2018-19 Rush the Court National Player of the Year: Zion Williamson
Posted by Walker Carey on April 5th, 2019Recruiting rankings are always fun to review after the fact. You get to see which players lived up to their ranking, which players underwhelmed, and which players emerged from relative obscurity to turn into a star. The most prevalent question that will come up when reviewing the 2018 college basketball recruiting rankings will be how in the world was 2018-19 RTC National Player of the Year Zion Williamson considered the fifth-best prospect entering college basketball?
That question was apparent from Duke’s very first game of the season, when the Blue Devils eviscerated Kentucky by a preposterous 34 points. In the dominant opening night victory, Williamson announced his presence to the college basketball world by tallying 28 points on an efficient 11-of-13 shooting. From that game forward, the 6’7″ power forward (and so much more) became the story of the year in college hoops. It definitely seemed like every time you tuned into a Duke game, Williamson would do something spectacular. There was the awe-inspiring 360 dunk in the conference opening win over Clemson; there was the jaw-dropping block of a De’Andre Hunter three-point attempt in an impressive victory at Virginia; and there was Williamson leading the charge in fighting back from a 23-point second half deficit to notch an improbable win at Louisville.
Williamson’s season took an unexpectedly brutal turn in Duke’s February 20 loss to North Carolina, when he injured his knee less than a minute into the action. That injury resulted in him being sidelined for the rest of the regular season and allowed for many media outlets to question if Williamson should risk his NBA future to return to college. The freshman phenom decided to return for the ACC Tournament, where he turned in a performance for the ages — averaging 27 points and 10 rebounds per game in wins over Syracuse, North Carolina and Florida State — in leading Duke to the title. After the title game victory over the Seminoles, Williamson emphatically responded to a question about why he risked further injury by stating:
“Those six games I sat out, when you see your brothers going to war battling and there’s nothing you can do but sit on the sideline and cheer, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m not that type of person. I want to be out there with them, and I made a commitment to them, and I would be a bad person if I went back on my commitment.”
While Duke came up just short in an epic Elite Eight battle with Michigan State last weekend, Williamson still left his mark on the NCAA Tournament by averaging 26 points and 8.5 rebounds in the Blue Devils’ four games. The loss to the Spartans marked the probable end to Williamson’s collegiate career, but his sensational performances and the manner in which they captivated the college basketball world in the Year of Zion will not soon be forgotten.
