Zion Williamson
Zion Williamson and the Duke Blue Devils are left in a top spot in the NCAA Men's basketball tournament. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski watches Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils react after falling as his shoe breaks against Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 20, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Getty Images/Streeter Lecka

The Duke Blue Devils played without Zion Williamson for the third straight game but fell to the 19th ranked Virginia Tech 77-72. But pundits believe that even if the 18-year-old played, it would have hardly made a difference.

This was largely due to the play of Ty Outlaw and Wabissa Bede, who teamed up in the final minutes of that game to pull off the win. With Williamson out, the task of leading the Blue Devils fell on the shoulders of RJ Barret.

The 18-year-old forward did drop 21 points for Duke but the effort was simply not enough against the Hokies, dropping the Blue Devils out of a first-place tie with No. 2 Virginia and No. 5 North Carolina in the ACC.

The Blue Devils will try to bounce back this coming weekend when they face the Miami Hurricanes. But the better question right now is on whether Williamson will be playing.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski remains non-committal on the issue, saying that Zion Williamson's case is on a day-to-day basis. There have been insinuations that he could be out for the season although the word out is that the potential top pick of the 2019 NBA Draft is still itching to play college ball, USA Today reported.

“There’s just a protocol that we have to go through to make sure he’s completely ready [to play],” said coach Krzyzewski. “We’re not rushing anything, so that’s why we said day-to-day because it’s literally day-to-day.”

For now, the official word is that Williamson is dealing with a sprained right knee. This stems from the unfortunate shoe explosion that happened with less than a minute when Duke faced North Carolina. Zion was wearing Nike PG 2.5 PE at the time and such has placed the shoe manufacturer in a bad light.

It will be a touchy predicament for both Williamson and the Blue Devils. For Williamson, at risk is his basketball career. Zion is projected to be selected by the Phoenix Suns at the coming NBA Draft and team up with Deandre Ayton next season.

Should he play on, the risk is aggravating the knee injury and potentially forcing teams to monitor his health closely. The same holds true even if he is shut down for the season.

For Duke, there is no question what a Zion Williamson brings to the team. But if he is not at 100-percent, he could end up being a liability instead. Hence, his actual health state is of utmost importance - not only for the ongoing NCAA men's basketball wars but also heading into the 2019 NBA Draft.

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