The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

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The 11th player in West Virginia history to top 1,000 points and 800 rebounds as well as the first bench player to ever lead the Mountaineers in scoring were named team MVPs at an awards banquet Monday. Tarik Phillip, James Long, Jevon Carter, Nate Adrian and Jon Holton were also honored.

Williams, meanwhile, was included on the NBA draft’s official early entry list Tuesday, and there have been some developments today.

Williams being on that list is not a surprise, of course, but there’s been something askew with this from the start. I never got the idea Williams’ decision was fully endorsed by WVU, and, as it was relayed to me, Williams felt he was doing what he had to do more so than what he wanted to do.

There was also no transparent proof that he’s signed — physically signed — with an agent. Now, that might be simply explained. It’s possible I can’t find something that does actually exist. Maybe it’s not something an agency boasted.

Or maybe there’s more.

News of Williams’ decision was accompanied by word he’d picked Aaron Turner of Verus Team Management. This was promptly carried on by many others, and it may very well be true, but there’s no sign of him on a client list.

To be fair, there’s also no mention of Tim Quarterman, Taurean Prince or Derrick Jones, draft-eligible players who signed with Verus.

Mr. Turner’s as active on Twitter as his schedule allows, and you can see he’s retweeted reports of players who have signed with him. I don’t see Williams anywhere.

All of that said, it would only seem that the website needs updated and/or Mr. Turner needs a 25th hour in his day to tweet more thoroughly. The agency’s various Twitter timelines are filled with mentions of old and new clients, including retweets that to Williams joining the team. There’s nothing directly from Verus that says Williams has signed, but those RTs feel like a 21st century confirmation Williams is in the fold (and in the absence of confirmation by ordinary avenues, that sometimes has to suffice).

I mention this to serve as a bookend to the little things whispered in my ear last week when news broke that Williams would stay in the draft. I was at The Greenbrier this weekend for the spring game, and two people spoke to me separate from one another and suggested maybe Williams had not signed yet, that perhaps he had thought it over and would remain affiliated with as opposed to represented by the agency and now go through the pre-draft process and ideally the combine while retaining his eligibility. The thought there was he could always sign with Verus afterward, but if he broke a leg or realized he was better served returning to WVU, he could do so by May 25.

That, it seems, is not true. In addition to the heavy indications he is represented by Verus — and this goes back to before he signed — there are some WVU basketball people who late today tell me Williams, who was not at the awards banquet Monday and was apparently in Miami, is in Puerto Rico so that he can play in a pro league there.

That’s a peculiar avenue to the NBA, but it might also be a prompt start to simply banking bucks.

I made mention to this in the day’s first post, saying I was chasing something that might turn out to be nothing, but that was before the Puerto Rico tip. I’ve produced no authentication yet about whether he has signed with an agent or if he is in Puerto Rico. It could be a matter of time for both.

The league in Puerto Rico doesn’t have any documentation on Williams — at first, there was confirmation, but that was for another newly signed Devin who played for West Virginia … Devin Ebanks — but I was told that transaction info can lag behind a day or so. Messages to anyone else in a position to confirm this have not yet been returned.

But I feel comfortable saying this: Williams isn’t coming back to WVU.

(So help me if this is all the product of confusion over what Devin is in Puerto Rico.)