Duke Basketball

Zion Williamson and Duke came up short of the Final Four by losing to Michigan State in the Elite Eight Sunday, and he was emotional speaking about it after the game.  

Perhaps most notably, the freshman acknowledged that his run at Duke is likely over.

"A lot is obviously going through our minds right now...this group will probably never play together again."

-Zion Williamson on falling short in the Elite Eight. pic.twitter.com/akQFsYrV1K

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) March 31, 2019

"You just look around the locker room and see your teammates and your brothers, and you just think this group probably never will play together again," Williamson said.

The forward is the likely No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft, while RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish are also expected to come off the board in the lottery. However, the squad was eliminated in the Elite Eight with a 68-67 loss to the Spartans. 

Williamson had 24 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the defeat.

Even if he does leave for the NBA, he made quite an impact during his one season in Durham.

Zion Williamson and the Duke Blue Devils fell short of the Final Four, but the star freshman had a 2019 NCAA tournament to remember. 

Williamson scored 104 points over four tournament games. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Derrick Rose was the last freshman to hit the century mark in scoring at the Big Dance. Rose and the Memphis Tigers finished runners-up in 2008.

This is almost certainly the only time Duke fans—and college basketball fans writ large—will get to enjoy Williamson in the NCAA tournament, and he didn't disappoint. The 6'8" forward averaged 26.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.

He also carried the Duke offense at times, particularly in their second-round win over the UCF Knights and Sweet 16 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies. He played 40 minutes in each of those games as well.

Williamson is widely revered as the consensus No. 1 player in the 2019 draft class. Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projected him to go first overall to the New York Knicks.

A poor showing in the NCAA tournament wouldn't have put much of a dent in his draft stock. Instead, his excellent performances served to strengthen his hold on the top spot.

For the franchises anchored to the bottom of the NBA standings, the draft lottery on May 14 can't come soon enough.

Zion Williamson's athleticism is such that he sometimes puts himself in danger on the court.

In the second half of Sunday's Elite Eight game against the Michigan State Spartans, the Duke Blue Devils star got his fingertips on a layup attempt by Kenny Goins.

While flying through the air, Williamson had to duck in order to avoid potentially hitting his head on the bottom of the backboard.

The freshman phenom learned from his mistake in mid-December when he made an emphatic block against Princeton and did hit his head on the bottom corner of the backboard.

Surely plenty of college basketball fans can relate to this kind of problem.

Zion Williamson's Nike shoe that exploded during a Feb. 20 game against North Carolina, the same game he suffered a knee injury, has reportedly gone missing, according to TMZ Sports.

Per that report, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that "Nike reps came out to Durham and inspected the shoe in hopes of identifying the problem. But it's unclear who has the shoe now."

When Williamson was asked who had the shoe, he said to ask Krzyzewski. The Duke athletic department told TMZ Sports they were unaware of who ended up with the shoe, and a Nike spokesperson also said they didn't have any information on the shoe's whereabouts.

It's mystery, and a potentially expensive one. Ken Goldin from Goldin Auctions estimated the shoe could be worth as much as $250,000, perhaps making it the most valuable broken—and missing—shoe in the world.

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reported on Feb. 21 that the NBA has made a proposal to the National Basketball Players Association to lower a prospect's draft-eligibility age to 18 years old by the 2022 draft.

On Saturday, Duke men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski gave his take regarding the NCAA's readiness for such a change, per David M. Hale of ESPN.com:

"The NBA will be well prepared. The NCAA is not prepared right now. They need to be in concert with the NBA in developing a plan that is specific for men's college basketball. And that should include what an athlete gets, how he's been taken care of, whether or not there's a reentry if something -- really, it's deep. And if we only look at it shallow, then we're doing a disservice to the kids."

Michael McMann of Sports Illustrated explained the current parameters of the "one-and-done" rule, which the NBA began in 2006:

"In order for an American player to be draft eligible, he must be at least 19 years old and at least one NBA season must have elapsed since when he graduated from high school or, if he didn't graduate, when he would have graduated," McMann wrote on March 3.

