Zion Williamson and the 20 best one-and-done players of all time

Zion Williamson and the 20 best one-and-done players in college basketball history

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 14: Teammates Zion Williamson #1 and RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils react against the Syracuse Orange during their game in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Spectrum Center on March 14, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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NEW ORLEANS – APRIL 5: Carmelo Anthony #15 of the Syracuse University Orangeman shoots over Sydmill Harris #13 of the University of Texas at Austin Longhorns during the semifinal round of the NCAA Final Four Tournament at the Louisiana Superdome on April 5, 2003 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Syracuse defeated Texas 95-84, advancing them to the Championship game. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images) /

2. Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse, 2002-2003

The Syracuse Orange had always been a very good program under coach Jim Boeheim, but they found a way to constantly collapse in the biggest moments of March Madness. That changed for good in 2003, when Carmelo Anthony took over March Madness.

Anthony was the man for the Orange, averaging 22.2 points per game during the regular season, and put Syracuse on his back in the NCAA Tournament. After cutting down the nets for Syracuse’s first (and to date only) national title, Anthony declared for the NBA Draft, where he was selected with the third overall pick by the Denver Nuggets.

Denver had won just 17 games in the year prior to Anthony’s arrival, but his first year saw the Nuggets win 43 games to return to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Anthony became a scoring machine for the Nuggets, consistently averaging over 25 points per game, but he grew tired of fighting through the Western Conference and demanded a trade.

Denver obliged, sending Anthony to the New York Knicks for a steep package of players and draft picks, where he continued to score at a prodigious rate but ran into a new buzzsaw in LeBron James. Anthony never made it to the NBA Finals, with his closest approach coming in 2009 when Denver fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games in the Western Conference Finals, but he was among the league’s best players for a solid decade.

Things fell off precipitously for Anthony in recent years after he got traded by the Knicks, never really fitting in with either Oklahoma City or Houston. Anthony’s NBA career may well be over, but he was an incredibly electric basketball player for 15 years.