We’ve seen three of the college game’s all-time best dunkers in the past two seasons alone, but who would drop the most jaws in a dunk contest pitting Duke basketball’s Cassius Stanley and Zion Williamson against Dayton’s Obi Toppin?
There’s very little debating that a slam dunk is the most exciting play on hardwood and a Duke basketball specialty as of late.
While fans clamor for a better and improved NBA Dunk Contest every All-Star Weekend, fans are getting a glimpse of what could take center stage in The Association very soon at the collegiate ranks.
Over the past two seasons, Duke basketball has seen two of its best dunkers in recent memory, Zion Williamson and Cassius Stanley. While Mike Krzyzewski has recruited some of the best high-flyers, there is one Flyer, literally, that took the nation by storm this season in Dayton’s Obi Toppin.
Obviously, there have been a plethora of extraordinary dunkers in the past handful of seasons, but the memories these three athletes have given the college basketball world call for a fantasy dunk contest. In theory, Williamson, Stanley, and Toppin all could participate in the 2021 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, should the youngest Blue Devil declare for the 2020 NBA Draft after his freshman season in Durham.
While that could answer the question of who the best dunker is, the idea of waiting until all three players compete in the same dunk contest is absurd, since there’s a higher probability that doesn’t happen. With that being said, we will analyze the best slams of the three elite dunkers and try to make a final determination who the best dunker of the trio is.
Since there is only one season of college-dunk highlights for both Zion Williamson and Cassius Stanley, only the dunks in Obi Toppin’s sophomore season will be examined.
Cassius Stanley
The pure, raw athleticism that Cassius Stanley possesses is the main reason that his decision regarding his future is so difficult.
Stanley’s potential is as high as anyone in the draft, but his basketball skills still need to develop.
One skill that is NBA-ready is his dunking, as can be seen in the video below. As long as a Duke player threw it anywhere remotely close to the rim, the 6-foot-6 guard was going to get it and throw it down.
Just one year after Zion Williamson set the vertical jump record at the Duke Combine, Stanley broke that record, and while the debate is to be had whose dunks were better, I believe Stanley was getting up higher than Williamson.
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The one negative on Stanley’s dunks were that many of them came via the alley-oop; while very exciting, it doesn’t leave fans with the anticipation of what could be in the freshman’s bag of tricks if he had a one-on-one with the rim.
Who knows, maybe another year of dunking at the college level could improve Cassius Stanley’s score and we could revisit this question next offseason (wink, wink)
Cassius Stanley Dunk Rating: 8.2/10
Obi Toppin
In his freshman season, Obi Toppin was a very good player for the Dayton Flyers. In his sophomore season, he was all that and more.
Toppin was named the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year and had the Dayton Flyers in line for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
His game is sensational, his dunks were jaw-dropping, and while they are included in the video below, I’d advise you to watch Toppin’s highlights from a game against George Washington this season.
The dunks that the 6-foot-9 forward was able to pull off are incredible.
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Dunking over people, catching alley-oops, and a between-the-legs dunk on a fast break with defenders trailing him, I mean, you just don’t see that kind of thing during a game.
Already having declared for the 2020 NBA Draft, Obi Toppin will be a future star in the NBA, and if he lands with the right organization, he could be an impact player from his first day in the league.
Obi Toppin Dunk Rating: 9.4/10
Zion Williamson
I’m not sure if I have ever seen a player captivate a nation in just 33 games played.
Zion Williamson had more hype surrounding him entering Duke than just about any other player in recent memory, and he might have had more hype around him than any other player entering college basketball, period.
The only aspect of his game that Williamson disappointed was that he didn’t break a backboard during the game, not counting the one he shattered in the Duke Student Center following the 2018-19 season.
Zion dunked through people, he dunked over people, and he dunked around people.
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The highlight dunk of Williamson’s Duke basketball career came against Clemson where the 6-foot-7 mammoth pulled off a 360 slam on a fast break that sent Cameron Indoor Stadium into a frenzy.
Listing Zion Williamson’s memorable dunks would be way too long, but he was not just a one-hit-wonder. He slams with the same ferocity in the NBA, despite just 19 games played, but the rim he bent in the Rising Stars Challenge speaks volumes.
The world waits in anticipation for Williamson to enter the Slam Dunk Contest in his NBA career, hopefully in the near future.
Zion Williamson Dunk Rating: 9.6/10
Final Rankings
So to conclude, here are the final rankings from this imaginary dunk contest between three of college basketball’s recent risers:
- Zion Williamson (9.6/10)
- Obi Toppin (9.4/10)
- Cassius Stanley (8.2/10)
The margin between Zion Williamson and Obi Toppin was razor-thin, but the Duke basketball star just put forth way too much to be denied in his only college season.
Athletes and big-time dunkers continue to pour into college basketball, and as enthusiasts of the high-flyers, we can only hope all these star players will share the same court in a Slam Dunk Contest so that we can truly get an answer to who is indeed the best dunker.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more updates, analyses, and opinions regarding all things Duke basketball.