Darnell Williams, a former Xavier standout, is back in Cincinnati between stints in a Venezuelan league.

Williams, 26, won a league championship with Marinos de Oriente last season and was named rookie of the year after he averaged 12 points a game in the regular season and 18 during the championship series.

"It's fast-paced down there," Williams said. "If you can't score, you can't play, because everyone is just trying to outscore everyone else."

Williams showed All-America potential at Xavier until a knee injury suffered the summer before his senior year wiped out his 1998-99 season. He received a fifth year of eligibility, but basketball is an unkind game to rehabilitated knees. Williams managed to average 13.0 points a game in his final season at Xavier, but he lost the devastating quickness that had him on the verge of stardom.

"You can't dwell on that," Williams said. "Things happen for a reason. I can still run up and down with most of them."

Williams will return to Venezuela in January. For now, he's working out with Xavier strength coach Dave Armstrong to treat tendinitis in Williams' knee.

When he gets back to Venezuela, Williams has to be in good enough shape to play at the same level he did last season, because he says American players are held to a higher standard with just two Americans per team.

"If you're American and you don't play well, you get sent home," Williams said. "Everybody has to understand that it's cutthroat. But I'll play until my wheels fall off."

HOLES TO FILL: Ohio State senior Shaun Smith, who played high school basketball at Walnut Hills, received a scholarship for his final season of eligibility after Zach Williams transferred to Wright State.

Smith has won the team's John Havlicek Award the last two seasons as the team's most inspirational player. A 5-foot-10 guard, Smith made the team as a walk-on in the fall of 2000 and has appeared in 35 games.

Williams announced in May that he would transfer from Ohio State and decided on Wright State, where former OSU assistant Paul Biancardi is now the head coach. Williams had been a three-year starter at OSU but was suspended during the Big Ten Tournament following an argument with coaches.

TROUBLE IN TEXAS: Baylor isn't the only men's basketball program in the Lone Star State with serious problems.

Texas Christian University assistant coach Jai Steadman lost his job after he provided transportation to Mexico for incoming recruit Oluwafemi Ibikunle, who needed to obtain an international student visa. Steadman also helped a TCU player with a rough draft of an academic paper that never was turned into a professor for a grade.

Giving a ride to Ibikunle, who needed the visa so he could return to the United States after playing with the Nigerian national team in Greece, seemed harmless enough, but Steadman should have known better.

But writing papers for players, even if they aren't turned in, is the type of behavior that, if repeated, could bring down a program.

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com