Press Break Q&A: Best College Dunks, Historic Football Matchups and More
Team vs. Team
It’s a little before my time, but the 1991 season’s split national championship is still one of the great what-ifs in college football history. The ‘91 Miami Hurricanes were The U’s last dominant team for the following decade, while the ‘91 Washington Huskies rode one of the greatest defenses ever to the best season of Don James’ illustrious career1.
In that same vein of teams from the same season, 2008 Utah vs. 2008 Florida intrigues me for a number of reasons. Utah finishing the season as the lone unbeaten remaining in FBS should have garnered the Utes the AP national championship, but didn’t. Florida’s win in the BCS resulted in the Gators claiming an undisputed title when they arguably weren’t the best team (that was most likely USC2) or the most deserving (Utah3).
A Plus-One would have done nothing to resolve a title dispute in 2008 for that reason. But, all the same, I would have loved to see Utah against that Florida not just because the Utes deserved it, but for a matchup between Kyle Whittingham and Urban Meyer.
Crossing over seasons, part of me wants to see the peak of Miami, 2001, against the USC peak in 20044. That we never got to see The U and SC dynasties intersect in the first half of the 2000s is tragic.
However, 1995 Nebraska vs. 2001 Miami is my pick.
Offense vs. Defense
The first season I followed closely as a kid was 1993, when Arizona’s Desert Swarm peaked. That defense held eight opponents to 14 points or fewer, including a shutout against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. To that point — and until Clemson crushed Ohio State in the 2016 season’s Playoff — it was the only shutout in Fiesta Bowl history.
Desert Swarm with Tedy Bruschi and Rob Waldrop up front against the 2020 Alabama offense with Najee Harris and De’Vonta Smith would be an interesting exercise in the contrasting philosophies.
When Gonzaga steamrolled UCLA in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend, I was fully prepared to see the Zags march to the NCAA Tournament undefeated for a second consecutive year. In some ways, this Gonzaga looks more dangerous than last year’s. That makes it losing in Seattle to Alabama especially confounding.
Alabama’s a weird team that has wins over both GU and Baylor, so it’s hardly a bad loss. But it does suggest a team can be good and not necessarily have to be great in order to catch Gonzaga.
Evaluating the Zags’ losses, both Alabama and Duke are wildly efficient on offense for different reasons. Duke is rangy and outstanding scoring from the interior; Alabama plays one of the fastest tempos in the country.
UCLA faced a bad matchup, but applying the styles that beat Gonzaga, there are two opponents that jump out as potential losses for the Zags: Arizona and USC.
USC’s collective length is astounding, with the Trojans oftentimes rolling with a lineup that goes 6-11 and 6-9 on the interior 6-8 and 6-8 on the wings. The “small” player in that rotation is 6-foot-3 Boogie Ellis, who plays longer with his ability to jump into passing lanes.
The Trojans shoot effectively, setting up a solid 3-point offense with outstanding interior scoring.
Arizona, meanwhile, combinations elements of both Alabama and Duke. The Wildcats have uncanny size, and play at a breakneck pace — small wonder, given UA coach Tommy Lloyd is a longtime Mark Few assistant.
I’ll put the over/under on Zags losses in this year’s Pac-12 at 1.5. Conference travel can be a grind, and slipping up at a place with a decided home-court advantage — McKale Center (Arizona) and Matt Knight Arena (Oregon) come to mind — is almost inevitable.
So the A-1 college basketball dunk is and will perhaps forever be SEND IT IN JEROME! That dunk is so iconic, it lives on in basketball culture 34 years later.
So with that necessary note out of the way, here are three of my all-time favorites:
Jerian Grant vs. Georgia Tech, 2015
This might be the highest I have ever seen a human jump on an in-game dunk. It’s reminiscent of Aaron Gordon’s Dunk Contest throwdown.
Darvin goes HAM
I apologize upfront for the bummer anecdote in what’s a fun topic, but my older brother died not long before the 1996 NCAA Tournament. March Madness and the annual tradition of my dad allowing me to skip school provided some needed joy, and Darvin Ham’s backboard-breaking dunk (as well as the subsequent SI cover) are forever embedded in my memory.
Shaq jumping OVER a defender on a tip dunk in 1992
Fans whose exposure to Shaq begins with his Lakers career may not fully grasp just how incredible he was at LSU and in Orlando. Yes, his best years were the ‘99 through ‘02 stretch in Los Angeles, but his game was completely different. Young Shaq was a freak with the leaping ability of Shawn Kemp in the frame of a Mack truck.
C: David Robinson, Navy: Not just the best military academy player, nor the best to serve in the Armed Forces, but in the conversation for one of the greatest college players ever.
