Where’s Brooklyn at?
The answer is Rose Hill Gym, because when Fordham hosts UMass this afternoon, two of the borough’s most talented basketball players will be going head to head, just like they have done for most of their lives.
Point guards Branden Frazier and Chaz Williams, not surprisingly, are very similar players. Williams, who is a year older than Frazier, attended Bishop Ford, played under Tom Pecora and is one of the most talented point guards in the country. Frazier, who went to Bishop Loughlin, currently plays for Pecora and is one of the rising stars in the Atlantic-10 conference.
“This is a game that we have both been looking forward to,” Frazier said. “It’s going to be an exciting game. I think people from Brooklyn are going to focus on the winner as the best point guard from Brooklyn.”
The familiarity between Frazier and Williams goes much deeper than just growing up together in Brooklyn.
“Chaz was one of the reasons I was going to go to Hofstra,” Frazier said. “He was big on that. He played the college game before me so I looked at him in some of those games when I was committed to Hofstra.”
Williams transferred to play under Derek Kellogg at UMass, Frazier followed Pecora to Rose Hill and now will play Williams while looking to supplant the Minutemen star as the premier floor general in the A-10.
Williams and Frazier are the two leading assist men in the conference, averaging 7.4 and 5.6 assists respectively. While Williams, who was named an All A-10 first team player in the preseason, has been playing on this level for two seasons now, Frazier has made a major jump for the Rams (5-11, 1-0) this year.
“I always knew Branden was a great basketball player,” Williams said. “He has great floor vision, he can see the floor well. It was just a matter of time. I’m happy for him.”
Frazier credits spending time with Williams back home in Brooklyn over the summer for some of the improvements in his game and vice versa.
“This summer we played on the same team in different tournaments,” Williams said “We still talk, we keep in contact. I was giving him pointers. I call him and ask him certain things. We used each other and fed off each other for certain things.”
Although the two speak regularly and share tips about the game, there will not be any communication before this afternoon’s tilt, because with Fordham looking to pick up a second straight A-10 win at home and UMass (10-4, 0-1) trying to rebound from a tough road loss against St. Louis, it’s all business.
“This is not me playing against him,” Frazier said. “This is Fordham playing against UMass.”
But the winner of the battle between Williams and Frazier could go a long way toward determining which team is victorious this afternoon.
“Both guys are catalysts for their team,” Pecora said. “They’re going to have something to do with who wins. Neither team can win without one of those guys having a good performance.”
And who knows, maybe the two will head to a Brooklyn playground to run it back.