Troy Machir has some thoughts about what Memphis is doing right now.
In case you weren't aware, Memphis was going to cancel their non-conference rivalry game with Tennessee. Josh Pastner was pretty adamant about it to the media. But less than 48 hours, the Memphis AD was singing a different tune.
Colorado's Sabatino Chen had a career night against No. 3 Arizona. The senior guard scored a season-high 15 points, including two clutch 3-pointers. Coming in to the game he had made just two all season.
He almost made a third, off the glass, at the buzzer to beat the No. 3 team in the country on the road.
But like Eric Devendorf's 3-pointer at the end of regulation at the 2009 Big East Tournament, the shot did not count.
Unfortunately for Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes, they had no 6-OT magic in them.
Arizona won the game.
But man, what a shot. On a night where all the shots fell for Colorado, the one they needed was called off. But was it good? take a look at this screencap. One clock says the game is over and the other says it isn't.
The kid banked home a game-winning three. Give it to him already.
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If you know anything about us, it's that we are huge fans of Creighton senior Grant Gibbs. The 6-foot-5 guard is one of the funniest guys in college hoops, one of the best follows on Twitter (@DoubleGfor3), and is one of the best high-post entry passers in the country.
Full disclosure: Grant Gibbs is not a great dunker. In fact, he wouldn't even be on the radar for a Top-50 best dunkers in the country list. Hell, he probably wouldn't even sniff a top-100 list.
That's no knock on Gibbs. He's just not a great dunker. Now if we're talking pure distributors and offensive game-managers, he's right up there. He's averaging 6.6apg to just 0.7tpg. He's going to out-scrap just about anyone in the country, and does a little big of everything.
But again, dunking just isn't his thing. Or so we thought.
This is certainly not one of the best dunks you will see this season, but if Gran Gibbs throws down a dunk, you can be sure that we are going to be all over it.
What you are about to see is the clubhouse leader for Division-I Dunk of the Year.
Indiana's Victor Oladipo is morphing into one of the premier "Human Highlight reels" in the country this season and it showed against Central Connecticut State last night.
If you can throw down a dunk like this, you deserve to have our name chanted by the entire arena.
Travis Releford is a fifth year senior who has been through it all at Kansas. As one f the team's primary leaders it's Releford's job to teach the young bucks (Ben McLemore, Jamari Traylor and Naadir Tharpe) how to get it done on a consistent basis.
This is how you get it done:
I do have to point out that Releford got away with one here at the end. He should have been called for a technical foul. I've seen guys get T'd up for far far less, it was rather quite bizarre to see Releford get away with so much "mean mugging".
Here's the thing. I don't like the rule. I think you should be able to stare the poor fool down until you decide to stop. If you bang on 'em, you should be able to flex on 'em as well.
Kentucky freshman Archie Goodwin is really starting to emerge as the high profile scoring option for the Wildcats early on in the season. Many pundits draw the comparison to Tyreke Evans, one of John Calipari's dynamic guard at Memphis.
But to compare Goodwin to Evans in terms of #POSTERIZED-worthy skills would be unjust, because Goodwin is on a totally different level.
This isn't Goodwin's first #POSTERIZED rodeo. While his dunk against Lafayette didn't count for two points, ball don't lie.
A #POSTERIZED is still a #POSTERIZED even if a charge is called.
Before the weekend gets here, take ten minutes to listen to Troy Machir's thoughts on creativity event promotions and marketing ideas that make colleg hoops one of a kind.
Trevor Mbakwe has been relatively quiet and still the Golden Gophers have been killing it. Guys like Austin Hollins, Andre Hollins, Oto Osenieks and Elliott Eliason got extra opportunities to gain experience last year with out a healthy Mbakwe and Ralph Sampson III.
The same can be said about Rodney Williams. I had him pegged as the best dunker in the country heading into the 2011-2012 season, and while he did throw down on a weekly basis, he used last season to gain experience and hone his skills.
