Exclusive: Proof of Concept Has Come and It Finally Led Sebastian Williams-Adams to Vanderbilt Basketball – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—-Sebastian Williams-Adams admits that he was “close” to committing to Vanderbilt as a high schooler, before he chose to start his college career at Auburn under Bruce Pearl. 
Williams-Adams says it was difficult to let each of the other three schools—Vanderbilt, Purdue and Oklahoma State—in his final four that he’d be heading elsewhere. Vanderbilt, he says, was especially difficult to say no to. 
Multiple sources told Vandy on SI that Vanderbilt had a lucrative deal on the table to Williams-Adams, it planned to use him in a big role right away and Williams-Adams says Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington was always clearly high on him. Williams-Adams knew he let him down, though. It became an easier pill to swallow when he committed to Byington and company out of the transfer portal a week ago, but it weighed on him at the time. 
“I felt like a s****y person for telling him no,” Williams-Adams told Vandy on SI. “I legitimately was questioning whether I was a terrible person.” 
Williams-Adams wasn’t that–and he says he still spoke highly of Vanderbilt and its ability to be a good team with or without him to others while in his year at Auburn–but he was one of a number of high school prospects ranked within the top 100 that Vanderbilt pushed hard for, but couldn’t get over the finish line with. 
Chance Mallory, Williams-Adams, Jermaine O’Neal, Nyk Lewis, Jaden Toombs, Jerry Easter, Derek Dixon and London Jemison all considered Vanderbilt. But, none said yes. All opted for what were more established programs at the time. 
At that point, Byington and company hadn’t yet won an SEC game and they hadn’t yet made the NCAA Tournament. All they had was a vision and some resources to back it up. 
Now, though, they’ve got enough of a track record to add a player like Williams-Adams. Vanderbilt has made two NCAA Tournaments since Williams-Adams’ high school recruitment, has developed a few forwards and has formed a foundation of expectations. Players of Williams-Adams’ caliber have noticed.
“Winning helps,” Williams-Adams said. “It was his first year and I mean no offense to him or anybody, but it's hard for anybody to kind of trust the system and if it will translate to the SEC. So, I think that was just definitely one of the harder things for the top 100 kids to kind of go with, but he quickly turned it around and now you see guys committed to Vandy out of high school.”
Vanderbilt has since broken through with a class of three top 100 recruits in the 2026 high school class, and it’s also demonstrated its growth by landing Williams-Adams after his generally-successful freshman season at Auburn. 
Williams-Adams averaged 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 stocks per game while shooting 50.5% from the field as well as 30.8% from 3-point range and setting the freshman steals record in his lone year at Auburn. Vanderbilt’s staff believes that Williams-Adams is more valuable than those numbers would indicate, though.
As a result, Vanderbilt’s staff was calling Williams-Adams less than 10 minutes after he entered the portal. Williams-Adams wanted to move fast with his recruiting process, and so did Vanderbilt. 
The Commodores’ staff had to beat out Miami—which also made a strong push for Williams-Adams—though. Miami coach Jai Lucas’ dad John Lucas II has mentored Williams-Adams since he was young and let him know that he was valued.
Williams-Adams admits that the hours following his portal entry were a whirlwind. Perhaps that affirmed his intention to get this over with quickly. He says that from 2:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. the day following his entry, Williams-Adams was consecutively on the phone with either his parents or an interested school. The night after his entry, he says he was up until 2:00 A.M. mulling over whether Vanderbilt or Miami was next and ended the night with only three hours of sleep. 
Once Williams-Adams had finished thinking it over, he was quick to pull the trigger. He was heading to Vanderbilt–where he feels as if he can expand his skillset and be part of a winner right away. 
“Byington has such a big belief in me,” Williams-Adams said. “He's pretty committed to us working in the summer, working as much as possible, and showing my true potential. He says defensively he believes I’m one the best defenders in the SEC so just combining that with a better offensive game, I would say just that was kind of the main thing we've talked about.” 
For the first time, Williams-Adams and Byington can do more than talk about it. They’ll get to pursue his ceiling together.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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