Background and career
Shelden DeMar Williams (born October 21, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Landlord", he played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, and later played in the NBA for parts of seven seasons. Williams earned the 2005 and 2006 NABC Defensive Player of the Year Awards while at Duke, becoming only the fifth player in history to earn the award two consecutive years. He holds Duke's career blocks record, single-season blocks record, and career rebounding record.
During high school, Williams was a member of the National Honor Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
2002 EA Sports High School All-America selection Gatorade Oklahoma Player of the Year: 2001, 2002 2001 USA Today Oklahoma Player of the Year Oklahoma Player of the Year in 2001 by the Daily Oklahoman Oklahoma Defensive Player of the Year: 2000, 2001 Ranked number 49 in the nation among all players by ESPN.com following his senior season (averaging 20 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists as a senior) Rated the nation's fifth-best prep player by Future Stars and BlueChipHoops.com and sixth by College Basketball News entering the 2001–02 season The Sporting News listed Williams as the nation's sixth-best prep player entering 2001–02 Rated the nation's number one forward by Basketball News and Prepstar Three-time all-state, all-district and all-city selection (1999–2001) 2001 Parade All-America
Williams played for the Duke University men's basketball team from 2002 to 2006. He majored in sociology with a markets and management studies certificate. Williams became only the third Duke basketball player to record a triple-double when Duke defeated Maryland on January 11, 2006, recording 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks. On January 28, 2007, Duke retired Williams' No. 23 jersey. Williams is the third player in ACC history to have 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 350 blocks and 150 steals (joining Tim Duncan and Ralph Sampson). His 1,217 rebounds and 1,859 career points rank him seventh in ACC history and sixteenth in Duke history, respectively.
As of graduating from Duke University, Williams held records for:
Duke all-time leader in blocked shots (422) Duke all-time leader in rebounds Duke single season blocked shots
