Benny Williams Named an SI All-American Finalist

The Syracuse signee is one of the best players in the 2021 recruiting class.

Mike McAllister | Mar 1, 2021

Benny Williams Named an SI All-American Finalist /

Syracuse basketball's 2021 class may only have one player in it, but that player is one of the best in the nation in Benny Williams. On Monday, SI All-American released the All-American finalists and Williams was included in the list of 50 players.

AllSyracuse.com caught up with Director of Basketball Recruiting Jason Jordan about why the future Orange forward made the cut.

"What I really liked about him is the growth in his game across the board," Jordan said. "Covid really showed who's going to work for it and who's going to say, 'oh man I didn't have any competition' or 'I couldn't get in this tournament.' What I've learned is that the elite guys have really found what it means to go out and work on their game. How beneficial that has been. He's obviously one of the guys that has done that. I just really like how he's a do it all guy, yes, but I feel like as a playmaker, he's grown substantially.

"Benny's on a traveling all-star team with Efton Reid, we'll start with him, and then Charles Bediako. It's just a traveling all-star team. Let's just be honest. You'd probably make the intelligent case that he's the best player on the team. I hate to say positionless because that's become a little bit of a cliche, but he really is. He's best when he's a playmaker, making plays from the wing. As he's improved his ball handling, I could see him at the point forward position. He's such a great playmaker, so heady, great basketball IQ, great passer. He can score when he wants to, but he has just a great feel for the game. And you can tell that's grown year over year. So he's a guy that we definitely had to include in the top 50 and a guy who has a legitimate chance to make one of our three teams."

There will be a first team, a second team and a third team, each with five players, when the list is trimmed down from 50 to 15.

Published Mar 1, 2021

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.