Best Dunkers in UConn history? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Best Dunkers in UConn history?

boog204 said:
Loved Boat but wouldn’t consider him one of our best dunkers. He was short so crazy athleticism to do what he did. But for smallish guards TRob and Ben were miles better.

I LOVED Doug Wrenn and thought he’d be a star. Even though he only had like 5-6 UConn dunks to his name, he tried to break the backboard each time.

Out of curiosity I searched him up on youtube and there’s an interesting interview with him from a few years ago. He’s extremely articulate and reflective. He found religion, went back to UWash to graduate, and was working on his Masters and PhD in hopes of becoming a college professor. Huge props to him for finding himself after a tough upbringing and his own admitted mistakes.
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Great story, obviously his time here was troubled
 
Kolumbo said:
I suppose you have to go with quality, quantity and consistency.
Lyman DePriest had massive dunks
Toraino Walker was dangerous
James Bouknight if he stayed longer
Stephon Castle if he stayed longer
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I also remember DePriest throwing down some big ones.
 
superjohn said:
Strong disagree. Ben could throw down some impressive dunks but he dunked so infrequently in games and Tony barely had any dunks in games. Boat is 5'10 and was catching alley oops in the halfcourt, two handers in the halfcourt, tomahawks on the break. Very few guys anywhere in basketball were catching the dunks he was at that size and with his frequency. Boat said he normally has a 44 inch vert and he got a 41 inch vert on his one jump at the NBA combine with a bad groin. Just a ridiculous leaper who actually showed it off all the time in games. Ben's vertical was 37.5 inches at the combine. He had a few monster dunks at UConn but he just didn't dunk much in games.
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I’d agree with that. Ben didn’t dunk a lot but when he did people knew it.
 
Many of us will remember certain dunks for a number of reasons even though a particular player isn't known for dunks. And that's OK.

I still think Bouknight deserves more credit. He wasn't tearing down rims, only played 43 games, played during covid nightmare. At 6'5" he had the size for flight, the timing, a certain style and made it look so easy. If he had played just one more year with the 21-22 team...

 
boog204 said:
Loved Boat but wouldn’t consider him one of our best dunkers. He was short so crazy athleticism to do what he did. But for smallish guards TRob and Ben were miles better.

I LOVED Doug Wrenn and thought he’d be a star. Even though he only had like 5-6 UConn dunks to his name, he tried to break the backboard each time.

Out of curiosity I searched him up on youtube and there’s an interesting interview with him from a few years ago. He’s extremely articulate and reflective. He found religion, went back to UWash to graduate, and was working on his Masters and PhD in hopes of becoming a college professor. Huge props to him for finding himself after a tough upbringing and his own admitted mistakes.
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I looked Wrenn up after seeing him mentioned in this thread out of curiosity of what he had done after joining the other Huskies. Good for him. It looks like he figured things out and has found a good thing for himself. Always great to see and hear.
 
I’m not a Big fan of dunking but it has its places
The guys who come to mind special athletes who did it with flair
Donyell
Scott Burrell
Ray ( very underrated athletically)
Rudy
Sticks
Boakright
Jackson
Johnson


Underrated as pure athlete Ed
Edmund Saunders
Rodney Purvis
Ryan Boarright

There were others I’m sure
I blanked on Doug Wrenn as he only played one season and averaged 6 minutes a game , I remember the very unrated Tony Robertson and of course the Great Ben Gordon but not necessarily for their dunking as just all around good players and of course Ben as a special shooter .
 
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Thinking about old school UConn dunkers and watching the videos makes me feel like the game has lost some sort of swag in the last 10-15 years, specifically in regards to dunking. Maybe it’s analytics, maybe it’s a different generation, or maybe it’s nothing… but you’re not seeing a ton of guys throwing down ferocious and swaggy dunks at every turn these days
 
uconngb said:
Uconn basketball existed before 1990……Norman Bailey is the best dunker we’ve ever had and it’s not even CLOSE
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Sorry uconngb. I missed your post and was surprised when I’m on page 2 and no mention of Norman. Local kid, played at Northwest Catholic. We’re on the same page.
 
CONN78SEJ said:
I also remember DePriest throwing down some big ones.
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Big props for remembering Lyman DePriest as more than just a Castle-level-defender. I can only imagine what he would have been without the knee injury.
 
6Nattys4Us said:
Big props for remembering Lyman DePriest as more than just a Castle-level-defender. I can only imagine what he would have been without the knee injury.
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Get to see one DePriest dunk in this video about Lyman Jr. Couldn't find anything else.

 
I didn’t see Marcus White mentioned yet. He had some vicious rebound put back dunks. Toraino Walker had the most incredible dunk catching the rebound one handed on his right hand side and in one motion windmilling it to stuff it in the basket which was on his left hand side. I had a great angle and it was something. I think everyone was just thinking he had a good rebound. I wasn’t expecting him to slam it. Tony Robertson had some great warrior jams from the half court set that really got the crowd going. And for what it is worth Chad Wiser at midnight madness had the crowd stoked. Doug Wrenn too in a different year. And yeah, Stormin’ Norman could rattle the rim as everyone who saw him knows.
 
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HuskyWarrior611 said:
For me it was Sticks and Rudy then everyone else. Rudy was a part of team flight brothers back then which was a big deal.

He put on a show on fast breaks.

That dunk in the BET against Syracuse was chefs kiss

1:18
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In my mind, it's Stanley, but wow this was eye opening. Rudy is right there with him.
 
My dunkin' memory sucks, I'm going with high-flying hair-raising Andre.
 
Kolumbo said:
Many of us will remember certain dunks for a number of reasons even though a particular player isn't known for dunks. And that's OK.

I still think Bouknight deserves more credit. He wasn't tearing down rims, only played 43 games, played during covid nightmare. At 6'5" he had the size for flight, the timing, a certain style and made it look so easy. If he had played just one more year with the 21-22 team...

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The dunk vs ECU at 46 seconds is just ridiculous. One of my favorite UConn dunks of all-time alongside Stanley Robinson's alley oop vs Texas
 
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It's hard because there have been so many great athletes that have gone through the program. I'm glad to see Depriest get some love on the board.

I wouldn't change my list, but just because everyone who was pretty good and beyond gets mentioned, Ty Martin had a few impressive dunks after transferring to UConn as well. I remember just in the Mich. St. game he had 3 or 4 big dunks and I'm glad to see him having some success in the NBA now.

Wish we didn't have to only imagine what a Toraino Walker 4 year highlight real would look like as well.
 
emotion, flair, speed, violence. Dunks that change the feel of a game are how I approach it.
Andre, Ray, Sticks, K Free, any order you like. Lots of other greats, but the bigger guys don't look as dramatic doing it.
Boatright gets an honorable mention for his size.
 
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