By Sam Keller ’19, Sports Editor

Zion Williamson: A name that, after March Madness 2019, nearly the entire nation now knows. An American college basketball player for the Duke Blue Devils listed at 6 ft 7 in and 285 pounds, Williamson is categorized under the small forward and power forward positions, but exhibits the talent, athleticism, and knowledge to be placed just about anywhere on the court.

Attending high school at Spartanburg Day School in South Carolina, Zion received his first scholarship offer from Wofford at the end of his freshman year of high school, when he stood at only 6 ft 3 in and 175 pounds. 3 years and a 3-inch growth spurt later, Williamson had 36 scholarship offers from every elite program in the country.

Like many celebrities of our generation, but more than any athlete before him, Williamson’s legend and original fame is a product of the newly digitized world. Unsurprisingly, Williamson was first noticed in high school, when his mesmerizing slam dunks and blocks began to appear on more than one social media surface. Similarly, YouTube channels like BallIsLife also began spreading the impeccability of Zion during his high school days in Spartanburg, uploading raw clips of Zion and declaring him the ‘Best Mixtape Player of Our Generation.’Titles like these forced Spartanburg Day to start selling tickets for the first time ever instead of letting people in for free and motivated Drake to post on Instagram in 2017 parading in Zion’s obscure high school uniform. Williamson arguably became the most hyped up high school player since the NBA established the age minimum. For this reason, NBA teams began to recognize Williamson’s expertise before he had even put on the Blue Devils uniform. On October 30, 2018, ESPN published ‘Zion Williamson Preseason 2019 NBA Draft Scouting Video’, which now has nearly 1.5 million views on YouTube. With all this attention combined, it is no wonder than Zion Williamson currently has 3 million followers on Instagram, or that his time in the NCAA college basketball league will be short.

Following the events of this March Madness, Zion is the favorite to be taken No. 1 overall in this summer’s NBA Draft. Back in February, after Williamson’s bizarre knee injury less than a minute into a game against rival North Carolina, his future for the Blue Devils and the NBA were tested. While many predicted that Williamson would sit out the remainder of the season to take time to heal his knee and avoid the risk of a major injury before entering the NBA, that is not what Williamson chose. Zion’s response to those who doubted him: “For the people that think I should just stop playing in college and just focus on the NBA: thanks, but no thanks. I’m not really worried about that. I’m just trying to be Zion and play the game I love.” It was this decision that proved to everyone just how equipped Zion is for the NBA, displaying not only the talent, but the dedication that it takes to go professional. Senior Rahul Bendre had a similar outlook on Zion’s future in the NBA, “We’ve never seen someone of his size and his athleticism in the NBA. He’s bound to do great things as a pro basketball player.”

Future Duke University students Drew Flanagan and Kyra Cooperman also added a comment about Zion Williamson and his time as a Blue Devil. Drew expressed a sentiment regarding Zion as a player, “As a newly admitted [Duke] student, it was really fun to watch him this winter and root for him and the team, but I am also sad that he is only staying for one year and won’t be there next year when I am.” Kyra, on the other hand, considered Zion’s position as an individual at Duke, “I think it is really cool that he is my age. You watch him play and you think he has to be this revered celebrity but at the end of the day he is also just one of my classmates.” Though it is true that Williamson is only 18 years old, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski confirmed, “Williamson is like no player I have come across in a 44-year career filled with top picks, national championships, and Olympic gold medals.”