Arkansas senior Sonny Weems won the 2008 NCAA slam dunk contest that is held in conjunction with the Final Four each season Thursday night with an amazing array of dunks.

The 6-6 swingman from West Memphis caught everyone’s attention with his first dunk when he gracefully leaped, took the ball between his legs and then brought down the thunder.

Weems actually put the contest away in the finals with a reverse version of the dunk coming from the side, but his semifinal dunk was the leaper’s stand-out moment.

He replicated the running, leap from the free-throw line dunk that was first demonstrated by Dr. J in the 1970s and then brought back to the fore by Michael Jordan in the late 1980s. It was a stellar one-hand slam that showed both his strength and hang time. Weems’ heel was on the free-throw line when he took off, soaring just short of 15 feet to cram the ball home.

Weems is the second Razorback to win the dunk contest. Brandon Dean first accomplished the feat in 2002 with a dunk that had him pulling off his T-shirt to reveal a Superman shirt underneath.

Weems has now won dunk contests on the high school, junior college and college level. Could the NBA be next?

Filed under: Uncategorized by Terry Wood. Posted on: April 3, 2008 at 9:25 pm