Get out of the way or you could be the next victim! Brittney Griner is posterizing players left and right this year with fierce, over the top, in your face dunks!! The 6'8" 200 pound senior from Nimtz High School in Houston Texas threwn down a ridiculous 52 dunks during the 2008-09 regular season, and she's just getting warmed up! Brittney has a two handed dunk, a one handed dunk, a drop step, a reverse, a 360, she goes off the bank or she can glide in from the free thrown line Dr. Jay style! Brittney loves to dunk so much, she spends hours in the gym practicing, and often comes home with welts, bruises and cuts on her wrists and forearms from getting hung on the rim. When she's not practicing she's watching NBA highlights and you-tube clips figuring out new dunks to try. Her favorite dunkers are Dwayne Wade and Lebron James. "It is unbelievable!" says Marcus Jackson, Brittney's AAU coach. "It isn't just fast breaks anymore, it is dunking on people, it is drop stepping and just dunking over you, it is power dunking!" Watching Brittney dunk is witnessing the evolution of women's basketball. A handful of players in the women's game have dunked including: Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Michelle Snow and Sylvia Crawley. But there has never been a player with the uninhibited dunking ability of Brittney Griner! The unanimous WBCA high school All-American is poised to legitimately take the women's game above the rim this fall as she enters college at Baylor University. "I do think that she will be the first player to play above the rim and do it on a consistent basis", says Baylor Head coach Kim Mulkey. "Not just with her dunking ability, but also with her blocking shots." In the past players who were able to dunk were given the green light to dunk only on wide-open fast breaks or when their team was up. But that's not the case for Griner, Coach Mulkey says Brittney's above the rim skills will naturally fit into the Bears offense. "I think some of the things we already do will allow the dunk to take place. I just know that you don't coach her any different than you do the post players we have now. The thing that is different, is she is so much taller and above everyone else that the dunk will naturally be able to take place." Dunking isn't the only facet to Brittney's game, the phenom is a legit triple double threat! Her senior year she averaged 27.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10 blocks per game. She even had a rare quad double this season against College Park High School, going off for 36 points, 15 rebounds, 14 blocks and 10 assists. Griner's wingspan of 86 inches and her vertical reach of 11 feet 6 inches make her a defensive monster in the paint. Earlier this year she set the national high school shot block record with 25 in a game against Hastings high school. "It is hard to get a shot off, this girl can go from the paint to the three point line and block a shot", says Marcus Jackson. "I think this is where she is really going to change the game more is on the defensive end because she takes so many points away!" "I love to shot block, that's one of my favorite things to do", says Brittney, "I jut float around in the paint waiting, I have long arms and I can jump." Baylor already has a top 10 program in place. The influx of Brittney and 4 other top recruits (Mariah Chandler, Jordan Madden, Shanay Washington and Kemetria Hayden) is sure to make the Bears a final four contender. Evolution of Brittney's Dunk Brittney threw down her first dunk as a freshman on a dare from the high school janitor. "He said I was too tall not to dunk", recalls Brittney, "so he gave me a volley ball and told me to dunk it". When she flushed it on the first try, everyone went crazy. A few weeks later Griner tried out for the Nimitz High School basketball team, this was her first experience playing organized basketball. "Her first year I would describe her as a sponge", said Nimitz Head Coach Debbie Jackson, "just soaking up terminology and strategy and just working hard." Griner was 6'1" at the time and played 8 J.V. games before moving up to varsity. Her first season she was so busy getting down the basics of basketball she had little time to work on dunking. But when the season ended she vowed to coach Jackson she would be dunking by the next season. In the spring of 2006 Brittney began playing AAU basketball with the Houston Hot Shots under coach Marvin Harris. His assistant coach was Amanda Barksdale, a 6'3" forward who won a national championship with Notre Dame in 2001. She began working one on one with Brittney mproving her footwork, rebounding and shot blocking. By this time Brittney had grown to 6'3" and once again began testing her above the rim skills. She was determined to dunk, so much so, she bent the rim on the goal at her house and would often have miss-fires at AAU practice. "She attempted to dunk", said Harris, "she would get about 1 out of 