With all five starters returning from another deep Elite Eight run last season, seemingly everyone chose the UNC Tarheels as the preseason favorites to take home the National Title come 2012 March Madness.
Despite two early season hiccups against the upstart UNLV Rebels and the then top ranked Kentucky Wildcats, UNC has proven to have every bit the chance of winning the whole thing as a few other elite level squads like Ohio State, Syracuse, Kentucky, and Connecticut.
When asking even the most dedicated fan which Tarheels are most responsible for their squad’s impressive 11-2 start to the season, the obvious answers emerge like Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, or John Henson. A few others may also mention Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock, or even freshman James Michael McAdoo.
But recently, two of the forgotten Tarheels that don’t get alot of respect, straight up assaulted the rim in a recent contest against the rebuilding Texas Longhorns. In what turned out to be a blowout win over the visiting Longhorns, starting two guard Dexter Strickland and emerging freshman guard PJ Hairston each had poster dunks worthy of nomination for dunk of the year.
We’ll start with Strickland, who in addition to being one of college basketball’s best lock-down defenders, is also one of it’s best highlight reel dunkers, as evidence of his facial served up on Duke’s Kyle Singler in the 2011 ACC Championship Game (shamefully called an offensive foul) and his two hander over Miles Plumlee last March.
The junior guard is a New Jersey native and once played on the same HS team as Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at the legendary St. Patrick’s. Check out his amazing ups as he destroys Texas freshman Myck Kabongo…
Dexter Strickland Facial vs Texas:
If that wasn’t insulting enough for Longhorn fans, vastly improving freshman SG PJ Hairston channeled Dwyane Wade in serving up a poster dunk that sits at the top of my list as best facial dunk of the year to this point. One has to wonder that if Harrison Barnes would have gone pro after his freshman season, would Hairston be getting a lot more attention?
PJ Hairston Poster Dunk:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
