Duke Basketball: Zion Williamson silences critics in debut with Blue Devils

During an offseason filled with questions about his game, Zion Williamson silenced his critics during Duke Basketball’s three-game Canada tour.

Duke freshman Zion Williamson certainly is no stranger to the spotlight.

The Spartanburg, SC native became an internet sensation as a junior at Spartanburg Day School thanks to the insane highlight-reel dunks he’d throw down on a seemingly nightly basis.

That hype and athleticism helped cement him as one of the premier prospects in the 2018 class as he finished his high school career as a consensus top-five recruit.

Williamson nearly broke the internet again in January when he committed to Duke, joining fellow top recruits R.J. Barrett and Cameron Reddish in Durham. The initial shock of that decision resonated further than just the college basketball world. After all, Williamson has over 1.7 million Instagram followers and gave Duke, at the time, the top three overall prospects in the country.

The general thought (often begrudgingly) was the same – just how good is Duke going to be?

We often do this thing as sports fans that I’m calling the “hype cycle.” It goes like this:

1. Player X does a number of things that create excitement.
2. We go overboard with the praise and excitement.
3. We begin to resent this hype we created and start nitpicking Player X’s game to prove he’s not as good as “they” say he is.
4. Those nitpicky negatives start outweighing the obvious positives in conversations regarding Player X.

College basketball fans saw this happen in real time this past year with Oklahoma‘s Trae Young. He burst onto the scene during the first two months of the season with outrageous performances and the hype train started. However, the hype train got so big and people started looking for negatives to criticize. And there were a number of things there for the taking from turnovers to shot selection. Suddenly, those negatives became the storyline with Young as opposed to the feat he accomplished of being the first player ever to lead Division I in both points and assists per game.

The conversation surrounding Williamson, who has been in the public eye for two years now, began to change this summer.

Before Duke’s foreign tour in Canada this past weekend, many college basketball fans had only seen Williamson in his YouTube highlight reels. And, after the Blue Devils listed him at 285 pounds – a mark that would make him the second-heaviest player in the NBA – those nitpickers started coming out.

‘Is he too fat?’

‘Can he shoot?’

‘He can’t be that good. I’ve never seen him do anything other than dunk.’

You get the picture.

Anyways, Williamson took the court for the first time in a Duke uniform on Wednesday and absolutely wowed during the Blue Devils’ three games in Canada, averaging 29.7 points and 11.3 rebounds while shooting 64.5 percent from the floor.

Williamson was used mostly as a four-man in head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s lineups where his athleticism gave him a major advantage. Coach K praised the star freshman following the first game of the tour, an 86-67 win over Ryerson.

"“He’s very unique. Obviously he’s so good with the ball. He can get low with the ball, he can get high to get the ball, and he’s pretty good in between too. … Zion is just a different type of athlete. I can’t think of anyone in the ACC. That doesn’t mean that he’s the best athlete ever, but if we’re sitting around at a small table, he’s sitting at that table with a few others in the conference.”"

We know he’s an elite athlete but it’s everything else – and the way he used that athleticism – that really impressed me over the last five days.

For starters, Williamson proved he can shoot. He went 3-4 from three-point range in that win over Ryerson and his jumper looked smooth. He also made several impressive pull-up jumpers with defenders in his face.

That was nice to see, but against the competition they were facing, you’d be more concerned if he couldn’t make an open three – or, worse, pulled a Ben Simmons and refused to shoot.

The most impressive thing to me was the way Williamson used that athleticism in ways that will translate against the level of competition the Blue Devils will face. Two plays were the best examples of this.

First, check out No. 4 on this countdown. Williamson has the ball on the top of the key with a clear quickness advantage over his defender, which will happen often. He beats his man to the lane, has the quickness to split the help, and then elevates to a place 99.9 percent of people can’t get to.

The play wasn’t choppy and it wasn’t slow. When opposing teams try to put a big man on him to counteract his strength, Williamson will make him guard on the perimeter and beat him much like that. And, at 285 pounds, no one is outmuscling him at the rim.

On this next play, he uses his strength to get in position for a rebound but then is able to use his leaping ability and long wingspan to get an emphatic offensive rebound that is completely out of his area.

The Blue Devils have to replace two of the ACC‘s best rebounders in Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr., and Williamson is showing the skill and desire to be elite on the glass.

Those things, among others, are part of the reason why Coach K is so excited to have him on his roster.

"“I appreciate everything, he’s a darn good basketball player. He has great body control and he can get by. You would think that with his size he would be a little bit cumbersome, instead he’s graceful. He’s very graceful and efficient. He can pass the ball, too. … His second jump is so quick and he really doesn’t care who’s around. Coaching him, I thought he was going to be good, but he’s a really special player.”"

Williamson (likely) won’t average 30 & 10 for the Blue Devils this season and still has areas to improve in. But he’s proven he’s much more than “just a dunker” and is someone who will be a rarity in today’s sports world: he’ll live up to the hype.