6 with a running start." The attempts backfired. One day while practicing, Brittney got hung up in the rim and broke a bone in her hand. She was forced to sit out 6 weeks with her hand in a cast. By the middle of the summer she healed up and resumed her mission to dunk. Coach Harris recalls her first flush in an AAU game, "It was a break away, we lobbed her the ball, the average person would go up for a lay-up, she just slammed it." "It was a little flush, just barely over the rim", recalls Brittney. "I was like, now I'm going to improve on this because I didn't like it just rolling over the rim." Griner went back to school in the fall and timidly showed her new skills to several coaches who suggested she get her legs stronger by lifting weights. She took the advice and hit the circuit with the football team doing a rigorous regimen of squats and leg press starting at 200 pounds. The extra work paid off. By basketball season her leaping ability had greatly improved and her dunk was starting to look respectable. The sophomore began dunking in practice and pre-game warm-ups. About a month later in a Thanksgiving tournament, Brittney had her first dunk in a high school game on a wide open fast break. "After my first dunk, it was crazy", says Brittney, "we just went crazy and everybody in the stands went crazy and we let the other team score because we were talking about the dunk". "Everyone in the gym even our opponents were clapping and her team mates were jumping up and down," recalls coach Jackson, "I actually called a time out because there was so much commotion." News started to spread about the feat. After Christmas a Houston television station came to practice and shot footage of Griner doing a variety of dunks: a one handed, a two handed, a baseline side dunk, even a bounce off the backboard. In the footage her teammates are cheering wildly, meanwhile Brittney almost seems shy about her talents. Channel 2 posted the video on YouTube and it became an instant sensation. To date, it has received just under 3 million hits! The YouTube clip has become so notorious, even NBA star Shaquille O'Neil checked it out. When he came to town to play the Houston Rockets, he took time to meet Brittney before the game. His advice to her was to stay humble and keep her family close. As a sophomore Griner had about 10 dunks and averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. "I knew she was going to be a very good basketball player her freshman year", said coach Debbie Jackson, "and by the end of her sophomore year you knew she was going to be something special." By the spring of 2007 Brittney was 6'6" and continued to work hard in the off-season playing AAU. During the summer she attended a camp at Baylor University in Waco Texas, about 3 hours from Houston. She was so impressed with coach Mulkey and her staff, she decided to verbally commit to Baylor. In her junior campaign, Griner was hungry for more competition, so she began practicing with the Nimitz boys basketball team who were more her size. The coaches helped her develop a drop step and a hook shot and got her used to a very physical style of play. "It's real competitive with the boys. At first they didn't want to go real hard", says Brittney. "I told them don't mind me being a girl, cause I love to compete, I love to go hard, so they pushed me around and put me on the floor a few times and I returned the favor right back to em'." Nimitz boys head coach Randy Gilmer was astounded by her athletic ability. He recalls a day in practice when Brittney dunked 5 times in a row on his best post player. When the player tried to return the favor on Brittney, she blocked his shot. "I've been coaching basketball for 30 years and never have a said a girl could play on my team," says Gilmer. "She could play for me, she would make us better, she would start on my team." This year, her senior year, there was no doubt Brittney was a legitimate dunker. The gym at Nimitz high school has been extra packed and even the road games are packed. "Dunk it!", people yell out from the stands. Everyone wants to get a glimpse of Griner's highflying act. Brittney now stands at 6'8", her muscles ripple when she walks down the court, she's 200 pounds and has dunked over 50 times this season. No longer is she that shy skinny kid on YouTube, barely aware of her talents. Now she has confidence and swagger, she's ready to tomahawk right over the top of you! "Its always exciting and it never gets old, whether she does it in practice or in a game", says coach Jackson. "She actually straddled, mean jumped over an opponent in a game. This year she doesn't dunk, she slams the ball with a fierceness" "I feel happy knowing I'm the only one in high school who can do this", I says Brittney with a smirkish grin, "but then there are times when anger is behind it, because we might be down or behind and I'll get mad and go up with full force and try to just tear the rim."
