The college basketball season has just gotten under way, and we already have a wonderful dunk to remember for the end of the year, when these sorts of things are put into arbitrary lists. It comes from the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV (which may look familiar to NBA fans because it’s the location of the Las Vegas Summer League), and it comes courtesy of a freshman playing in one of his very first college games on Monday against little known New Mexico Highlands University.
The dunker in question is Derrick Jones Jr., and at 18, he’s 6-foot-7 but looks much longer than that. He takes off from outside the paint, only a couple of feet closer than the free-throw line, and when he takes off, his feet might as well have made a spring! sound effect like a bungie cord. Look at how freaking high he gets!
Do not get in djones1___ way to the hoop! #UNLVmbb https://t.co/qbbPvuA6RH
— UNLV Basketball (@TheRunninRebels) November 17, 2015
That is just a ludicrous amount of hops. That’s too much hops for one person. If he took off from closer, he’s liable to smush his face on the backboard. Jones was apparently rated as the best dunker of the recruiting class of 2015, and he’s already earning that title. UNLV announcers already seem to have nicknamed him “Basketball Jones,” which is a perfectly fine nickname to yell out when he does something unreal.
(Ed. Note: Rest in peace, The Basketball Jones)