As Hale pointed out, Duke has fared well in the one-and-done era. The Blue Devils most notably this season were the NCAA tournament's No. 1 overall seed. Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish could all be top-five picks in this summer's NBA draft after spending just one season in Durham, North Carolina.

That hasn't gone unnoticed by his coaching rivals, such as Michigan State's Tom Izzo:

“He’s dipped more into the one-and-done style, and like a chameleon, he’s maintained his success since the 80’s.” - Tom Izzo on Mike Krzyzewski

— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) March 30, 2019

The proposed one-and-done change could end up being one of a few seismic NCAA fixes, including compensating student-athletes. That notion was brought up again after Williamson suffered a late-season knee sprain and missed five full games and most of a sixth.

Per Hale:

"North Carolina congressman Mark Walker introduced legislation that would allow for college athletes to profit off their names and likenesses, and last week, Connecticut senator Chris Murphy cited Williamson's situation in releasing a report deriding the current amateurism model and calling for compensation to players, suggesting it was an 'issue of civil rights.'"

In addition, California state senator Nancy Skinner proposed a bill (the "Fair Pay to Play Act") allowing student-athletes from the state's 24 public colleges and universities to profit "as a result of the student's name, image, or likeness," per Bryan Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

Ex-UCLA and current Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen also arrived at an idea whereby players could profit off their name during college but only access such funds provided they graduate.

In the midst of potential sweeping changes across college athletics, Krzyzewski is suggesting that all parties involved sit down together and create a unified plan of action:

"I'd love for a group to talk to those gentlemen who are in federal government. That's not being done. So the right fielder's saying something to left fielder. Like, let's get into the clubhouse and do it as a team. The kids deserve it.

"And in this time the definition of amateurism -- it's outdated. We need a new model. And with all these things that are changing, it cries out for coordination of creating this new model. If we don't do it, our game's going to suffer."

At this point, it seems like a matter of "how and when" and not "if" the outdated amateurism model Krzyzewski referenced changes.

After surviving Friday's Sweet 16 game against Virginia Tech, the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils don't know if they will have the services of Cam Reddish against Michigan State. 

Per MLive.com's Kyle Austin, Reddish said he is unsure if his injured knee will allow him to play in Sunday's Elite Eight game. 

Per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt, head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced his star freshman will be a game-time decision after it was revealed he has no structural damage. 

Reddish was a surprise scratch against Virginia Tech with an unspecified left knee injury.

The Pennsylvania native told Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel it has been bothering him since Duke's first game against North Carolina on Feb. 20. He added he's been calling it tendinitis, but it hasn't been officially diagnosed. 

Krzyzewski told Tracy Wolfson on CBS' telecast (h/t ESPN's Jay Williams) Friday that it was a "complete shock" Reddish wasn't able to play.

Zion Williamson told reporters after Duke's 75-73 win that Reddish spoke to him about playing before the game started. 

"I talked to him before the game, and he was skeptical about whether he wanted to play," Williamson said. "I was like, 'If you can't go out there and play, you won't be letting us down.'"

Reddish has been one of Duke's most valuable players this season. He ranks third on the team with 13.6 points and 1.6 steals per game. 

The Blue Devils have won their last two tournament games by a combined three points. They are one win away from reaching their first Final Four since winning the 2014-15 national title. 

How and when did the Duke Blue Devils become the luckiest team on the planet?

Perhaps thousands of college basketball fans are asking that question after the top-seeded Blue Devils escaped another last-second shot to advance in the 2019 men's NCAA tournament.

The Virginia Tech Hokies had a point-blank shot at the buzzer to force overtime in a thrilling Sweet 16 matchup, but Ahmed Hill's two-foot attempt fell harmlessly to the floor.

DUKE HANGS ON AGAIN! 😱#MarchMadness | #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/2mz1EROJ4U

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2019

It was deja vu all over again.

During the second round, Duke squeaked past the UCF Knights when a last-second putback attempt skittered off the rim. Late in the regular season, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons somehow missed a similar shot.

Friday, Duke discovered that luck because of Tre Jones. Without him, the Blue Devils likely wouldn't have been leading late in the game.

Since standout forward Cam Reddish was unexpectedly sidelined due to a knee injury, maybe it was fitting that Jones replaced his fellow freshman as the third member of Duke's "Big Three" along with Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett.

