McDonald's All American Dunk Contest & 3 point Shoot Out

Last night, I got the opportunity (while flipping back and forth from the Maryland/Louisville women's game) to check out the 3 point shoot out and dunk contest for the 2009 McDonald's all american game. While the 3 point shoot out was a nail biter and quite entertaining with the 6' 10 Ryan Kelly (Duke commit) taking it all, I felt like the dunk contest was better than the one the pro's did in February. There wasn't a lot of hoopla, there was WAAAAAY too many judges, but the kids came to do what they came to do and entertained. They didn't take 15 dunks to get it right, they had 45 seconds on the clock and most of them didnt' need it. They dunked with finesse and with power and showed their creativity while having fun. Derrick Favors (going to GA Tech, 6' 9") was nice though he didn't win. I was a little jaded that Mason Plumlee (going to Duke) got really high scores for some of the stuff he did, and don't get me wrong it was nice, but he was like 6' 10. In the end, the 6' 3 , Texas bound Avery Bradley Jr. took it all with some impressive dunks and the way he expolded while in the air on a couple of dunks that didn't look like he was going to make them at first, made it all the more impressive. While the first round dunks were nice, competitors set the bar a little high as a few got perfect scores on dunks in round 1 like the Louisville bound Peyton Siva, the shortest player competing. He took lob from a teammate off the shot clock and slammed it home. Michael Snaer (Fl. State commit, 6' 4) gets honorable mention as he did a dunk going baseline and grabbed the corner of the backboard before extending to finish the dunk. The other participant was Abdul Gaddy (Washington commit, 6' 3), while he obviously had ups (as did most of the guys because nobody really took any running starts, just a couple steps then up) he just wasn't as flashy as some of the others and that might've hurt his chances. Overall, it was fun to watch without all the hoopla and just to see the All Americans do their thing. Bring on the game! Only sad thing? That nobody in the Big Ten signed any of the all americans, though 3 are still undecided. But UNC has 3, I guess that makes up for it! Go Heels!