William Gates Jr. is emerging from his famous dad’s shadow and carving his own path

Interest from Division I schools only trickled in at first because Midwest coaches lost track of him after the move and Texas coaches were previously unaware of him, but the late-blooming Gates forced his way onto the Division I radar with his strong senior season. Gates was drawing interest from the likes of Utah State, Long Island-Brookyln and Texas-Arlington when new Furman coach Niko Medved and his staff ramped up their pursuit the past few weeks.

Even though he only spoke to the Furman coaches for the first time last month, Gates called Medved on Monday to accept his scholarship offer. Gates appreciated that Medved made him his top priority, a stark contrast to some of the other coaches who pursued him but viewed him as a backup option if other guards they were recruiting headed elsewhere.

“Furman really got a steal of a player,” Ellis said. “He was really excited there was a school that didn’t want to wait around. They said, ‘We’ve seen you and we want you.’ The straightforwardness of it all appealed to him, his dad and his family. Instead of waiting around and dragging out the process, they were ready to come in and say, ‘Hey, we want you.’ That was good for him to hear.”

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