should be the toughest game on our schedule.”

The team and coaching staff said they were excited about Williams joining the staff.

“I am very happy,” said men’s basketball coach, Jerry Kobasa. “AJ is an outstanding young man with a lot of talent. He is going to be a very good coach.”

Williams said he will bring a lot to the team.

“I plan on bringing experience and leadership from being a player on the D3 level,” he said. “I plan on helping to make each player better on and off the court and lead by example so that every player can experience everything they want as a college basketball player.”

The men’s basketball team is looking forward to having a better year after losing first round in the NCAA tournament last year.

“This group has a lot of talent,” Williams said. “I expect for this team to be one of the top teams in the league and nation and be a NCAA tournament contender.”

The team starts its season on Nov. 15 in Baltimore at the Blue Jay Invitational against Mt. St. Mary of New York.