[ad_1]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Zion Williamson's knee is going very well and for three days, at the 2019 ACC tournament, he presented evidence.
His 21 points, five rebounds and two assists – one of which will undoubtedly be the most impressive fact of Williamson's spectacular season – during the 73-63 win over Florida State in the championship game, earned him the MVP of the tournament and, most likely, assured Duke at the top of the NCAA Tournament.
A month ago, Williamson left the field to stand on the grounds of the Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Tennessee's victory over Kentucky in the SEC tournament put the Wildcats and the two-seeded Flights in the final slot of Joe Lunardi.
The Blue Devils, with Williamson back in full, have faced the state of Florida and are now turning to the NCAA tournament.
1 related
"These six games, I missed," said Williamson, "to see your brothers fight and you can not do anything except sit on the side and clap, I'm not that kind of person. to be with them. " "
Everyone has seen the shoe explode. Former President Barack Obama was in the stands for the match, stating with astonishment the hardware crash that killed the biggest star of college basketball. Dozens of celebrities and countless advisers have stated the evidence: Williamson had done enough at the university.
What everyone missed, however, is the scene that took place in Duke's trainer's room. The doctors told Williamson that he could come back to the match if he was able to. He tried to jog. It hurts. Tests later showed a grade 1 sprain. He told his stepfather that he was finished for the day.
Then Williamson's mother entered the room and the extent of the wound appeared. His first attack against Duke's biggest rival ended in less than a minute. His academic career could have been completed too.
"I just broke down," Williamson said Saturday, with a string of Spectrum's center concealed behind his ear and a sweat-soaked ACC champion t-shirt hanging on his chest. "I've been dreaming about this game for so long and I felt like I had lost so much … I just cried in his arms."
1:49
Zion Williamson is so proud of his teammates and says that's why he came to Duke: to win championships.
His mother hugged him, told him to keep faith. Then she made a promise.
"You'll be back," she says.
While the rest of the world was wondering why Williamson might play for free when he was expecting so much, that promise was all that mattered to him. After Duke finished the match for the Saturday tournament title, Williamson found his mother, looked him in the eye and told him that he loved her.
Williamson said throughout the season that the current NBA rules, which require players to wait a year after high school before entering the league, had no impact on his decision to travel to Duke . He would be here anyway. Even after the injury to North Carolina on February 20, he never failed in this plan.
"Obviously, we all had our thoughts," said Cam Reddish, another Duke student with NBA projects after the end of his season, "but the kind of guy he's in, we knew that He was coming back. "
Frankly, Williamson said Saturday that he could have been back sooner. Duke lost his first game against North Carolina after Williamson left, then lost two of his next five games, struggling without his centerpiece. Williamson wanted to get back to work, plugging the holes that suddenly seemed to pop up all over the field. Mike Krzyzewski would not let him.
An all access series documenting the preparation of the Blue Devils for the 2018-2019 season, exclusively on ESPN +. Watch on ESPN +
"I would not have been myself," Williamson said. "So they said to put themselves in better condition, and that's what I did.That paid off, I feel back to normal."
Three games in three days at the ACC tournament tested the knee. Williamson played almost every second of Saturday's title game, wearing a pair of modified Nike sneakers that the company designed in a few days to meet the needs of a player who, as a rule, can not offer the less guarantee to his product. stay with Duke.
Did not this point out the inequalities of this system? This is a debate left for someone else, said Williamson. For him, the only thing that mattered was to get back on the court, find his teammates and start doing the only thing he really likes to do.
After Friday's game, Williamson lamented constant vigilance. A stop at the gas station takes 10 minutes for autographs and photos, he said. He can not use the bathroom in peace.
"I looked at myself in the mirror and said:" It's the life I wanted to be part of, "he said. "Sometimes you take a step back and say, 'Wow, I guess I'm in it.'"
Surrounded by cameras and microphones after Saturday's victory, he presented his other reason for returning to court. Away from the game, this hysteria that surrounds it can be overwhelming. In the field, everything remains simple.
"I do not feel any pressure playing the game I love," Williamson said.
So yes, he's back. He started diving again, winning, doing things that seemed almost impossible – like the half-court pass he handed to Tre Jones on Saturday, leaving everyone in college basketball gasping for breath. . Even Williamson was impressed by that one.
"I kind of looked at my arm," he said, "and I was like, thanks for passing this passage."
Williamson thinks he will remain at the center of the debate about paid players, amateur sponsorship deals and NBA eligibility. This is inevitable for a star of his stature.
On Saturday, however, he just wanted to talk about this pass and his mother and that victory that he was expecting even though so many others thought it would be crazy to pursue him.
"When you're a little boy on television, watch Duke cut the nets – the championship nets – and you say you want to be part of it," said Williamson. "But when you grow up and you're part of it, I mean, that's why you come to Duke's."
[ad_2]
Source link