June 23, 2025

bring on the DUNKS

Dunks. There’s nothing better than dunks.

KU needs to dunk more. Let’s talk about the why of it.[Evergreen] Shout out to the god Bart Torvik, who tracks dunks, giving us all some hard data to discuss.

The best Kansas teams play above the rim. The 2020 team that got robbed of a title dunked 143 times, second in the country. The 2011 team that should have done more led D-I in dunks, thanks to the dunk-tastic triad of the Morris twins and Thomas Robinson.

The 2022 title team was 16th in dunks, however it was a top-heavy dunking squad with Ochai, David McCormack and Christian Braun (who was 27/27 on dunks) hammering it at least once a game out of the backcourt. Last year’s primary backcourt combo — Dajuan Harris Jr. and Zeke Mayo — dunked three times, total, between the two of them. Three times! Total! Let’s cut through the noise here — that’s not enough dunks.

Last year’s team was 18th in the country in dunks, buoyed heavily by Flory Bidunga’s 48 JAMS, RIP Bob Davis. Though Bill Self’s playing style has come under scrutiny in the past few years in the three-heavy basketball universe, his bedrock has always been making high-percentage twos and stopping those same shots on the other end. When KU can’t do either, we’re not very good, see last season.

I led with the practice IG reel because it’s nothing. but. dunks. Melvin Council Jr… bouncy. Elmarko… with the easy flush?! DP is a dunk tornado. This backcourt is going to slam the ball, and the lob-in dunk play is fully back on. If Kohl Rosario reclassifies and makes it too Lawrence… hoo boy, more dunks.

Something I love about basketball is, even though there’s nuance and complex action that underlies the game’s rhythm, watching the sport can be pretty simple. Score more than the other team, make shots, dominate at the rim. These things are evergreen and even new fans can pick up on this.

So, let’s bring on the dunks. That’s the post.