A few minutes after hearing Walker make that claim Friday, Huskies Coach Jim Calhoun offered a rebuttal: “I’d have to disagree with Kemba for once. I think [Williams] probably is the second-best player in the country.”
The Walker-Williams debate will continue to rage Saturday when third-seeded Connecticut plays fifth-seeded Arizona in the West Region final. While complementary pieces will play a role in the matchup, all eyes will be on two headliners whose wills and unmatched talents have carried their teams to the Elite Eight.
Neither was a first-team preseason all-American, and neither team was ranked in the Associated Press preseason top 25. Williams, one of the nation’s most efficient offensive players, led the Wildcats to a surprising Pacific-10 regular season title, while Walker’s indefatigable play led the Huskies to five wins in five days en route to the Big East tournament title.
“He has had one season that some people don’t have in their whole careers,” Williams said of Walker.
In Thursday’s region semifinal win over San Diego State, Walker scored 36 points, the second most in his three-year career and tied for the most ever by a Connecticut player in the NCAA tournament. Williams, meantime, scored a career-high 32 points, which matched the Arizona record for most points in a tournament game.
The first-half performance by Williams, a robust 6-foot-8 forward who can beat teams inside and outside, was the most impressive of this season’s NCAA tournament. The sophomore, playing a short drive away from where he attended high school in La Mirada, Calif., scored 25 of Arizona’s 38 points to keep the Wildcats within six points of Duke at the break.
He used his athleticism to convert a right-handed follow-up dunk. He used his strength to establish deep position and score close-range shots. And he made 5 of 6 three-pointers in the half, including a 27-footer as time expired.
Arizona’s Solomon Hill said Williams was left with several one-on-one situations in the half because Duke was trying to take away the wing. “He fired at will,” Hill said. “It was a mismatch.”
For his team’s region semifinal matchup with San Diego State, Calhoun said he needed to get up extra early — around 4 a.m. — to prepare for a talent like the Aztecs’ Kawhi Leonard. When asked what his Saturday morning wake-up call would be to prep for Williams, Calhoun said, “I have just booked no sleep at all.”
Arizona, however, will have an advantage in scouting Walker. At one point Thursday against the Aztecs, Walker made a shot, made eye contact with a familiar face off the court and hollered, “They can’t guard me!”
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