On Wednesday, the Atlanta Tipoff Club has announced 10 semifinalists for the the Naismith Trophy. There are two ACC players included in the list, both of whom play for Duke: Zion Williamson (who should win the award) and RJ Barrett.
Naismith Trophy Semifinalists:
RJ Barrett
Carsen Edwards
Rui Hachimura
Markus Howard
Dedric Lawson
Ja Morant
PJ Washington
Grant Williams
Zion Williamson
Cassius Winston
👉 https://t.co/fy6UH2Q6Mp pic.twitter.com/zsPLvQxAOq— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 6, 2019
Obviously, with such a competitive award drawing from such a large pool of players, someone will be left off. That’s just the name of the game. However, it’s a little absurd that Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter didn’t make the last, as Rob Dauster from NBC Sports points out.
De’Andre Hunter is a first team All-American and arguably the second best player in the sport. It doesn’t matter because Zion should win this in a landslide, but consider this a bit of advice for anyone that votes for these things: If he’s not on your top ten, stop voting. https://t.co/TLozrBAGHJ
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) March 6, 2019
Hunter’s teammate Kyle Guy felt the same way, too.
Lol … 12… https://t.co/V6H8ZDuos6
— Kyle J Guy (@kylejguy5) March 6, 2019