(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

By Eddie Pells

Associated Press

It’s going to take more than a busted sneaker to stop Zion Williamson.

The way he’s going, he might not be done until he’s cutting down nets at the Final Four.

Impressed by how Duke is playing with college basketball’s best player in the lineup, the NCAA selection committee made the Blue Devils the overall top seed for March Madness, perfectly in step with the oddsmakers, who had already established Duke as the 9-4 favorite to take it all.

The other 67 teams in the NCAA Tournament now have three weeks to figure out how to slow the 6-foot-7, 285-pound freshman who, many times this season, has appeared unstoppable.

“I think there’s a verve when he’s in there,” Duke associate head coach John Scheyer said. “I think it’s both ends. He’s a guy who eliminates easy baskets and he can get you some easy baskets.”

Williamson led the Blue Devils to the Atlantic Coast Conference title and ended any doubt about his health, or his willingness to finish his season playing college ball before heading to the NBA. His status had been shaky since the Feb. 20 blowout of his Nike sent him tumbling to the ground, writhing in pain with a Grade 1 knee sprain.

Some said he’d be a fool to play another minute of college ball, given the millions awaiting him in the NBA, where he’s expected to be the first pick in the draft later this year.

But even in the billion-dollar business that is March Madness, there are some things money just can’t buy, and Williamson wants to savor every bit of this fleeting college career, whether it lasts one more game or six.

“It’s like everyone’s 0-0 now,” he said. “We’ve just got to lock in on this tournament.”