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Dunk of the Year Awards

J.J. Moore, Dane Miller

Rutgers’ Dane Miller, left, defends as Pittsburgh’s J.J. Moore, right, goes up for a dunk in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Pittsburgh. Miller fouled Moore on the play and Moore missed the dunk. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

AP

With the 2011-2012 season finally in the books, its time to look back at the moments that made this season so special. We’ve addressed the best tournament moments, and best games of the season. But each game is made up of individual moments which can stand out on their own given certain circumstances.

The 2011-2012 season had no shortage of gravity-defying dunks. There was not a week that went b without somebody ending up on the wrong end of a posterization. In fact, poster-dunks were at such a premium this season, it’s not too long before the word “posterized” make’s it into the Webster’s dictionary.

But what made all the dunks, slams, alley-oops, and rim-rockers great was the circumstances. We saw opening-tip poster-jams, game-winning dunks, and highlight reel slams at all levels of competition.

Before we get to our top-10 dunks of the 2011-2012 season, have a gander at the best dunks from a variety of different categories, including “Dunker of the Year”.

Best Single Game Peformance: Trevis Simpson - UNC-Greensboro vs. Miami

There were a bunch of worthy candidates in this category. Any time Alabama’s Tony Mitchell stepped on the court, he was good for at least four dunks. Oklahoma State’s Markel Brown was a human dunk machine night in and night out. Southern Mississippi’s Torye Pelham dropped three Top Plays in one game, and Xavier’s Dez Wells put on a showstopping performance against Duquesne, but Simpson takes the honors here because of what he did to the basket. He dunked so hard that a few bolts broke off the rim. Now that’s called “Sending it in”.

Best Alley-Oop: Julian Boyd - Long Island vs. Robert Morris

A half-court alley-oop is one of the prettiest sights in college basketball. But when it’s thrown down in a conference championship game, with a tournament bid on the line, in front of a sold out crowd, well, you just can’t get any better than that. Well, Spike Lee was there, so maybe you can. Oklahoma State’s Markel Brown caught a three-quarter court alley-oop from Keiton Page, but it wasnt as pretty as Boyd’s.

Most Creative Dunk: Darrion Pellom - Hampton vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore

Is there really any debate with this one? We’ve seen guys catch alley-oops off the backboard from teammates, but to do it all yourself? Now that’s just impressive. The best part is that he threw it up, went behind the defender’s back and caught the slam. There’s a reason this dunk also made our Top-10 list.

Best two-footed Dunk: Kyisean Reed - Utah State vs. Southern Utah

You would be surprised at how many dunks are started by jumping off of two feet. Sure, most of the highlight reel dunks are fast-break poster-dunks, but Utah State’s Kyisean Reed shows us that if you got “hops” you don’t need a running start. In fact, you get a more explosive jump when using two feet, which mean be the reason why Kyisean looked like he was getting shot out of a cannon.

Best One-Handed Slam: Rodney Williams - Minnesota vs. Nebraska

Rodney Williams has excellent hops and excellent length, which makes his an excellent dunker. He is a slashing guard who you do not want to give up the baseline to. If he get’s past you on the baseline, it’s take-off time for the “The Rodney Williams Express Airlines”. This one-hander is so spectacular because he gets such good extension and velocity. Most of the season’s best dunks were one-handers, but this one stands out.

Best Poster-Dunk: DeShon Minnis - Texas Tech vs. Southeastern Louisiana

Like the previous category, many of the best dunks of the year were of the poster-variety. But “Biggie” Minnis’ dunk takes the cake for several reasons. First, if you aren’t aware, just dunking over somebody doesn’t constitute a “posterization”. The defender has to make a serious effort to thwart your dunk attempt.

Elgin Bailey, the 300-pounder on the wrong end of this dunk, makes more than a serious effort to get the block. You can see him take the stutter-steps needed to pin the shot up against the glass. But unfortunately for Bailey, he’s not as athletic as Minnis. The chaos that ensues following the dunk si what really seals the deal. Poor photographer. While there are a host of other poster-worthy nominees, this one is by far the most entertaining.

Best Tip-Dunk: TrayVonn Wright - North Dakota State vs. South Dakota

You probably never saw this dunk. You probably never even knew when these teams played. Hell, you probably didn’t even know these two teams played at all. And for shame, because Wright’s one-handed tip-jam was out-of-this-world. Dunks like these are only thrown down by guys like Anthony Davis, and TrayVonn Wright is no Anthony Davis. Seriously, this was the best dunk of the year that nobody saw.

Dunker of the Year: Markel Brown, Oklahoma State

It was a tough decision. There were so many guys who threw down SportsCenter Top Plays on a weekly basis. Here is the group of ten finalists we narrowed it down to:

Quincy Acy (Baylor), Doug Anderson (Detroit), Markel Brown (Oklahoma State), Dion Dixon (Cincinnati), Chris Evans (Kent State), Tony Mitchell (Alabama), Andre Roberson (Colorado), Dion Waiters (Syracuse), Dez Wells (Xavier), Rodney Williams (Minnesota)

But Markel Brown gets the nod because of his overall resume. Tony Mitchell probably had more dunks, and Rodney Williams probably had a better vertical, but Brown’s overall package was as well put together as you could imagine. He caught full-court alley-oops. He threw down reverse two-handed alley-oops, and back-door one-handers, and countless posterizations. But the icing on the cake was his dunk-related ejection against Missouri on January 25th.

He dunked all over Kim English on the first play of the game, and was assessed a technical foul for “excessive celebration”. When you “yunk” on somebody that bad, you get to celebrate excessively. Later in the game, he posterized Matt Pressey, and once again drew a technical foul. Brown may be the first person in the history of college basketball to get ejected from a game because he couldn’t help himself from posterizing every member of the opposing team.

Markel Brown was instant showtime.

But where’s the “Dunk of the Year” award? It’s coming in our next section, which will chronicle the ten best dunks of the 2011-2012 season.

Troy Machir is the managing editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @TroyMachir.