MINNEAPOLIS _ As much as tournament organizers will say that having Virginia, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Auburn qualify for the Final Four is fine by them, there is no doubt that losing forward Zion Williamson and the incredible class of Duke freshmen has hurt the glamour of the big event coming to Minneapolis this weekend.
It's hard to remember a college basketball player who made the impact Williamson did on and off the court. And this week Williamson and forward RJ Barrett made the Associated Press' All-America first team, the first freshmen teammates to unanimously make that team.
But Williamson was the star. He was as popular as any NBA player wherever he appeared and attracted huge crowds, including former President Barack Obama. I have seen a lot of college basketball stars in my reporting career and Williamson has been as popular as any of them.
At the 1992 Final Four in Minneapolis, there were standout players such as Duke's Grant Hill, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley, named the tournament's most outstanding player; and Michigan's Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard.
The 2001 Final Four, also held at the Metrodome, featured Duke's Shane Battier, Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy; and Arizona's Loren Woods and Richard Jefferson.
And while that 1992 tournament featured two iconic teams in Duke and Michigan, no single player had the star power of Williamson, not even Laettner or Webber.
As the headline in the Durham Herald Sun said this week: "Duke is done, and so is Zion Williamson, too soon for college basketball."
During the regular season and ACC tournament, he averaged 22.1 points on 69.3 percent shooting, 8.9 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 2.1 assists and 1.8 blocks. In the NCAA Tournament, he was even more dominant. In four games he averaged 26.0 points on 61.6 percent shooting to go along with 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
