Portland State Basketball

Former Portland State star and NBA player Freeman Williams has died at the age of 65.

The Utah Jazz, who Williams played for during the 1982-83 season, announced his death on Twitter on Wednesday:

We are saddened by the news that Freeman Williams, former Utah Jazzman, has passed away at the age of 65.

The Utah Jazz family sends its love to Freeman's family, loved ones and fans as they grieve his loss ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vUrqvmZwwO

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 20, 2022

Williams is best-known for his four-year college stint at Portland State from 1974-75 to 1977-78. His 3,249 career points in college ranks second in NCAA history, behind only Pete Maravich (3,667).

The California native averaged more than 30 points per game in each of his final three college seasons. He had four games with at least 59 points, including an 81-point outing against Rocky Mountain in February 1978.

Williams was named to the All-American team as a senior in 1977-78, alongside Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Mychal Thompson. He led the NCAA in scoring average as a junior (38.8) and senior (35.9).

After leaving school, Williams was the eighth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. He was traded to the San Diego Clippers shortly after the draft.

Williams spent three-plus seasons with the Clippers before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks in January 1982. He played in just 50 more NBA games after the deal, including nine in 1985-86 with the Washington Bullets.

In between stints with the Jazz and Bullets, Williams had a stint with the Tampa Bay Thrillers in the CBA. He averaged 14.7 points per game in 323 appearances with four different NBA teams.

Williams was inducted into Portland State's athletics Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 1997. The school also retired his No. 20 jersey.    

Portland State announced basketball player Deante Strickland, who also joined the Vikings' football team ahead of the 2019 season, died in a shooting Friday afternoon. He was 22.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Deante," athletic director Valerie Cleary said. "He represented everything it means to be a Viking in his hometown of Portland. He will forever be remembered for his character, determination and warm smile. Our prayers go out to his family and friends."

PSU basketball star Deante Strickland killed in NE Portland shootinghttps://t.co/YYfTOzpv56 pic.twitter.com/5a2E4oEllC

— KOIN News (@KOINNews) August 3, 2019

A Portland homicide detective arrested Tamena Strickland, Deante's sister, on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, according to The Oregonian. Two women, the siblings' grandmother and aunt, were also shot and are recovering in the hospital.

Damian Strickland, Deante's uncle, told The Oregonian that "everyone is shocked."

"The contractors were giving him CPR as he was saying, 'My sister shot me … I don't want to die,'" Damian said. "We're confused as to the motive. There wasn't any ongoing disagreement or anything weird."

Vikings head basketball coach Barret Peery joined Cleary in mourning Strickland's death:

"We are all deeply saddened and grieving about this tragic news. We are better for having had Deante in our lives. His smile, passion and energy for life was second to none. He lit up a room and made the people around him better in every way. He loved his family, his friends and everyone around him. He had great pride in being a kid from Portland, and it showed in how he competed each day. We will never forget him, and he will always be with us. I love Deante and am a better man for having the opportunity to coach him. This entire community will miss him."

Strickland attended Central Catholic High School in Portland before heading to Casper College in Wyoming. He returned to his hometown to join the Vikings ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

The guard averaged 7.0 points, 2.5 assists and 2.2 rebounds across 31 appearances last season.

After last night's activity, we have our first team from a BCS conference to move down. Texas Tech came back from a double-digit deficit to beat Texas A&M. The Aggies have moved down to a seven seed (and I'll admit I had them a bit high at a six to begin with).

Portland State and Robert Morris used last-second heroics to clinch their bids. Had Montana State been able to hold off the Vikings, we would have seen one of the proud, the few—the teams with overall losing records. 

Bracket Projection (teams who have clinched are in bold)

East Region

1 UConn v 16 Radford

2 Duke v 15 Morgan State

3 Washington v 14 Portland State

4 Clemson v 13 Stephen F. Austin

5 Gonzaga v 12 New Mexico

6 West Virginia v 11 South Carolina

7 Texas A&M v 10 Wisconsin

8 Ohio State v 9 Dayton

South Region

1 UNC v 16 Morehead State

2 Oklahoma v 15 East Tennessee State

3 Villanova v 14 Buffalo

4 Xavier v 13 Cleveland State

5 Syracuse v 12 Michigan

6 Purdue v 11 San Diego State

7 Tennessee v 10 Siena

8 Arizona State v 9 Texas

Midwest Region

1 Pitt v 16 Play-In (Cal State Northridge v Alabama St.)

2 Michigan State v 15 Cornell

3 Kansas v 14 North Dakota State

4 Florida State v 13 Northern Iowa

5 UCLA v 12 Western Kentucky

6 Marquette v 11 Arizona

7 Utah v 10 Boston College

8 LSU v 9 Minnesota

West Region

1 Memphis v 16 Chattanooga

2 Louisville v 15 Robert Morris

3 Wake Forest v 14 Binghamton

4 Missouri v 13 American

5 Illinois v 12 VCU

6 BYU v 11 Creighton

7 Oklahoma State v 10 Utah State

8 Butler v 9 California

No, this is not a typo.

The headline is correct, and no, you're not dreaming Zag fans.

You may be wondering, how in the world did the Bulldogs lose to Portland State?

At home, nonetheless?

Many college fans not living in the Great Northwest may be asking themselves this morning, "Who the 'bleep' is Portland State?"

Well, they are the defending Big Sky Conference Champions from last season, if that helps, but still...

They didn't even have a men's basketball team before it was reinstated during the 1996-1997 season. Since then, these teams had met 10 times and Gonzaga had won all 10 meetings.

Portland State is now 1-11 all-time vs. nationally ranked opponents.

Not to overstate it, but this is the basketball equivalent of 40-point underdog Stanford upsetting No. 2 USC or FCS/D-IAA Appalachian State beating No. 5 Michigan in college football recently.

I was one of the few voters to vote Gonzaga outside of the top 10 in the latest B/R basketball poll, which you can find by clicking here.

Like Xavier, who lost to unranked (albeit possibly not for long) Butler, the Zags were suffering from the lingering effects of losing just three days earlier in overtime to No. 2 UConn.

The difference is Xavier had been absolutely crushed and dominated by Duke. Their confidence was smashed into millions of tiny little pieces.

Additionally, Butler is not Portland State.

Butler is a very good team that has beaten numerous top-ranked opponents over the past several years, including Maryland, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Louisville, and a 19-point win just last year over postseason NIT Champion Ohio State.

After this poor performance, there's nearly a 100 percent chance Gonzaga won't even make my top 25 in this coming weekend's poll.

And to think—the game was nearly postponed due to extreme inclement weather that had closed highways and force airport delays all throughout the Northwest.

Too bad for Gonzaga, it wasn't.

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