Zion Williamson did the unthinkable in his lone year in college. He made everyone actually pull for Duke. He’s the most must-see TV college basketball player of my lifetime and dominated the conversation the entire season. But when Duke lost to Michigan State in the Elite Eight last year, Zion was gone. Just like that.
It’s tough to go from generational talent playing for Duke to four of the top five teams being Baylor, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Dayton this season.
Don’t get me wrong, all four of those teams are very good and I’ve got nothing against them. The difference is I’m not neglecting my schoolwork to go watch them. Zion transcended the sport to the point that everything else on my schedule was cleared to watch him.
Nobody in college basketball is doing stuff like that this year. Hell, nobody in the NBA is doing stuff like that. Zion spoiled college basketball fans with plays like that every time he laced them up.
Lack of NBA-talent on blue-blood teams is the root of the problem. In the latest Bleacher Report mock draft, two of the projected top-five picks don’t even play college basketball. Anthony Edwards, the projected top pick, is awesome to watch but he plays for Georgia. Georgia sucks. The other two players in the mock draft play for Auburn and Iowa State. Again, fun teams but not really needle movers.
Die-hard fans and degenerate gamblers will still watch almost every game but it wasn’t just that group last year. Everyone was watching every single time Duke took the court. Zion had First Take talking college basketball in November. For college basketball to get back to that point, they need another player like Zion.
There’s only one problem with that: Those don’t come around often.
Highlights
Now here are 11 minutes of Zion doing gravity-defying stuff for your viewing pleasure.
