Wiz, Clayton, Hadaway, Hunter

Off the top of my head, Ohio players that have dunked this year. Am I missing any? AJB earlier in the season? James had a breakaway Tuesday night and Shareef tonight, and neither attempted a dunk, instead finishing with a lay-in. Wouldn't be surprised if Sheldon can but don't recall one in game.

Don't disagree. But I do wonder if EJ4, Shareef and Sheldon can dunk. I assume Ike can but don't think I've witnessed one.

And on this topic: who is OUr leader in # of dunks this year? AJ or Hadaway? Who shows more flash on their dunks? I have to go with Hadaway.

You're gonna think this is so on-brand of me, squared.

I thought about posting this here before, but didn't because IMO it goes past Rothstein-level nerdy. But since you asked and considering there's a guy on Davidson's board that does the same thing...

Going back to about the 2010-2011 season I've been keeping track of our dunks each year. Who's dunking, what kind of dunks, did any get on Sportscenter, etc? Why? Because dunks are fun. And they can indicate a few things, like how well we run our offense, how many opportunities we create in transition, and the level of athlete we recruit. For the past few years I've been putting these on Google Sheets, but when I started, it was pen to paper.

To answer your question, Clayton leads this year's team in dunks with 21. Hadaway has 19. Wiz has 11. Hunter has three. AJB has two.

I didn't think this would be a great dunk year, but it actually is one of our best since I started paying attention to Ohio basketball in the 2005 season. It's rare that we average more than two dunks a game but we are right there.

Hadaway's first dunk of the season came against Defiance. Oddly enough that game was the first game without AJB for good, so it stands that if Hadaway were playing as much as he is now at the beginning of the year, he would be the team's leader by a chunk.

Sheldon and EJ4 have dunks on their high school tapes. I don't know if Reef can dunk.

Best dunk game of the year was Defiance. We had seven. Seven seems to be our high water mark in a single game. I can't recall an eight dunk game. We've had seven against other non-D1s, but also had seven at Buffalo in 2019 and at Marshall in 2017. Both of those games were losses.

Most dunks in a game this year by one player is Clayton vs Buffalo with four. And all of them were alley oops. Most dunks in a game by one player in my time as a fan goes to Jon Smith throwing down six times at Akron in 2014.

Most dunks in a season by the team? Unofficially, the 2011 team. Devaughn had close to 50 on his own. The 2014 team might give that a run with Jon and Mo doing most of the work.

Most dunks in a game by an opponent. Unofficially, probably Kansas at the Sprint Center in 2007. Come on, that team won the natty. Though Youngstown State put eight on us this year.

And a bonus, since borna mentioned. Walt had one dunk in his career, but it was a good one - a two hand and-1 poster at home vs Oakland.

Sometimes I wonder how I'm not single.

Wow. I just learned a lot. Not the least of which is that a dunk is only worth 2 points.

A treasure trove of data on the subject. Thanks, shabamon.

Great stuff, it doesn't come as a surprise Devaughn Washington had close to 50 in a season. Most were thrown down with authority.

I’ll add there are times when an aggressive two-handed dunk will result in two points and a trip to the line (2-3 points), whereas a similarly a non-aggressive shot in the paint will result in no basket and two free throw attempts (0-2 points).

KVK was not a stiff. Solid contributor.

Great info, shabamon.

While KVK has to be in the running for the tallest Bobcat never to dunk, who would be the shortest Bobcat to throw down?

# PUT SAYLES IN!

6'0" will be the shortest player to record a dunk because we've traditionally never listed a player under 6 feet on our roster (even if he were only 5'10") in the era of dunking.

Doubt Chad Estis or Gus Johnson ever dunked -- they were each about 6-0.

Spindle Graves was listed as 6'1", but I find that questionable.

I would prefer the HEAVIEST player to dunk. That opens it up a bit more, with John Beauford probably having a slight edge over the Baby Bull Vic Alexander.

I do have a rating system! On a 1-5 scale:

1) These are dunks that either are so soft they get no reaction from the crowd or you wonder if they actually are even dunks. Maybe they didn't go in cleanly or the player didn't put any sauce on it at all. Clayton had an alley oop this year that should have been an offensive goaltending. Hadaway had one against Central where the ball really pinballed a ton before going in. These are 1s.

2) These are most dunks. Uncontested. Nice and easy. Hadaway's breakaway vs Bowling Green just now. That's a 2.

3) These have a little something extra going for them and might get special mention on this board. Maybe it was contested. Maybe it was extra aesthetically pleasing. Maybe it was a huge moment in the game. Clayton's alley oop against Akron. Mo's alley oop vs UMass. BVP's up and under against Kent in the MAC Tournament.

4) These get on Sportscenter and may have their own dedicated threads on this board. Hadaway's reverse poster against Davidson, Preston's tip slam against WMU, Doug Taylor and-1 alley oop at Ball State, Jerome's posters at Maryland.

5) Shhh. These are legends of the entire sport. If you make a highlight video of the greatest college dunks of all time, this wouldn't be out of place. Melvin Levett's helicopter put pack at UC, "Send it in Jerome!", Danny Green on Greg Paulus. In my time, I don't think we've had a 5.

Somehow I knew you had them rated.

The showboating breakaway dunk contest like dunks are fun, but they don't impress as much as the ones that are just really really good basketball plays. Preston's putback dunk in 2020 might be my favorite. That was when I realized he wasn't just a nice passing point guard, he was a beast.

And it was not just breakaway showboating. Geno had a defender right behind him ready to block his layup - and Geno made a Great basketball play!

Sometimes dunks Are worth more than 2 points - when they get the Convo rockin' and can turn game momentum!