Arizona guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones of Harlem, who never hesitates on the court, paused for nanosecond on Wednesday when he found himself stuck between his best friend Kemba Walker and a hard place.
Jones was talking about how his teammate, Derrick Williams, was the best player in college basketball.
“Better than your best friend?” he was asked.
“They’re two different players, two different positions,” replied Jones.
But now Walker, a point guard, and Williams, a power forward, are in the same lofty position today. They will lead their teams against each other for the right to go to the Final Four.
After Walker dropped 36 on San Diego State in a Connecticut win, Williams last night scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the fifth-seeded Wildcats to a stunning 93-77 West Regional upset of No. 1 seed Duke at the Honda Center.
The result means there will be a new champ in college basketball.
The Blue Devils were seeking their fifth crown under coach Mike Krzyzewski, who was looking to become the first coach to post a repeat.
“The tournament is cruel,” Coach K said. “It’s an abrupt ending.”
Krzyzewski entered the game with 900 wins, but now must wait until next season to surpass Bobby Knight as the winningest coach in Division I history. Knight has 902 wins.
It also means tomorrow night will feature a showdown of two of the best point guards the City of Point Guards has ever turned out. Walker, from The Bronx, and Jones, from Harlem, were teammates at Rice High School in Harlem, and consider each other brothers.
“That’s off the court,” Jones said. “When you’re on the court, we’re enemies.”
“I’ve got to go with my teammates, He’s gotta go with his teammates, that’s just the bottom line,” added Jones. “We’re both going to come out and play two great games and try to lead our teams to the Final Four.”
The Huskies, the No. 3 seed (29-9), are going need more than Walker when they face these Men of the Desert. Arizona (30-7), the No. 5 seed, looks like a team on a mission.
Led by the 6-foot-8, 241-pound Williams, these aren’t merely Wildcats, they’re Tough Cats.
They outrebounded the Dukies 40-27, including 16-9 on the offensive boards. Kyrie Irving of West Orange led Duke with 28.
The Blue Devils led by as many as 11 in the first half and 44-38 at halftime, but it should have been more. Williams drained a deep 3 just before the buzzer to give Arizona a huge lift.
With Duke still holding a six-point edge at 53-47, the Wildcats’ athleticism at almost every position took over. They went on 19-2 run to seize a 66-55 lead with 12 minutes left.
Williams, from nearby La Mirada, Calif., arrived at Arizona as a skilled but shy player. Jones, the self-proclaimed trash-talking king of college basketball, made Williams his personal project.
“I called him a skinny bum,” said Jones, who had 16 points, six assists and zero turnovers. “I kept getting into his head, because I saw how good he could be.”
No one saw this coming. Out of the desert comes a storm that blew away the 2010 national champions.
