Some 44 NBA scouts and general managers showed up to get a closer look at Murray State’s 6-3 sophomore point guard Ja Morant in a game against Belmont in Nashville.
The electrifying Morant is the new flavor of the month in the race to be a lottery pick in this June’s NBA draft. He raised a lot of eyebrows nationally with his athleticism, explosiveness and spectacular dunks and a 40 point, 11 assists and five rebound performance during an Ohio Valley Conference game against SIU-Edwardsville when he made all 21 of his free throws.
Morant, who grew up in Dalzell, S.C., just 90 miles away from Zion Williamson’s hometown in Spartanburg, is averaging 24.3 points, 5.9 assists and 10.6 assists. He once played on the same unaffiliated grassroots travel team, the Carolina Hornets, as Williamson before his sophomore year in high school when Williamson was a 6-3 freshman prodigy.
Williamson went on to become an Instagram sensation, recording more than one million hits the summer before his senior year, playing in the adidas summer travel team circuit. He chose Duke over South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas and Clemson. Morant stayed behind with the Hornets and eventually signed with Murray State after being discovered by Racers’ assistant James Kane in the back gym at a loosely organized local AAU combine.
Kane, who was there to see current Murray starter Tevin Brown, called the office and told Murray coach Matt McMahon he has found the school’s next pro. Morant has since built his own legend playing for Murray coach Matt McMahon, leading the Racers to the NCAA tournament as a freshman and putting them in position to make a second this season.
Morant is a Top 5 pick. So is Williamson’s 6-7 Duke teammate RJ Barrett. But there is only one franchise player in this draft, 6-7, 285 pound freshman forward Zion Williamson of Duke, a bigger version of Charles Barkley who is averaging 21.7 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting an efficient 67.4 percent from the field.
Zion is a generation player, most likely the best No. 1 pick since 6-10 Olympian Anthony Davis of Kentucky in 2012. He went off again last night, scoring 26 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and blocking four shots as second-ranked Duke (18-2, 7-1) rolled to an 83-61 victory over Notre Dame last night in South Bend. Williamson made 10 of 12 shots from the field for the Blue Devils, who controlled the game from the beginning, taking a 24-point lead in the second half against Mike Brey’s young Fighting Irish.
Duke won its fourth straight game to take a half game lead over Virginia, North Carolina and Louisville in the hotly contested ACC while sending overmatched Notre Dame (10-11, 1-7) to its sixth straight loss.
Notre Dame tried to slow the Devils down with a 2-3 zone, but Duke moved the ball and made the most of open looks, shooting 54.2 percent and making 10-of-19 threes. It was a huge change for Duke, who had been shooting 26.3 percent from the three in ACC games.
