CBS will devote a single camera to following Zion Williamson every moment he’s on the court throughout the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The micro-coverage will make its broadcast debut Friday night when No. 1 seed Duke takes on No. 16 seed North Dakota State University at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
CBS Sports producer Marc Wolff stressed that he had never seen CBS dedicate a camera to an individual player throughout his 35 years with the network. “Because of Zion [Williamson], we have added a camera dedicated to him the whole time he is on the floor,” Wolff said according to The State. “We hired a cameraman, a camera, a digital tape machine to record everything he does.”
According to The State, CBS tested its single-camera coverage of the Duke star on Thursday during a 40-minute team practice session. “We were recording his workout here today in the event something were to happen,” Wolff said. “We are monitoring Zion 24-7.”
Standing six-foot-seven and 285 pounds, Williamson is known for high-flying dunks and emphatic blocks that have become viral video highlights shared across social media. Williamson and the Blue Devils are scheduled to tip-off against NDSU tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET.
SportTechie Takeaway
Williamson, an 18-year-old freshman, is projected to be taken No. 1 overall in the upcoming NBA Draft in June. Once drafted, he could feature in more iso-camera coverage at NBA arenas. In February, Turner Sports debuted its own single-player cameras to follow select NBA stars during Turner’s live stream of the 2019 All-Star Game on Twitter.