Zion, No. 1 Duke miss out on Final Four in loss to Spartans
WASHINGTON — Twenty minutes after his first and, in all likelihood, last season at Duke ended with an Elite Eight exit, Zion Williamson trudged through an arena hallway, his head down.
Following closely behind was teammate RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., another fabulous freshman for the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Two other members of their class were sitting in Duke’s locker room after a 68-67 loss to Michigan State in the East Region final Sunday: Tre Jones covered his face with a white towel and sobbed; Cam Reddish put his right hand on the nape of Jones’ neck to console him.
“Our bond is very deep. I don’t think nobody will ever understand it, because all season long, we were under the microscope,” said Williamson, who had game-highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds. “People said we wouldn’t do this, we wouldn’t do that. And I think we exceeded all their expectations. I’m very proud of my brothers.”