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Derrick Williams Dominated Tournament Despite Broken Finger, Stud Ranking Increased

Derrick Williams is less than two months away from being drafted by some lucky team who wins a top three spot in the NBA Draft Lottery. He's already considered the best big man on the draft boards and when the NBA season gets going next year he's going to have an immediate impact in the league. 

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We saw Williams dominate his way through the NCAA Tournament. He dropped 32 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block in a game against his competition for the top spot in the draft, Duke's Kyrie Irving. Williams increased his scoring average from 19.5 per game to 22.8 in the tournament. He might have flown a bit under the radar playing in Arizona, but his stock soared when he carried his Wildcats to a surprise Elite 8 performance.

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Now we learn that he did all that with a broken finger.

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"I think that if you tell people that you're injured, then people on the other team go after your injuries more, like intentionally slapping my hand when I'd go up for a shot, or something like that," Williams said

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"I was just trying to keep it under wraps, trying to keep as much padding on it as possible. Playing with three fingers, obviously there was something wrong."

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Williams broke the pinky finger on his right hand in a January game against UCLA.

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Stud ranking duly increased, Mr. Williams. 

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