Arizona Basketball: Rawle Alkins dunk, Leads to Sports Center Top 10 at No. 5
Days away until the 2016-17 Arizona Basketball season kicks-off and the Wildcats are already getting quite the jumpstart to their season.
At the annual Arizona Red & Blue game this past weekend, the Wildcats, instead of the myriad of recruits in attendance and the honoring of the 1996-97 National Championship team, perhaps what drew the most attention was the thunderous dunk of true freshman, Rawle Alkins.
The Wildcats, of course, hosted a dunk contest prior to tip-off. Missed dunks seemed to be the common theme, but for the dunks that did go down, they were surely remembered.
Conjecture and rumors aside about the status of veteran Allonzo Trier, it was nice to return to a sense of normalcy for Arizona Basketball. That normalcy, of course, being many talented players taking to the court to showcase their talent for the upcoming season.
This years’ preseason hype comes in large part due to the talented, and supremely athletic Alkins. The true freshman, hailing from Brooklyn, NY perhaps stole the show, in addition to the victory in the dunk contest.
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Dunk Championship nearly at hand, Alkins lined up, just inches from the Arizona bench. Casually, he raced from the sideline, taking off from the side of the paint, soaring over the head of head coach, Sean Miller. Alkins adjusted the placement of the ball for what seemed like an eternity, and after Miller had appeared to tell him he knew what to do, Rawle got ready for his huge dunk.
In mid-flight, Alkins quickly grabbed the ball from the outstretched hands of Sean Miller, resting just above his head. Still soaring, Rawle abruptly threw back his hands to throw the basketball down with such ferocity.
It was good! The sold out crowd in the McKale Center erupted with a thunderous applause and cheer.
A bit in disbelief, Miller looked up to see if the ball had indeed gone through. Nearly 15 feet away, Alkins stood smugly, celebrating his achievement, anticipating the barrage of congratulations from his teammates racing towards him still in shock of what they had just witnessed.
The dunk by Alkins was so good, that it made ESPN SportsCenters Top 10 Plays, coming in at Number Five!
If we had learned anything from this weekend, it is that Arizona has some of the East Coast swagger again that has not been on this team for some time. Alkins, the confident and gutsy 19-year-old, could provide a bit of that fighting spirit to this years’ squad.
At Zona Zealots, we are certainly excited to see the return of Arizona Basketball, and after this weekend, we are just one more step closer to this season. Bear Down, Arizona!
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