Zion Williamson was reduced to a spectator on Wednesday after suffering a mild knee sprain in the opening seconds. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

When Zion’s shoe blew apart, college and pro basketball blew up.

Three things happened after Duke’s lopsided loss to Carolina in Cameron Wednesday night, two of them captured on video.

First came a blow-by handshake from Mike Krzyzewski to Roy Williams, coaches who always chat cordially before and after games. The second was Coach K’s press conference, where he seemed stunned and a bit disoriented.

Three is only conjecture floating around the Internet – when Zion’s parents went to the locker room after he left the court, they told the Duke staff at halftime they didn’t want their manchild playing anymore that night. So they all watched the second half together on TV.

Following was a barrage of media chastising college basketball for putting players’ futures at stake while paying them nothing of the millions people with no athletic talent make off them. Surprisingly, former and current pros from Scottie Pippen to Isaiah Thomas chimed in that Zion should “shut it down” for the season and get healthy for the NBA draft and the gazillion-dollar shoe contract he will have signed by then.

Potentially the most transcendent star since Michael Jordan, Williamson is the new poster child for the NCAA’s alleged greed and misuse of the term amateurism. To be an amateur used to mean no one gets paid for your services beyond a “volunteer” high school or recreation coach.

But with college basketball burgeoning into a billion-dollar industry, the hypocrisy over colleges, TV networks and, yes, shoe companies making all the money from rising stars like Zion has about hit the boiling point. By comparison, Carolina looked far more innocent.

With upperclassmen starters for a fourth straight ranked team, the Tar Heels ran circles around the bewildered Blue Devils who were unable to play the game half as well as seniors Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson; despite going 1 for 8 from 3-point range, they still shredded Duke’s inside defense for 56 points on a staggering 73 percent shooting.

That played a lot better than the other shoe dropping on the one-and-done way and all the perils it presents.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
US Education Department to Investigate UNC Middle East Event
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a conference on the Middle East held at the University of North Carolina after a legislator raised complaints that participants were biased against Israel. The conference titled “Conflict Over Gaza: People, Politics, and Possibilities,” was co-sponsored in March by Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. McClatchy D.C. reports that Raleigh […]
Tar Heels Set for Different Look, Await NBA Decisions
North Carolina thrived with a seemingly perfect balance of veteran composure and youthful upside to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It wasn’t enough to get the Tar Heels back to the Final Four — and they could have a very different look next season depending on the NBA decisions of freshmen […]
Chansky's Notebook: Greatest Of This Time
Todd Melet) Going to Charlotte, the Roy vs. K debate doesn’t seem close. The so-called GOAT arguments are always tinged by bias for your favorite team or sentimentality. Some people still think Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback of all time when Tom Brady now has two more Super Bowl rings. The […]
Chapel Hill Fire Crews Discouraging Potential for Bonfires
Chapel Hill Fire officials are asking residents to avoid bonfires should a celebration on Franklin Street be in store following a potential Carolina victory on Saturday night. Rushing Franklin Street and shutting off downtown Chapel Hill with revelers is a tradition following significant UNC victories, but emergency officials are warning that bonfires have the potential […]
Inside Carolina: Here We Go Again
With another big rivalry game on the table, the Tar Heels are set this weekend to face off against a Blue Devil squad looking for revenge — but without one of their star players. Today’s edition of “Inside Carolina” discusses the outlook for Saturday’s game, what the Tar Heels have improved on this season, and […]
Duke Not Expecting to Have Zion in Rematch with UNC
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said after Tuesday night’s narrow win over Wake Forest that he was not sure that star freshman Zion Williamson would be ready to play in time for Saturday’s top-five matchup against UNC. “I don’t think he’d be ready for Saturday,” the Duke coach told reporters. He did say that Tuesday […]
Chansky's Notebook: Wins and Subplots
Are UNC and Duke going in opposite directions heading into Saturday? It was another doubleheader of near delight Tuesday night, as Duke and Wake Forest played the 7 o’clock game, with the Tar Heels at Boston College tipping off as the teams reached halftime in Durham. Carolina’s brilliant first half opened a 23-point lead at […]
Chansky's Notebook: Oh, No, Not Again!
Could you handle playing Duke three times for the third straight year? If the ACC tournament were this weekend, Carolina and Duke would in all likelihood be playing tonight in the semifinals – once again six days after their second meeting of the regular season. The tournament is still two weeks away, and things could change, […]
Chansky's Notebook: And Did I Mention…
It was almost as if the Tar Heels knew that Duke lost. Those who could follow both the Duke-Virginia Tech and Syracuse-Carolina games saw the Blue Devils’ 77-72 loss to the Hokies end at almost the exact time the Tar Heels were tipping off against the Orange. Of course, it didn’t happen this way, but I could […]
Chansky's Notebook: The Other Shoe?
When Zion’s shoe blew apart, college and pro basketball blew up. Three things happened after Duke’s lopsided loss to Carolina in Cameron Wednesday night, two of them captured on video. First came a blow-by handshake from Mike Krzyzewski to Roy Williams, coaches who always chat cordially before and after games. The second was Coach K’s press conference, […]
›