Video: College Basketball Dunk of the Year…From a Small NAIA College in Indiana
When most people hear the term “basketball in Indiana” they think of the movie Hoosiers, Bob Knight, Larry Bird, and fundamentally sound white dudes with picture perfect releases on their shot.
I grew up in Indiana so I know that while that stereotype is there for a reason, there is much more to basketball in our proud state than short shorts and short jumpers.
So…if I told you that the dunk of the year in college basketball (at least so far)Â comes from tiny Goshen College in Indiana -Â a Mennonite liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,000 – I’d assume that you’d all be just as surprised as I am.
But don’t be.
Thus far – and you can correct if I’m wrong by posting links to other dunks in the comment section – I haven’t seen a more emphatic, thunderous, and impressive dunk in college basketball this year than the one below.
The player is Errick McCollum, a senior at NAIA Division II Goshen, and the dunk came against Grace College on January 5th, 2010.
Watch the video and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Video: Errick McCollum’s Awesome Dunk During Goshen-Grace Game
And while McCollum’s school may be tiny and unknown, he certainly qualifies as a big fish in a little pond.
In addition to receiving regular rotation on today’s SportsCenter, McCollum is the second all-time leading scorer in Goshen basketball history. At just 6′2, he is the school’s all-time leader in rebounds and free throws.
McCollum was also named NAIA Player of the Week at least once last year, and has been named to the All Mid-Central College Conference team and NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All America Honorable Mention in each of his three seasons at Goshen.
So this ridiculous display of timing and athleticism was not a fluke. As is often the case in Indiana and elsewhere, there are some damn good players playing at small colleges.
Congratulations to Errick McCollum for turning in a sick dunk and shining a brief national spotlight on himself and his college.
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* – Errick McCollum photo credit: CantonRep
Email the author of this post: jerod@midwestsportsfans.comTags: dunk, errick mccollum, errick mccollum dunk, goshen college, naia, video
That school is in the same conference as the school that I went to. There are some very good athletes and basketball players in that conference. A lot of them seem to be DI players that are just missing one thing. I wish I had a video of a dunk that James Gardner (Arizona point guard Jason Gardner's older brother)..had against Franklin one year. It was better than that even
There are definitely some good players at the lower levels. As you said, guys missing one or two things. Maybe academics, height/speed, etc. But the skill level is very good and every now and then you get a gem like this kid, who may have just been a late bloomer.
Nice dunk McCollum!
Charge!!!! Why does everyone have to pose and strut after a dunk. How about a high-five or even…happiness! No, now it's a mean look and a strut.
Seriously the defender got his feet set and didn't move until after the dunk had ended, it should have been a charge, why does everyone assume that the defender needs to brace himself and stay totally motionless all the way to the floor. The bottomline is the defender had his feet set when the contact began so it's charging according to the rules, why refs have to pervert the rules is beyond me. There's nothing that says the defender has to hit the floor to get a charge call, all it says is that the defender must have their feet set, which this kid clearly did. Something tells me if it had been a layup instead of a dunk they would have called the charge, and that's just wrong.
It's not a charge when your feet hit the defender on the chin while dunking. He got posterized, get over it.
Serious question: where's the website with the videos of the best charges taken?
ChrisJent.com (you can also view the sister site BrianCardinal.org)
The defender at no point had his feet set, he was still sliding over as the other kid was leaving the ground. You can't stand under the basket, slide under people and expect to earn charges. Ridiculous.
The strutting and so on have nothing to do with the fact that this is no way, shape or form could ever be construed a charge.
The defender was almost directly under the basket. That close to the hoop, in the lane, you are not going to get a charge called unless you were standing there forever and the player made contact with his body, instead of with his legs as he dunks over you.
Wow thats just totally absurd dude, seriously.
Jess
http://www.online-anonymity.se.tc
[...] According to MidwestSportsFans.com, the highlights of McCollum’s dunk have been playing in heavy rotation around the ESPN campus, and rightfully so. It’s just that nasty. [...]
Actually, Errick has now broken the all-time scoring record at Goshen College. The link in the story above is from a November article when he reached 2,000 points. But he broke the old all-time scoring record just before Christmas. Here's a link to the Dec 15 article from our conference website: http://www.mid-centralconf.org/article/717.php
Thanks for the link, and congrats to Errick. It's always nice when a smaller school player gets some national recognition…and all he had to do was posterize some poor kid to get it.