Basketball Camps

Poised and ready to conquer new opportunities and challenges, The Coach Willis Wilson Basketball Camp are still primed for action this summer. Rest assured that the recent changes at Rice University will in no way affect the quality, professional instruction and commitment that the Willis Wilson Basketball Camps have always delivered! See you on the courts!

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This story was originally published in the Texas Magazine in January 2006

At the time, Willis Wilson wasn't piloting the Rice Owl basketball fortunes as the primary bench boss, but merely serving as the on-the-floor point guard with the ever-alert eye for the open teammate or the opportune jump shot. However, one game night his junior season, something else caught his eye. Rather, someone else.

"I remember sitting on the bench as a player and saying to myself, "That's the kind of girl I want to marry,"" reminisces Willis with total recall of the initial glimpse of his future wife, Vicki, in the crowd that evening at Autry Court. "She had a lot of personality - just a presence."

This team captain was accustomed to orchestrating the Owls offense, clock-working the orange, dishing and distributing - and he soon devised an off-the-court plan that would deliver nothing less than a large dose of destiny.

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The problem is that college basketball has no soul. I see way too many good teams blowing out other good teams, I see way too many upsets, and I see way too many coaches getting out coached by their peers. Where teams were once built over time they are now pieced together by the ace recruiters who make a name not for winning games, but for assembling a recruiting class or two. The guys in charge are no longer coaches, but people called coaches who just manage players, the players that they spend 90 percent of their time recruiting and a mere 10 percent coaching (well excuse me; managing).

The best teams that I have seen have been teams with good basketball players who make good basketball decisions and understand ball movement, team defense, timing, and shot selection, but the number of these teams has been few and far between. As I looked over the start of the season's top 25 polls I saw many big name basketball schools on that list, yet when I saw several of those teams play I was disappointed to see teams that were bigger, stronger and faster than many of their opponents, but had the skill level of middle school teams. I am fascinated when I see teams like Drake, Butler and St. Mary's of California slay the big boys, but I am not amazed. These schools load up with basketball players, hoopers, kids that can hit the open man just as well as hitting an open jumper. These are also kids that don't shy away from coaching. They are willing to "go through something" to get a chance to play college ball and they play to win unlike their brethren at many of the other programs around the nation who play for glory and praise.

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