F: Bernard James, Florida State: Before playing for Leonard Hamilton at Florida State, where he was a defensive and rebounding specialist, Bernard James did tours in Iraq as a member of the Air Force. James played for the Dallas Mavericks not long ago and in the French League as recently as 2017.
F: Mike Silliman, Army: Army has never reached the NCAA Tournament, but Mike Silliman played on some good Cadets teams in the mid-1960s. He averaged more than 20 points per game twice in his time at West Point.
G: John Clune, Navy: So the Air Force basketball arena is actually named for John Clune, who became AFA’s athletic director. As a player, however, he was a star in Annapolis in the early 1950s. Clune averaged more than 21 points per game each of his three seasons on the Navy varsity squad and is one of the program’s all-time leading scorers.
G: Raymond Dudley, Air Force: A scoring machine and one of college basketball’s first really dangerous 3-point shooters5, Raymond Dudley posted 26.6 points per game in 1989 and 21.4 a year later.
Coach: Mike Krzyzewski, Army: The service academies have some of the greatest coaches of recent years. Gregg Popovich is an Air Force alum, has multiple NBA championships and an Olympic Gold medal. Coach K has Olympic Gold, multiple NCAA championships, and played at Army and coached some of the best Black Knights teams in program history.
Really, you can’t go wrong either way. I deferred to Coach K since it’s a college hypothetical team. Also, it’s not Bob Knight.
NCAA 75 is an intriguing concept, and so difficult to put together. In the early days of the pandemic, I started working on a top 100 college players list and found it too difficult due to over-emphasizing some eras, neglecting others, and determining a relatively steadfast criteria.
That said, there are obvious choices that both appear on the NBA75 and who don’t. A few of the latter include Ralph Sampson, Phil Ford, Scottie May and Bob Lanier. There are also standouts whose ABA careers were perhaps not considered heavily enough to justify NBA75 inclusion, namely David Thompson and Artis Gilmore.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, UCLA
Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse6
Paul Arizin, Villanova
Rick Barry, Miami
Larry Bird, Indiana State
Wilt Chamberlain, Kansas
Bob Cousy, Holy Cross
Steph Curry, Davidson
Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
Patrick Ewing, Georgetown
Elvin Hayes, Houston
Allen Iverson, Georgetown
Magic Johnson, Michigan State
Michael Jordan7
Jason Kidd, Cal
Jerry Lucas, Ohio State
Pete Maravich, LSU
George Mikan, DePaul
Earl Monroe, Winston Salem State
Shaquille O’Neal, LSU
Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
Gary Payton, Oregon State
Bob Pettit, LSU
Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati
David Robinson, Navy
Bill Russell, San Francisco
Isiah Thomas, Indiana
Dwyane Wade, Marquette
Bill Walton, UCLA8
Jerry West, West Virginia
Patreon subscribers can check out the deep dive I composed in 2020 on the 10-year rivalry between Miami and Washington, and the cultural significance of the two programs in this era of college football.
The 2008 USC defense was far-and-away the best of the Pete Carroll era, and among the best ever. The Trojans’ one loss was on a weeknight at Oregon State, which finished the season ranked in the Top 25; Florida’s loss was at home to Ole Miss.
While there’s an understandable (or lazy, depending on perspective) tendency to dismiss a non-power conference program’s worthiness for national championship consideration, Utah finished the 2008 season with more end-of-year-Top 25 wins than Florida.
In some ways, the 2003 Trojans were superior to 2004. By “some ways” I mean mostly, “had Mike Williams at wide receiver.” But, by virtue of losing at Cal, I give ‘04 the nod for this exercise.
In ‘87, ‘88 and ‘89 — the first three years of the college 3-point line — Raymond Dudley shot 43.8, 39.3 and 43.8 percent on 3.3, 6 and 8.6 3-point attempts per game.
Even in the current era of standout one-and-dones, justifying a one-year player in an all-time NCAA team is tough. But Carmelo was clearly the nation’s best player in 2002-03 and led Syracuse to its only national championship, reaching a pinnacle that eluded other Orange greats like Dave Bing and Derrick Coleman.
Despite being the most transformative player in basketball history, including Michael Jordan in an NCAA75 is no guarantee. Make no mistake, Jordan was obviously excellent at North Carolina and vital to a national championship. In terms of the pure dominance that defined MJ’s NBA career, however, Jordan wasn’t putting up those same stats with the Tar Heels. There’s an often repeated quote that the only man who could hold Jordan to fewer than 20 points per game was Dean Smith.
Bill Walton isn’t one of the 75 best NBA players of all-time, so his inclusion on that list is dubious. Walton had a very brief peak as one of the league’s two best players, but spent the majority of his pro tenure injured or as a Sixth Man. That said, he is arguably the single greatest college player of all-time.