Get out of the way or you could be the next victim! Brittney Griner is posterizing players left and right this year with fierce, over the top, in your face dunks!! The 6'8" 200 pound senior from Nimtz High School in Houston Texas threwn down a ridiculous 52 dunks during the 2008-09 regular season, and she's just getting warmed up! Brittney has a two handed dunk, a one handed dunk, a drop step, a reverse, a 360, she goes off the bank or she can glide in from the free thrown line Dr. Jay style! Brittney loves to dunk so much, she spends hours in the gym practicing, and often comes home with welts, bruises and cuts on her wrists and forearms from getting hung on the rim. When she's not practicing she's watching NBA highlights and you-tube clips figuring out new dunks to try. Her favorite dunkers are Dwayne Wade and Lebron James. "It is unbelievable!" says Marcus Jackson, Brittney's AAU coach. "It isn't just fast breaks anymore, it is dunking on people, it is drop stepping and just dunking over you, it is power dunking!" Watching Brittney dunk is witnessing the evolution of women's basketball. A handful of players in the women's game have dunked including: Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Michelle Snow and Sylvia Crawley. But there has never been a player with the uninhibited dunking ability of Brittney Griner! The unanimous WBCA high school All-American is poised to legitimately take the women's game above the rim this fall as she enters college at Baylor University. "I do think that she will be the first player to play above the rim and do it on a consistent basis", says Baylor Head coach Kim Mulkey. "Not just with her dunking ability, but also with her blocking shots." In the past players who were able to dunk were given the green light to dunk only on wide-open fast breaks or when their team was up. But that's not the case for Griner, Coach Mulkey says Brittney's above the rim skills will naturally fit into the Bears offense. "I think some of the things we already do will allow the dunk to take place. I just know that you don't coach her any different than you do the post players we have now. The thing that is different, is she is so much taller and above everyone else that the dunk will naturally be able to take place." Dunking isn't the only facet to Brittney's game, the phenom is a legit triple double threat! Her senior year she averaged 27.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10 blocks per game. She even had a rare quad double this season against College Park High School, going off for 36 points, 15 rebounds, 14 blocks and 10 assists. Griner's wingspan of 86 inches and her vertical reach of 11 feet 6 inches make her a defensive monster in the paint. Earlier this year she set the national high school shot block record with 25 in a game against Hastings high school. "It is hard to get a shot off, this girl can go from the paint to the three point line and block a shot", says Marcus Jackson. "I think this is where she is really going to change the game more is on the defensive end because she takes so many points away!" "I love to shot block, that's one of my favorite things to do", says Brittney, "I jut float around in the paint waiting, I have long arms and I can jump." Baylor already has a top 10 program in place. The influx of Brittney and 4 other top recruits (Mariah Chandler, Jordan Madden, Shanay Washington and Kemetria Hayden) is sure to make the Bears a final four contender. Evolution of Brittney's Dunk Brittney threw down her first dunk as a freshman on a dare from the high school janitor. "He said I was too tall not to dunk", recalls Brittney, "so he gave me a volley ball and told me to dunk it". When she flushed it on the first try, everyone went crazy. A few weeks later Griner tried out for the Nimitz High School basketball team, this was her first experience playing organized basketball. "Her first year I would describe her as a sponge", said Nimitz Head Coach Debbie Jackson, "just soaking up terminology and strategy and just working hard." Griner was 6'1" at the time and played 8 J.V. games before moving up to varsity. Her first season she was so busy getting down the basics of basketball she had little time to work on dunking. But when the season ended she vowed to coach Jackson she would be dunking by the next season. In the spring of 2006 Brittney began playing AAU basketball with the Houston Hot Shots under coach Marvin Harris. His assistant coach was Amanda Barksdale, a 6'3" forward who won a national championship with Notre Dame in 2001. She began working one on one with Brittney mproving her footwork, rebounding and shot blocking. By this time Brittney had grown to 6'3" and once again began testing her above the rim skills. She was determined to dunk, so much so, she bent the rim on the goal at her house and would often have miss-fires at AAU practice. "She attempted to dunk", said Harris, "she would get about 1 out of 