It looks to be paying off pretty early on:
Can you say "Dunk of the Month"? I certainly can. He makes it look so easy sometimes.
Rodney Williams and the Golden Gophers are starting to look like a legitimate contender in the Big Ten.
Feast Week has come and gone, and along with providing some thrilling games and exciting finishes, we were also treated to a cornucopia of above-the-rim action.
Since we spent most of our week chowing down on mom's home-cooked goodness, we weren't able to individually document all the best #POSTERIZED-worthy dunks from the week.
So in honor of "Cyber Monday" we are providing you with a bevy of #POSTERIZED-worthy dunks in just one easy-to-read post.
Enjoy.
Kendall Williams - New Mexico vs. George Mason, 11/18
D.J. Stephens - Memphis vs. VCU, 11/22
Anthony Bennett - UNLV vs. Oregon, 11/23
Cole Dickerson - San Francisco vs. Columbia, 11/24
Jeff Robinson - Xavier vs. Drake, 11/25
We should note that all five of these gentleman seemto be making waves in the #POSTERIZED department this season. Kendall Williams and D.J. Stephens were pre-season top-25 dunkers. Anthony Bennett is one of the top freshman in the country. Jeff Robinson is filling the #POSTERIZED void at Xavier left by Dez Wells. But most importantly, little-known Cole Dickerson of San Francisco is quickly becoming one of the best, most unheralded dunkers in the country.
Haven't we seen this story before? Josh Pastner recruits the area's finest players, enters season with boatloads of hype, fails to win marquee non-conference games, struggles with expectations.
Same thing can be said for Memphis junior Tarik Black, who enters yet another season with elevated expectations.
Memphis has struggled down in the Bahamas at The Battle 4 Atlantis, losing to VCU 78-65 and to Minnesota 84-75.
No play better emphasized the Tigers recent struggles than this tremendous #POSTERIZED dunk that ended up getting called as a charge.
A lot of pundits bought stock in Andre Roberson this off-season, and with good reason. The versatile Colorado forward is arguably the most efficient rebounder in the country, and is one of the real elite athletes in college hoops this season. The 6-foot-7 San Antonio-native has long strides and can cut through defenses with ease.
On Sunday in the Buffs 81-74 win over Murray State, Roberson went toe-to-toe with The Racer's top defender Ed Daniel (The one with the afro). Roberson nearly put Daniel on a poster, but Roberson was a bit too reckless and was hit with a charge foul.
But like we've stated here before, a dunk doesn't have to count in order to be #POSTERIZED-worthy.
I'm sure that Roberson will make another #POSTERIZED appearance soon, and I'm sure he'll make the next one count.
We're not even three full weeks into the season, and it's already pretty clear who is sitting atop the mythical #POSTERIZED Top-25:Detroit freakshow Doug Anderson.
The term "freakshow" is being used in only the highest regard. Doug Anderson's athletic ability would be describe by many as being "freakish", and when the ball is in his hands, he can put on a spectacular show.
Don't think we're discounting Ray mcCallum's pass at all. That's a pass not many players can make.
Then again Ray McCallum Jr. is not just any person, he's arguably the Horizon League's top player. But it's because of Doug Anderson's freakish abillity that McCallum Jr. is able to throw a pass like that. No offense to the other 4,500 Division-I college basketball players, but Doug Anderson has something that you just don't.
This is an excellent time to go over a few #POSTERIZED specifics.
1. It doesn't matter if the shot doesn't count. Putting somebody on a poster is not under the NCAA governance. #POSTERIZED does not recognize blocking and charging fouls. If a dunk takes place and there are witnesses, it's officially a #POSTERIZED candidate.
2. Unfortunately, you can only qualify for #POSTERIZED "Dunk of the Year" if the dunk was made and counted towards the overall team score of a sanctioned collegiate basketball game.
These two rules are very critical in our evaluation of the latest entry.
Kentucky has freak athletes all over the court. We saw what Alex Poythress could do on Monday night, humiliating much of the Duke basketball team, despite winding up on the losing side.
