Scuttle the three! Bring back the dunk! Remember the good old days before the three point shot came along? Basketball was exciting. Fast breaks, and dunks - lots of dunks (once they made them legal again after the Alcindor era).
Kris Bankston has made the dunk popular in Little Rock once more. I don't know how many he has so far this season, but it is a bunch! He doesn't mess around: he just goes up and slams the ball. Do you know what his shooting percentage is? 81.4% !!! He has missed 21 shots all season, in 26 games! Why would a coach not want a player to emphasize dunks? High percentage shots, getting the opponents in foul trouble. You have heard the expressing "settling for a three"? Well there is no "settling for" in a dunk. You are bringing it home with a vengeance!
FLUSH TIME! A dunk is visually exciting. The difference between three-pointers and dunks is the difference between watching paint dry and watching a dog fight, between watching patty-cake and watching a boxing match, between a gentle shower and a thunderclap.
So, isn't it time for the Game Fathers to tweak the rules (which they are so fond of doing) to de-emphasize the three-pointer and re-emphasize the dunk? Sure, there are rule changes and refereeing emphases that they can make to bring that about. The most obvious would be to change the rules to encourage aggressive defense on the perimeter and aggressive moves inside. Encourage pressure on the ball, which will result in more exciting breakaways and less boring rainbows. Right now they have the guards afraid to breathe on an opposing player outside the arc.
Attendance is a problem most everywhere in college basketball. Here is a way to fix it.
DR. J, WHEN BASKETBALL WAS FUN
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