6 with a running start." The attempts backfired. One day while practicing, Brittney got hung up in the rim and broke a bone in her hand. She was forced to sit out 6 weeks with her hand in a cast. By the middle of the summer she healed up and resumed her mission to dunk. Coach Harris recalls her first flush in an AAU game, "It was a break away, we lobbed her the ball, the average person would go up for a lay-up, she just slammed it." "It was a little flush, just barely over the rim", recalls Brittney. "I was like, now I'm going to improve on this because I didn't like it just rolling over the rim." Griner went back to school in the fall and timidly showed her new skills to several coaches who suggested she get her legs stronger by lifting weights. She took the advice and hit the circuit with the football team doing a rigorous regimen of squats and leg press starting at 200 pounds. The extra work paid off. By basketball season her leaping ability had greatly improved and her dunk was starting to look respectable. The sophomore began dunking in practice and pre-game warm-ups. About a month later in a Thanksgiving tournament, Brittney had her first dunk in a high school game on a wide open fast break. "After my first dunk, it was crazy", says Brittney, "we just went crazy and everybody in the stands went crazy and we let the other team score because we were talking about the dunk". "Everyone in the gym even our opponents were clapping and her team mates were jumping up and down," recalls coach Jackson, "I actually called a time out because there was so much commotion." News started to spread about the feat. After Christmas a Houston television station came to practice and shot footage of Griner doing a variety of dunks: a one handed, a two handed, a baseline side dunk, even a bounce off the backboard. In the footage her teammates are cheering wildly, meanwhile Brittney almost seems shy about her talents. Channel 2 posted the video on YouTube and it became an instant sensation. To date, it has received just under 3 million hits! The YouTube clip has become so notorious, even NBA star Shaquille O'Neil checked it out. When he came to town to play the Houston Rockets, he took time to meet Brittney before the game. His advice to her was to stay humble and keep her family close. As a sophomore Griner had about 10 dunks and averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. "I knew she was going to be a very good basketball player her freshman year", said coach Debbie Jackson, "and by the end of her sophomore year you knew she was going to be something special." By the spring of 2007 Brittney was 6'6" and continued to work hard in the off-season playing AAU. During the summer she attended a camp at Baylor University in Waco Texas, about 3 hours from Houston. She was so impressed with coach Mulkey and her staff, she decided to verbally commit to Baylor. In her junior campaign, Griner was hungry for more competition, so she began practicing with the Nimitz boys basketball team who were more her size. The coaches helped her develop a drop step and a hook shot and got her used to a very physical style of play. "It's real competitive with the boys. At first they didn't want to go real hard", says Brittney. "I told them don't mind me being a girl, cause I love to compete, I love to go hard, so they pushed me around and put me on the floor a few times and I returned the favor right back to em'." Nimitz boys head coach Randy Gilmer was astounded by her athletic ability. He recalls a day in practice when Brittney dunked 5 times in a row on his best post player. When the player tried to return the favor on Brittney, she blocked his shot. "I've been coaching basketball for 30 years and never have a said a girl could play on my team," says Gilmer. "She could play for me, she would make us better, she would start on my team." This year, her senior year, there was no doubt Brittney was a legitimate dunker. The gym at Nimitz high school has been extra packed and even the road games are packed. "Dunk it!", people yell out from the stands. Everyone wants to get a glimpse of Griner's highflying act. Brittney now stands at 6'8", her muscles ripple when she walks down the court, she's 200 pounds and has dunked over 50 times this season. No longer is she that shy skinny kid on YouTube, barely aware of her talents. Now she has confidence and swagger, she's ready to tomahawk right over the top of you! "Its always exciting and it never gets old, whether she does it in practice or in a game", says coach Jackson. "She actually straddled, mean jumped over an opponent in a game. This year she doesn't dunk, she slams the ball with a fierceness" "I feel happy knowing I'm the only one in high school who can do this", I says Brittney with a smirkish grin, "but then there are times when anger is behind it, because we might be down or behind and I'll get mad and go up with full force and try to just tear the rim."