On Friday, it was Archie Goodwin's turn to show us what he can do. Unfortunately, some poor Lafayette Leopard was on the receiving end.
Enjoy:
What you just saw was unquestionably the best dunk of the young season. Unfortunately, due to the refs inability to properly identify the difference between athletic physicality and uncontrolled over-aggressiveness, we must look at this particular dunk as though it were in a vacuum unto itself.
In other words, if the referee had let the kids play, we would be talking about the clubhouse leader for "Dunk of the Year".
Oh, don't get me wrong, this is still a monster poster-dunk. FatHeadz won't not print wallbangers because the ref blew the call. It's just that "technically" this dunk can't qualify as DotY.
If we need picture evidence as to the magnitude of the blown-call, here it is:
Though I doubt a silly charging foul during a blowout win over Lafayette can/will stop members of #BBN lauding this as Dunk of the Year, and I wouldn't blame them for trying.
It must be good to be John Brown right now. The High Point freshman has played only two college basketball games, yet he's already averaging 25ppg and 7.5rpg. The Panthers are 2-0, with wins over regional rivals UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State.
On top of that, Brown has already made an appearance on ESPN Top Plays.
If the rookie keeps doing things like this, we'll be seeing a lot more of him this season.
Over 500 players transferred out of school last year. Only Rice and Louisiana-Lafayette lost more players than San Francisco, who lost five since the end of last season.
Forward Cole Dickerson was nothing more than a solid sixth man who did a little bit of everything.
But with all the roster turnover, he's being counted on to produce more than ever, which includes making the #POSTERIZED highlight reel.
This may be one of the few times you hear about San Francisco all year, so make sure you soak it all in.
1. A Backup forward throws down a nasty, borderline-filthy baseline one-hander in garbage time of a 40-point blowout.
2. Then earns a technical foul for taunting...during garbage time of a 40-blowout.
3. Entire bench starts to crack up.
4. Backup forward gets credited with both the dunk AND the assist.
ERROR. ERROR. DOES NOT COMPUTE.
That's exactly what Missouri backup forward Stefan Jankovic did during the late second half of a 37-point blowout victory over Alcorn State on Tuesday night.
I dare you to find me a more complete sequence of entertaining late-game events than this.
We here at Ballin' is a Habit have always been a voice of the people. The interaction with other college basketball fans is just one of the many things that makes this sport so special.
The gentleman who reside in the B.I.A.H NYC headquarters (aka 45 Wall) are some of the most passionate Vermont basketball fans in the history of creation. So when Vermont played UConn on Tuesday night, they had me on speed-dial just in case somebody threw down the nasty.
That person was Vermont's Clancy Rugg.
See, we try to cover all the best dunks in the college basketball world, but we only have so many sets of eyeballs. So we need your help. If you see a great dunk, something that might be #POSTERIZED-worthy, give us a shout on Twitter at @TroyMachir, @RobDauster or @Ballinisahabit. Feel free to use the #POSTERIZED hashtag.
After all, friends don't let friends miss out on somebody getting #POSTERIZED. But was it as good as these?
Leading up to the season tip-off many people around the Kansas program were hinting that Jamari Taylor had the mold of a Thomas Robinson-type of player: Fierce, endless motor, and strong as an ox.
On Tuesday night against Michigan State in the Champion's Classic, the redshirt freshman showed why people think he's the next T-Rob, with a vicious putback jam over several Spartans, and a few Jayhawks too:
The only difference between T-Rob a J-Tray is that Robinson always got full extension on his dunks. But let's give Traylor get where credit's due. That wsa still one heckuva dunk.
There is no denying that Detroit's Doug Anderson is one of the most elite jumpers in the country. Sure, he was left off our preseason top-10 dunkers, but only because I wanted to see more.
And boy, did Anderson deliver:
Not only has Anderson positioned himself in the top-10, but he's also the clubhouse leader for dunk of the year.
I'm also certain that this won't be the last we hear from Flight-23.
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