50 greatest dunks in college hoops history

[JasonEvans]

I do not profess to be the person who came up with this nor do I necessarily agree with the rankings, but some dude spent a ton of time looking up clips of some of the best dunks and came up with a video highlight of the top 50 in college hoops history. It is pretty good, even if it naturally skews toward more modern stuff because there are not as many video sources of stuff done more than a decade ago.

Anyway, you can read a little bit about the compilation here or just view the entire thing (14 minutes long) here.

I was a bit surprised that Grant's dunk from bobby in the 1991 NCAA championship game only made honorable mention. I think the significance of the game pushes it into the top 50. Frankly, the top 50 included too many "look at him dunk over that guy" dunks that became sorta old hat after a while.

My other comments--

#43 - Darrell Porter of Pitt over GTown is amazing athleticism.
#42 - Grant Hill over Jim McInvaine is one of only 2 Duke dunks on the list
#34 - Darrin Hancock of Kansas just hurdles some KSt dude. Sick!
#22 - A young Shaq. Wow, was he thin!
#20 - Auburn's Chris Porter has freakishly long arms
#14 - Vinsanity's reach against Clemson was absurd
#11 - Clyde Drexler gets ridiculously high. folks forget how athletic those Houston teams were in the early 1980s.
#7 - Dahntay Jones famous push-up dunk. It makes it more for the post-dunk celebration than the dunk itself. It is possible some younger Dukies have not seen this clip. It is a must see!!!
#1 - Send it Jerome! Probably the most famous dunk in college hoops history. Deserves its ranking.

--Jason "fun stuff, though a bit time consuming to watch all of it" Evans

[CameronBornAndBred]

So no Kenny Dennard backwards over the head jam, huh? Bummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tfBO9WWtF0

[DukieBoy]

The Dahntay dunk is one of my all-time favorite dunks. The dunk itself was incredible, but as Jason said, it was the post-dunk pushups that made it famous

[MChambers]

The Dahntay dunk is one of my all-time favorite dunks. The dunk itself was incredible, but as Jason said, it was the post-dunk pushups that made it famous

It was a great dunk, but I can't see how it compares to Grant's dunk against Kansas. I'd also like to nominate Phil Henderson's dunk over Mourning, but I suppose I'm just showing my bias.

[slower]

#1 - Send it Jerome! Probably the most famous dunk in college hoops history. Deserves its ranking.[/INDENT]

--Jason "fun stuff, though a bit time consuming to watch all of it" Evans

Probably the most overrated dunk ever.

[JasonEvans]

It was a great dunk, but I can't see how it compares to Grant's dunk against Kansas. I'd also like to nominate Phil Henderson's dunk over Mourning, but I suppose I'm just showing my bias.

JD sitting on Doug Wojik's face is also a classic.

--Jason "like I said, the list is just one guy's opinion-- but the effort to put it together is impressive" Evans

[OldPhiKap]

JD sitting on Doug Wojik's face is also a classic.

--Jason "like I said, the list is just one guy's opinion-- but the effort to put it together is impressive" Evans

Dawkins, reverse over David Rivers in Cameron too IIRC. Although maybe I don't.

[OnToTheNextOne]

after watching those dunks. I can help but think the dunks by nolan smith and gerald henderson in the same game against the Southern Illinois Salukis could've been on that list. Or at least on the honorable mention list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwLlO...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNSyV...eature=related

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm at work and don't have time to sift through the whole video, but to ask someone who has...did Lorenzo Charles' NCAA game winner in 1983 make the list?

[magjayran]

Cool video. Seems like this guy is most impressed by dunks that are "on" somebody. This is more like a "Top 50 Dunks that Embarrassed Somebody" list.

I forget the number but Will Bynum should have been at least top 20. That's one of the craziest dunks I've ever seen.

#42 - Grant Hill over Jim McInvaine is one of only 2 Duke dunks on the list

I don't even think that this is Grant's best dunk at Duke.

#22 - A young Shaq. Wow, was he thin!

People forget just how much of a freak Shaq was. 7 footers just don't jump that high.

#14 - Vinsanity's reach against Clemson was absurd

Ditto for Vince at UNC. This is pretty sick though.

#7 - Dahntay Jones famous push-up dunk. It makes it more for the post-dunk celebration than the dunk itself. It is possible some younger Dukies have not seen this clip. It is a must see!!!

