While R.J. Barrett is the top player in the 2018 recruiting class, Zion Williamson continues to be the top prize. His presence and influence could do even more for a program than his production on the court. The only question is which court he will be playing most of his games on during his (likely) one year of college.
Evan Daniels spoke to the Herald-Leader on Monday about several Kentucky targets. In discussing Williamson, he confirmed what the evidence has shown us in the last month:
“The scuttlebutt is that it’s a race between Kentucky and Duke.”
Kansas was the leader for Williamson in the eyes of many for most of his junior season and summer. However, Kentucky made a surge toward the end of the AAU season and became the leader for the young rock star after Big Blue Madness with the 247Sports Crystal Ball indicating a 47% chance for the Wildcats to land him.
The other surging team in recent months has been the Duke Blue Devils. In Zion’s last few blog entries for USA Today Sports, he has given almost equal time to discussing his relationships with coaches John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski. He went into great detail about his final visits to both schools. And after visiting North Carolina last weekend, he seems to be wrapping up his recruitment by hosting Kentucky and Duke one more time this week.
It should be no surprise that this recruitment is coming down to Kentucky and Duke, but the late emergence of both schools over Kansas makes it feel like more of a photo finish than normal.
Williamson has not officially ruled out Kansas, South Carolina, or Clemson. But could the two scheduled meetings this week (Kentucky on Tuesday and Duke on Wednesday) mean that he is on the verge of a decision?
If so, one of these fan bases may have a lot more to be thankful for on turkey day.
While we wait for Zion to decide, here’s a fresh set of highlights that help show why every program in America (and probably a bunch of NBA teams) want him now:
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