Jones shattered his previous career high of two three-pointers, knocking down five trifectas in the 75-73 victory. The point guard chipped in eight assists and one steal, which led to the most impressive highlight of the night—naturally, by Zion.

ZION. SHOWTIME.#MarchMadness | #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/6TBXnsToiM

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2019

Five days after being the undeniable weakness of the Blue Devils offense, Jones was the primary reason they survived. He reached the 20-point mark for the first time in college, finishing with 22.

Given that Jones entered the Sweet 16 shooting 23.2 percent from long range, what he accomplished is simply dumbfounding.

But the contributions of Williamson and Barrett were nothing new.

Zion gathered 23 points, six rebounds and three blocks, again serving as a force near the rim. In the process, he became the first Division I player since Kevin Durant in 2006-07 to amass 700 points, 60 steals and 50 blocks in a season, per CBS Sports.

Seriously, this guy is unreal.

Zion got UP for the rejection! 😱#MarchMadness | @DukeMbb pic.twitter.com/73w96FdKZi

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2019

Barrett provided a consistent impact in two important ways. During the first half, the freshman dished seven of his career-high 11 assists. Following the break, Barrett scored 15 of his 18 points.

The tremendous duo has carried the Blue Devils through some mediocre performances on occasion. Superstar talent can atone for a whole lot.

Still, a little bit of luck never hurts.

We cannot stress enough the unlikelihood of Jones' night. Duke ranked 331st nationally in three-point percentage entering the game, and the rest of the roster trudged to a 1-of-13 clip from outside. Barrett missed all seven attempts, and Alex O'Connell—the offense's top perimeter weapon—clanged four.

Jones saved the day.

Tre Jones 👌 count:

👌👌👌👌👌#MarchMadness | #Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/iLWNk0HBmV

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2019

"These guys believed in me all year, especially after last game with me struggling from three," Jones told reporters after the game. "They kept believing in me. Coach kept telling me to take the shots and these guys kept telling me take my shots, and they were able to fall tonight."

Williamson and Barrett are the undisputed keys to Duke's pursuit of the national championship. As long as the stars are producing, the Blue Devils will always put immense pressure on the opposition.

Even if Jones' impact from the perimeter isn't sustainable, he provided the stunning surge at the exact moment Duke needed it. For one essential night, Jones was a pivotal member of the Big Three—or maybe a Big Four, if we're including friendly rims, too.

But Duke survived. Whether due to luck, talent or a combination of both, that's what March is all about.

             

Recruiting information via 247Sports. Statistics courtesy of KenPom.com or Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

If you think you've seen enough this season from Duke freshman forward Zion Williamson to know what he's capable of, think again.

Just ask Virginia Tech senior guard Justin Robinson, who thought he had Williamson beat after a successful juke only for Williamson to recover and block Robinson's layup. 

Williamson led all scorers with 23 points in No. 1 Duke's 75-73 win over No. 4 Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, but the 6'7" and 285-pound probable No. 1 pick doesn't just fill one section of the box score.

He also had six rebounds, three blocks and one assist. 

Williamson's points came in various forms: dunks, floaters, putbacks, even one three-pointer. 

Duke and Williamson will next be in action Sunday against No. 2 Michigan State in the Elite Eight.

The Duke Blue Devils were locked in a frenetic Sweet 16 battle with No. 4 Virginia Tech when Duke's not-so-secret weapon Zion Williamson ignited the NCAA tournament's top seed.

Duke freshman guard Tre Jones intercepted a Hokies pass and then lobbed an alley-oop in transition to fellow freshman phenom Williamson, who elevated several inches above the hoop.

And then all 6'7", 285 pounds of him crashed down onto the rim for one of what has become his signature slam dunks. 

With just under eight minutes left in the second half, Williamson and Jones led all scorers with 17 points apiece. 

Duke forward Zion Williamson continues to produce highlights that defy logic and reality.

The latest example occurred during the first half of the Blue Devils' game against Virginia Tech in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Friday.

The freshman looked like he jumped off a trampoline en route to blocking a Kerry Blackshear Jr. shot at the apex of its height.

The defensive effort kept the score tied at 17 midway through the first half.