I don't know how anybody isn't wowed by the actual dunk here. You don't see guys go up face to face with the defender and muscle it past them all that often. The reaction just makes it better. Might be the best Duke dunk of all time.
That Damon Thorton dunk holds a special place in my heart because I remember seeing it live at a crappy sports bar with my parents. The whole place went nuts and I ended up giving high fives to strangers. Ended up that none of us were State fans. Some dunks come out of nowhere but you could see that one coming and I don't think anyone thought he would actually go through with it when we saw the big guy setting up.

Also I think the Isma'il Mohammed dunk wasn't his best. He had one that was damn near a 360 alley-oop and a reverse alley-oop off an inbound that were both incredible.

[Lord Ash]

after watching those dunks. I can help but think the dunks by nolan smith and gerald henderson in the same game against the Southern Illinois Salukis could've been on that list. Or at least on the honorable mention list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwLlO...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNSyV...eature=related

Absolutely agree, those were two of the best ever Duke dunks IMO, and both came in the same game; Dhantay's dunk against Maryland was also absolutely insane, given what a response it was to Dave Neal's hit on Nolan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLHEUkNOgE

[magjayran]

I'm at work and don't have time to sift through the whole video, but to ask someone who has...did Lorenzo Charles' NCAA game winner in 1983 make the list?

Amazingly, no.

[pfrduke]

Absolutely agree, those were two of the best ever Duke dunks IMO, and both came in the same game; Gerald's dunk against Maryland was also absolutely insane, given what a response it was to Dave Neal's hit on Nolan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckLHEUkNOgE

Fixed above. Although I understand the confusion.

[77devil]

I do not profess to be the person who came up with this nor do I necessarily agree with the rankings, but some dude spent a ton of time looking up clips of some of the best dunks and came up with a video highlight of the top 50 in college hoops history. It is pretty good, even if it naturally skews toward more modern stuff because there are not as many video sources of stuff done more than a decade ago.

Anyway, you can read a little bit about the compilation here or just view the entire thing (14 minutes long) here.

I was a bit surprised that Grant's dunk from bobby in the 1991 NCAA championship game only made honorable mention. I think the significance of the game pushes it into the top 50. Frankly, the top 50 included too many "look at him dunk over that guy" dunks that became sorta old hat after a while.

My other comments--

#43 - Darrell Porter of Pitt over GTown is amazing athleticism.
#42 - Grant Hill over Jim McInvaine is one of only 2 Duke dunks on the list
#34 - Darrin Hancock of Kansas just hurdles some KSt dude. Sick!
#22 - A young Shaq. Wow, was he thin!
#20 - Auburn's Chris Porter has freakishly long arms
#14 - Vinsanity's reach against Clemson was absurd
#11 - Clyde Drexler gets ridiculously high. folks forget how athletic those Houston teams were in the early 1980s.
#7 - Dahntay Jones famous push-up dunk. It makes it more for the post-dunk celebration than the dunk itself. It is possible some younger Dukies have not seen this clip. It is a must see!!!
#1 - Send it Jerome! Probably the most famous dunk in college hoops history. Deserves its ranking.

--Jason "fun stuff, though a bit time consuming to watch all of it" Evans

Think about how different this list might be if David "Skywalker" Thompson, in particular, et al, had been allowed to dunk. In addition to Grant's dunk that you mentioned, a top 50 list without Phil Henderson's throw down over Alonzo Mourning is suspect IMO. Then again, I'm not exactly objective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbIxFvMmcmc

[Daniel tosh]

I liked number #36 the best.Just goes to show how different some opinions are.

[Lord Ash]

Fixed above. Although I understand the confusion.

Whoops! Amazing how the brain can be thinking one thing while the hands type something else! Sorry!

[amazinballer323]

Is it possible to do a full one of these of just Ish Muhammad? Damn he could get up and throw down

[Tom B.]

#1 - Send it Jerome! Probably the most famous dunk in college hoops history. Deserves its ranking.

And if you look closely, that's Sean Miller -- former Xavier head coach, now the head coach at Arizona -- who makes the pass to Lane on the break that leads to the dunk. Miller was a freshman point guard for Pitt at the time.

[barjwr]

I personally enjoyed this dunk by Maggette in the regional final in '99 against Temple to end the first half . . . . Check out Elton Brand's facial expression at the end of the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZF_oaO1lA

[DevilHorns]

I think SupaDave brought up Austin Rivers' signature scoop lay-up in the AR thread... started to get me thinking...

Top 50 lay-ups of all time!

Ok that may be a bit much, but anyone also have any thoughts on who was a lay-up specialist? I am only half-joking.