By Andy Lohman



Meet The Mustangs: William Douglas Interview

The aspect of his upcoming excursion through Europe that excites SMU sophomore guard William Douglas the most is getting to see London for the first time.

Beyond visiting the great cities of the world, what's even more special for Douglas and teammates Ethan Chargois and Feron Hunt is that while traveling throughout Western Europe, the trio will get the opportunity to play high-level basketball. The trio was selected by the Global Sports Academy for the 2018 European Select Team Goodwill Tour Aug. 11-17. They will play six games against professional European teams in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.

The opportunity to play organized basketball is valuable in a long offseason.

"It definitely means a lot because in the summer you don't get to really compete a lot with referees, it's a lot of pick-up ball and stuff like that," Douglas said. "So being able to get organized and being on a team and being able to compete means a lot, especially to test out some things and get better overall."

Playing against professional talent will be challenging for the young Mustangs, but Douglas thinks that will make them better basketball players.

"It's just going to be a chance for us to get better," Douglas said. "Push our limits a little bit and test out what we can do and see how much work we need to do and what we need to work on."

This isn't the first time Douglas has gone on an international trip with SMU. Before his freshman year, he joined the team on a venture to Canada, where he filled the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in the opening game of the trip at McGill.

"Canada was fun," Douglas said. "It gave the team a chance to bond and prepared me. It was the first time I got to run college plays."

Getting those reps helped the transition from the high school game into college, which Douglas described as much more of a mental challenge.

"It was more of a shock on my mind than my body. Just being able to keep up with the pace of the game mentally and just being ready at all times," Douglas said. "It kind of drains on you, so you have to learn to stay mentally tough and keep on going."

Douglas saw minimal playing time to start his collegiate career, but featured more prominently for SMU when several teammates went down with injuries. The Memphis, Tennessee product scored a season-high 11 points on the road against a Houston team that was receiving votes in national polls.

Speed and athleticism made Douglas a formidable defender from the start of his college career. On three separate occasions last season, he recorded three steals in one game.

"I'm naturally fast, so I like breaking on the ball sometimes when I can see it," Douglas said. "I like to anticipate and bait the offense into making the wrong play."

Douglas thinks the sky is the limit for this year's team.

"People think we're kidding, but our goal is to win a national championship," Douglas said. "I think we're going to set the bar pretty high. We're going to shock a lot of people."