The-Power wrote:Showtime23 wrote:The main reason Zion looks more dominant is he is making Youtube dunks every game in a weak D1 college competition. If he was that great, why wasnt he the number 1 prospect in hs?
Zion looks more dominant because he is more dominant. On both ends, period. And he wasn't ranked #1 because people weren't sure how his game translates to college because of the competition he faced. Well, fair to say it translated. Barrett was hyped because he was able to drag inferior talent to great achievements, most notably with his national team. Now, on a dominant team, he still has the same approach which becomes unhealthy in this environment and hints at potential future issues with him, and he has struggled with his efficiency against good college teams.
So his stock naturally fell while Zion's rose. Not sure what's so hard to understand about that. What we've gathered in terms of video footage since the college season started is in many cases more – and certainly more relevant – than what we've had from these guys during their entire high school career. Of course assessments of have changed, it would be foolish to mostly go by high school hype at this point. Sure, some players are given some more time due to their high school performances but this doesn't really apply here. You make it sound as if Barrett was a clearly more hyped or more highly ranked prospect when it was always close between them last year – and Zion has just been much better in college up until now.
And it's really funny that you talk about ‘weak D1 college competition’ because there are a number of issues with your argument. First, Zion destroys Barrett against the very same competition. If it's so weak, why isn't Barrett just as or even more dominant? Second, Duke has played a number of really good college teams and guess what, Zion looks even more dominant than Barrett in comparison and doesn't seem to be bothered by better competition at all. So your point really doesn't hold water. And lastly, how on earth do you talk about weak college competition as a reason to not buy into the Zion-hype and then refer to what they did, or how they were perceived, in high school? You know, a place in which the competition is much, much, much worse than in college.
And last night's game was a good example. RJ had a very nice game, but Zion owned the game. He scored 9 more points while taking 1 less shot. He was a monster on the boards. He had 4 steals and a block. RJ had 2 more assists, but that's part of him having the ball more.
