Jay Williams was a key player for Duke and head coach Mike Krzyzewski during the early 2000s. He helped win a national title in 2001 and finished as a two-time consensus All-American.

As good as he was for the Blue Devils, Williams recently shared how he almost wound up playing for Tubby Smith at Kentucky. In a conversation with Matt Jones and Myron Medcalf, Williams explained how the recruiting call with Smith started off in an encouraging manner.

“I’m being recruited, and Tubby Smith is my guy,” said Williams. “I’m like ‘Man, Kentucky wants me. This is crazy, I’m going to go to Kentucky.’ We’re having the conversation with Tubby, and the conversation is going great for 35 minutes.”

In the end, the conversation turned when Williams’ father asked one question of Smith:

“It’s the last question, and my dad’s like ‘Hey Tubby before you go, I’m just curious: what’s your graduation rate?’…I watched my dad go from ‘This is gonna happen,’ to ‘Ain’t no way in hell this is gonna happen.'”

In 3 seasons with Duke, Williams helped the Blue Devils capture a national title, 3 ACC Tournament titles, and 2 regular-season ACC titles. What could have been for the Wildcats.