Duke star freshman Zion Williamson has been named the 2019 Wooden Award winner as the top player in college basketball.

The forward topped a competitive field of candidates, including teammate RJ Barrett, Murray State guard Ja Morant, Tennessee forward Grant Williams and Texas Tech guard Jarrett Culver.

Williamson was the biggest story of 2018-19 in college basketball, coming into the year with tons of hype as a viral dunking star before showcasing his all-around skill set throughout the season. 

He finished the regular season averaging 21.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, also ranking among the best in the nation with a 68.3 field-goal percentage.

His player efficiency rating of 40.83 not only led the country, but it was also the best for at least the past decade, per Basketball Reference.

At 6’7″, 285 pounds with elite athleticism, the freshman is an impossible matchup for anyone at this level but he also showed that he can contribute in a number of ways.

This allowed him to become the third player in ACC history to be named both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.

This was despite suffering a knee injury down the stretch, missing most of the final six games of the year. Duke was just 3-3 without him, including the first game against North Carolina when he went down in the first minute of the game.

He returned for the postseason, helping Duke win the ACC tournament and reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament while averaging 26.4 points over seven games.

Williamson could end up being the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft, but before that, he was honored as the top player in college basketball and one of the best we have seen in years.

Tiger Woods finds himself in serious contention for his first major championship since 2008 after shooting a four-under 68 in the second round of the 2019 Masters tournament Friday at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

Woods, whose six under overall score leaves him in one shot off the lead in a tie for sixth place, tallied six birdies and two bogeys in Round 2. Francesco Molinari, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen are tied atop the leaderboard at seven under.

The four-time Masters champion captured his most recent green jacket in 2005.

You could make a reasonable argument that Woods could be entering the weekend as the clear-cut leader if his short- and medium-range putting were even average compared to his previously high standards.

The 43-year-old Stanford product has made a bad habit of missing makable putts in recent events, and it’s been a major problem so far in the Masters. In particular, his failure to sink back-to-back birdie attempts on the 12th and 13th holes prevented him from making an ever bigger back-nine charge.

Woods said Tuesday he’s no longer able to put himself through the long practice sessions from his prime, during which he’d work out the issues in his game, and that’s a factor in his putting woes.

“The hardest part is I just can’t practice like I used to,” he told reporters. “My back gets sore. I just can’t log the time that I used to, and that goes with every part of my game. … I’ve worked on my putting, and when I have, I’ve putted well.”

Nevertheless, it’s jarring to see him miss putts that would have been considered gimmes while he was busy collecting his 14 major titles.

The situation is made more interesting by the fact that he made a series of long-range putts Friday to help him keep pace near the top of the leaderboard. His birdie putts on Nos. 9, 14 and 15 were perfectly read and made up for some of the short misses.

Tiger is still a legitimate threat heading into the weekend because the other facets of his game have been mostly solid. He appears to be more confident with the driver in his hands than he has at just about any other time since his successful comeback began in late 2017.

The biggest key over the next two days—beyond cleaning up his close-range work on the greens—will be taking better advantage of the par fives.

Woods played those four critical holes at even par Friday. He didn’t give himself any good looks for eagle. Instead, he was mostly scrambling and forced to attempt mid-range looks for birdie at best, and he only converted one of them.

Yet, despite the putting concerns and the fact that he didn’t capitalize on the par fives, he’s put himself with many of golf’s biggest names on a star-studded leaderboard through 36 holes.

That’s reason for optimism for the greatest closer the sport’s ever seen.

The NBA has seen a few sizable changes in Commissioner Adam Silver‘s era, including a revamp of the All-Star Game and draft-lottery formats. 

However, Silver told reporters that the Association is exploring more seismic changes, including reducing games from 48 to 40 minutes and adding an in-season tournament.

Journalist Mark Woods reported Silver’s comments:

Tim Bontemps of ESPN followed up on the midseason tournament comments:

The 40-minute game idea may seem radical, but it’s been discussed before.

Zach Lowe of ESPN (then of Grantland) reported the following on Sept. 10, 2013:

“Several sources around the league, both at the highest team levels and within the league office, say commissioner-in-waiting Adam Silver has signaled a desire to at least discuss moving to 40-minute games. About two years ago, Silver informally polled all 30 league general managers on the notion of cutting overtime from five to three minutes, per several GMs who remember the poll.”

Lowe provided two “immediate sources of appeal” for a switch to 40-minutes: the aligning of NBA and FIBA rules and the creation of a more unpredictable and entertaining product.

However, Lowe also provided some interesting counterpoints: Namely, coaches may still rely on their starters to play the same amount of minutes, significantly decreasing the bench’s impact. That, in turn, could lead to a drop in reserve’s salaries given their lessened responsibilities.

But Lowe also posited that the number of games should be discussed before the number of minutes: “In the short run, there are lots of folks in the league who would prefer tackling 82 games before tackling 48 minutes,” he wrote.

That’s an astute point, and tying things altogether, the league could conceivably add a midseason tournament and reduce the amount of regular-season court time (via games, not minutes) simultaneously.

The league could shorten the amount of regular-season games (say from 82 to 72) and replace the missing action and revenue with a midseason All-Star tournament where players can pick their own sides.

The games could be played at a central location (let’s say Las Vegas). Teams could play shorter round-robin games before a knockout tournament, somewhat like the current Las Vegas Summer League format. The tournament could also build a ton of fan interest, especially if fans can bet on the games.

Of course, that idea likely won’t happen, but stars are still resting despite a decrease in back-to-backs. Eventually, something must be done.

Libya crisis: Fighting concerns Tripoli residents (2:18)

Thousands of Pakistanis clad in white have gathered in the central city of Jhang to make a human image of New Zealand‘s Al Noor mosque in Christchurch city, where 50 people were killed by a white supremacist four weeks ago.

Drone images showed worshippers standing in formation on Friday, their snow-white traditional shalwar kameez and prayer caps in stark contrast to the emerald green of a public field, as a second group formed the words “Islam is peace” nearby.

Huge New Zealand and Pakistani flags were also displayed along with a giant banner which read: “Solidarity with the martyrs of Christchurch from Pakistan”.

The tribute was organised by the Muslim Institute, a non-government organisation aimed at promoting peace and stability in the Muslim world, which also released the drone footage.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian and self-avowed white supremacist, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 of attempted murder after opening fire at the Linwood and Al Noor mosques on March 15.

Pakistani victims

Nine of the victims were of Pakistani origin. One, Naeem Rashid, was posthumously given an award for bravery by Pakistan after he apparently tried to tackle the gunman before being shot.

Tribute organisers praised the New Zealand government after what had been a “very tough time” for Muslims in the country – especially Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Her response “not only soothed the wounds of Muslims but also assured them that Muslims in their country are safe”, said Sahibzada Sultan Ahmad Ali, a religious scholar and one of the organisers.

“We worked really hard to make this model,” one participant, Noor Hassan, said of the tribute. “It was so pleasant that we were ready to stand like this for the whole day.”

SOURCE:
AFP news agency