Brown, Williams Named Ohio State Men’s Basketball Captains – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 18, 2001
%^$COLUMBUS, Ohio–Jim O’Brien, Ohio State head men’s basketball coach, announced senior Brian Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) and sophomore Zach Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y./Christ the King) will serve as 2001-02 captains.%^$
%^$Brown will be serving his second season as captain after sharing the duties with Ken Johnson last year.%^$
%^$Williams is the first sophomore captain since Damon Stringer was designated a captain during the 1997 season. Stringer was a freshman starter in 1996 and a captain in 1997 as a sophomore. He then left Ohio State before his junior year. Robert Donham was a four-year starter for Ohio State from 1947-50. He was the designated captain in 1948, his sophomore season, but not in either of the next two years.%^$
%^$Each player on the 2001-02 roster was given the opportunity to select one or more teammates to join Brown this season, O’Brien said.%^$
%^$”There was an overwhelming number of votes for Zach to join Brian as our captains this year,” O’Brien said. “Zach has demonstrated his leadership abilities in everything we do. I don’t recall a sophomore earning the respect of his teammates like Zach has done here in just over a year in our program.”%^$
%^$There has never been a three-time captain in the history of Ohio State men’s basketball. Only 11 players, including Brown, have been two-time captains.%^$
%^$Zach Williams
%^$On being named co-captain
%^$”It’s a real honor to know that your teammates and coaches respect you in that way. I’m real excited about the opportunity and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”%^$
%^$”I’m the one who’s always talking it up and I’m not going to tell someone to do something that I’m not going to do myself. I think the guys pick up on that. I’ll go as hard as I can and they follow my lead.”%^$
%^$On practice so far
%^$”We’re definitely ready to get back on the court because that’s the fun part. Getting ready for the next team and just getting out there and competing.”%^$
%^$On being picked to finish low in the Big Ten
%^$”It definitely motivates us and it’s something we want to overcome like we did last year. The guys know that we’re better than that. We want to build on what we did last year and keep this program winning.”%^$
%^$Brian Brown
%^$On Zach Williams being named co-captain
%^$”I wasn’t surprised at all. When we came in he was very conditioned and very vocal with the team. He’s one of the guys that work hard, step-up and take charge. It’s kind of a Brooklyn thing.”%^$
%^$”(Being captain) has its peaks and valleys. You know you can’t joke around and slack off in practice. You have to step up and do almost everything to perfection.”%^$
%^$”It’s a little bit more pressure but it’s good to have. When game time comes, you’re used to it. You’re one of the guys that coach knows he can go to and step up when the team needs it the most.%^$
%^$Coach Jim O’Brien
%^$On sophomore Zach Williams being named co-captain
%^$”If (the voting) would have been close, I may have went with some of the upperclassmen, but it wasn’t. This is their team and they spoke loud and clear. This is a tremendous testament to him because he clearly has established himself as one of our team leaders. He’s very mature, he works hard and leads by example.”%^$
%^$”I’m thrilled with where we are as a team. One of the things we benefit from having a sophomore captain is that we already have a senior as well. Knowing that Zach is there with Brian, I think we have tremendous leadership. It speaks volumes about the maturity level of this team when the upperclassmen accept a younger player as one of their captains.”%^$
