What if UC had Mike Williams?

I don't get to hear the TV broadcasts of UC's games, so I don't know if the pre-season injury to Mike Williams gets mentioned very often. Typically, though, it seems as if injuries that occur once the season has started get more notice, and by extension the coach of that team gets a little more sympathy, as is the case with Pitt and the injuries to Levance Fields and Mike Cook.

I have never seen Mike Williams play except for one game in the Deveroes Summer League last summer, so I don't know the answer to this question, but I wonder how many more wins UC would have now if Williams were playing. Would he have been able to slow Harangody in the second half last night? Would he have scored inside during the first half when UC had a chance to take a big lead? Is it possible that UC would have won that game?

I know how highly Mick Cronin regards Williams and what he would have meant to this team, but it's also true that whenever a player has to sit out, whether because of injury or because he's sitting out his transfer year, his coach will talk about how that player is just dominating in practice. Mick talked that way last year about Williams and about Adam H. I remember Andy Kennedy and Frank Martin raving about Abdul Herrera the year he was ineligible.

But sometimes it's true. When Anthony Buford sat out a year after transferring from Akron, I saw first-hand how well he played in practice. And he carried that over the following year when he was able to play, helping UC get to the Final Four.

I don't know if Williams is in that class. I suppose we'll find out next winter.