Final Four: Nigel Williams-Goss has one goal left on his list
Nigel Williams-Goss of the Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrates after defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four Semifinal at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 1, 2017 in Glendale, Ariz. Credit: Getty Images / Tom Pennington
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nigel Williams-Goss spent the 2015-16 basketball season redshirting as a transfer from the University of Washington to Gonzaga, but during that time off, his goals for this season were never far from his thoughts. In fact, he typed up a list of them and saved it as the home screen on his phone.
Every text, every call, every photo, every search for directions he made was a reminder. It remained there, too, as he and Gonzaga played through this season.
About two weeks ago, Williams-Goss lost his phone — and with it, the list.
The junior guard said he didn’t bother to recreate it for his new device, though. “At this point, we only have one game left,” he said. “And there’s just one last thing to check off.”
That, of course, would be winning a national title. Everything else on the list (that Williams-Gross committed to memory) came true.
“I wanted to win the WCC [regular season] championship, I wanted to win the WCC Tournament championship, I wanted to win the WCC player of the year,” he said. “I wanted to be a first-team academic All-America and I wanted to be a basketball All-America.
“And then I wanted to win a national championship.”
He can do that on Monday night.
“I prayed for it every night and I worked for it every day, and literally every single goal I’ve been able to check off so far this year,” he said.
Somewhere, that lost phone and the list on its face are waiting for the final accomplishment.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
