Lisa Leslie becomes first woman to dunk in WNBA

[RaiderPower1]

Here's an article from the ESPN website:
http://espn.go.com/wnba/news/2002/0730/1412104.html

Congrats to her! But GO Comets!

[HuskerFan86]

I think its only a matter of time before Portland's Sylvia Crawley and Houston's Michelle Snow dunk in a game.

I think the dunk is good for the game, and shows the amazing progress female athletes have made over the past 10 years.

[Cat_Fan]

Look for Nicole Ohlde to get it done this year. It's just a matter of timing and opportunity!!

[HuskerFan86]

Can Ohlde dunk? She looks like she could, but then again, so does 7'2" Margo Dydek from the Utah Starzz...

Nicole is one of my absolute favorite players, and it would be great for the Big 12 if she could throw one down.

Also, why is it that Leslie has to be on an uncontested fast break to dunk? She does it so easily, you'd think she could do it even if there was a defender in the area.

[RaiderPower1]

The times I have seen Leslie dunk on WNBA.com TV (which is only twice), she looks as if she can just barely dunk. Michelle Snow, on the other hand does it with EASE. In the video i saw of her online she could drop step and dunk with two hands. She could run without much effort get the ball over the rim with both hands.

BTW, Cisti Greenwalt is very open about her dream to dunk in a game. She has said it many times and Marsha has said that Greenwalt can get a volleyball down but not quite a basketball. That was in the middle of Big XII play at the end of January so given that it has been 6 months I think Greenwalt will have many opportunities because she runs the floor so quickly.

[carolann]

I have seen Stacy Stephens dunk in warmups before a high school championship game -- not a particularly impressive dunk for dunk junkies. Annissa Hastings says she can't dunk because her hands aren't big enough. Hand size apparently is an issue for a lot of girls/women when it comes to dunking. The women can dunk with a smaller ball but not with the basketball.

[HuskerFan86]

I have her that 6'3" Prep All-American Candace Parker has dunked in a couple high school games. There seem to be more and more players with the ability to dunk every year. Will dunking in the womens game ever become the norm?

[ChipperF1]

Dunking on a breakaway? YAWN!

When Lisa Leslie goes chest to chest with the person guarding her and posterizes somebody with a dunk, then I'll be impressed.

[tamn8or]

I don't like it. I don't want women to dunk. I want the game to stay below the rim -- that's one of the main reasons I like the women's game. I really hope the trend does not continue.

[swok34]

I'm with tamn8or......I would prefer that the dunk never find it's way into the women's game.

[TXSNOS]

Carolann,

At the Texas girls' state basketball tournament I saw Stephens lay the ball in with her hand level with the rim in the warmup for an earlier game. Unfortunately I was stretching my legs outside the Erwin Center for that later game and missed "the dunk."

This was my first year to miss the girls' state tournament in about 10 years. I don't plan on making that mistake next year.

TXSNOS

[ChipperF1]

Dunking isn't bad. Dunking above all else is. The womenfolk are going to be skywalking in a few more generations becuase the athletes who can do it will be there. As long as they don't sacrifice the other parts of the game because of showmanship, I see nothing wrong with the game becoming vertical and horizontal.

But again, if and only if such play leads toward the most important thing -- winning.

[HuskerFan86]

Dunking has the ability to create more interest for the women's game, so it can't be a totally bad thing. As sad as it is, dunking may be the only way to get people to notice this great game. I'd say if a dunk happens once every game or so, it won't detract from the quality of play. There will never be enough girls with the ability to dunk, for the womens game to ever become like the NBA, where every time down the court, it's dunk at all cost.

[longhornfan04]

I'm new to this board, but I've always been a huge basketball fan and I agree that dunking is not a bad thing if players don't forget the fundamentals to see how many dunks they can rack up.


A day or so after Lisa Leslie dunked, Michelle Snow made a comment about trying to be the first one to do it twice in a game.


Here is a link to that story in thehttp://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkw/comets/1516882Houston Chronicle</a>


I think that now more players will be willing to go for it in games and that could make things more interesting if things don't get out of control.


[This message has been edited by longhornfan04 (edited 08-02-2002).]