Just a month ago, there was a debate about whether Zion Williamson should even participate in this year’s NCAA Tournament. During one of Duke’s annual rivalry games against North Carolina, the future NBA lottery pick’s Nike sneaker disintegrated under him as he made a cut, causing a sprained knee that held him out for the remainder of the regular season.
But Zion made his triumphant return in the ACC Tournament, largely because he didn’t want to miss his chance to play in another historic rivalry game against the Tar Heels, but also so he could get the full March Madness experience before he finishes this season and, in all likelihood, heads to the NBA Draft this summer.
Before all that happens, Zion and Duke have the NCAA Tournament ahead of them, which tips off Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET against No. 16 seed North Dakota St. in South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena. And when the action gets underway, the once-in-a-generation prospect will be part of another first: a dedicated camera that will focus solely on him during the game.
Via Josh Kendall of The State:
“Because of Zion (Williamson), we have added a camera dedicated to him the whole time he is on the floor,” said [CBS producer Marc] Wolff, who has risen to be the network’s coordinating producer of college basketball. “We hired a cameraman, a camera, a digital tape machine to record everything he does.”
That’s never happened before in Wolff’s time with the network, he said, which probably means it has never happened before. Williamson is having that kind of impact on college basketball this season.
Wolff said that they also recorded Zion’s practice with the team on Thursday and that they were “monitoring Zion 24-7.” Naturally, that seems like a bit of overkill, especially because he won’t be compensated for being on the other end of a feed that exclusively highlights him.
(Via The State)
