During the mid 1980’s Cardinal fans were entertained by one of the best to ever lace em up for the Cards in Pervis Ellison. He went hard from tip to the final buzzer and If he got the ball down low he was going to make sure he got two points. He would go for the slam dunk every chance he got. Pervis holds the record for most dunks in a season (59), most dunks in a career (162), and most dunks in a game (7). Darrell Griffith and Alvin Sims were also great at going hard and rocking the rim. Griffith is 2nd and Sims is 3rd all-time in career dunks. Most recently Chane Behanan was a player who liked to try and rip the rim off every chance he got and tied Pervis’s record of slam dunks in a season with 59. He is 5th all-time in career dunks and even got the slam dunk of the year award last season.
(UofL Sports)
This season we are going to see a new name emerge as the slam dunk king in a single season as Montrezl Harrell is leaving rims bent in every gym across the country. On Friday night against Temple he had six monster dunks. Harrell’s six dunks were one shy of Louisville’s single-game record set by Pervis Ellison in 1988. On Sunday night against Rutgers he tied the single season record of 59 and is on pace to eclipse Ellison’s and Behanan’s season records of 59. If he keeps having nights like he did against Temple on Friday night he will also keep moving up the list for dunks in a career. He has passed Marques Maybin and is now 7th all-time. Harrell should break the single season record on Tuesday night when the Cardinals play USF.
Back in the summer during a basketball game that Harrell was playing in for the U-19 USA team the announcer of the game used “Enthusiasm Personified” to describe Montrezl on a basketball court. Coming into his college career some thought he would be in a little bit of position limbo, but with Pitino’s style of play and his physical growth he has been a nightmare matchup for a small forward and a unique match-up for a bigger guy. He has shown in just the last couple of months that he is developing his game more in the post and also improving his ball skills. With his size coming out of high school he had to become a more skilled player and he is doing just that. The raw materials are there and when he plays he goes hard, real hard (“Enthusiasm Personified”) . Not only is Montrezl going to dunk himself into the Louisville record books there’s a great chance that he dunks our Cards right into the Final Four and to a NBA contract this summer.
In honor of the NBA Dunk contest the guys on SportsCenter decided to grade some of Montrezl’s dunks during the highlight segment of the Temple game. It was good stuff. You can check it out below.
