Saturday, February 14, 2015

What are greatest dunks, and who are greatest dunkers in UConn history?

So ESPN is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the slam dunk, which allegedly was "invented" by Oklahoma A&M's 7-footer Bob Kurland on Dec. 16, 1944 in a game against Temple. (No YouTube or ESPN Top 10 highlights for that one).

The College GameDay crew and some current and former players and coaches had some good (and not some good) nominations for "greatest dunks/dunkers of all-time," including Clyde Drexler, Vince Carter and, for this season, Ohio State's Sam Thompson.

It got me thinking what fans consider the greatest dunks and dunkers in UConn history. In my eight years on the beat, no one's been better than Stanley Robinson. He literally looked like he was bouncing off a trampoline on some of his dunks. His most memorable, to me, came in the famous six-overtime game vs. Syracuse in 2009. Here it is, at about the :17-second mark in this clip:



I also remember watching Jim Calhoun on the sidelines as the play transpired. He popped up from his chair and was ready to pull "Sticks" out of the game had he missed. But he didn't miss, and Calhoun folded his arms, looked up in the sky and left Robinson in the game.

So I ask fans who've watched a lot more UConn basketball than me over the years: Who are the greatest dunkers in UConn history? What are the greatest dunks? And I mean in-game dunks.

Dunk contests are fun:



But in-game dunks are more impressive, in my opinion.

And we can include opponents against UConn, as well. This may not be the greatest, but it's one of the most memorable, considering how unlikely it seemed at the time:



As for the greatest dunk I've ever witnessed in person (in a game), my mind keeps going back to Julius Page of Pitt in a game against Providence in the early 2000's. I can't find it on YouTube, but here's another Page dunk that displays the type of athleticism this kid had:




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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Toraino Walker vs villanover at gampel: yo dudes just dont knows; ever heard of freddy shabel; i didnt think so, how about toby; didnt think so; did yo enjoy anticoach silly showing at smu; who supervises and evaluates this entire staff? will they ever recruit a real player ever ; do they know what a job description is for a div I frontcourt performer? its not projects galore

February 15, 2015 at 1:15 AM 

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