NCAA basketball 'dunk of the year' leaves sports announcer speechless
Gus Johnson, the “Human Headphone Warning,” has done it again.
Calling Michigan State’s “dunk of the year” late in the first half against Michigan on Saturday, Johnson displayed his usual mad enthusiasm for Gavin Schilling’s throwdown of an alley-oop pass from Cassius Winston.
Hit ▶️
.
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👀 DUNK OF THE YEAR
.
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Say 😱(Via @CBBonFOX)pic.twitter.com/bwxT0tTuZa
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 13, 2018
From another angle, you can see that this was an actual throwdown, a “thrunk” if you prefer, in which the ball is thrown through the hoop from above rather than the player maintaining control of the ball throughout the finish as in a traditional slam dunk.
Cassius Winston to Gavin Schilling nearly killed Gus Johnson. pic.twitter.com/KUT8l6FIdM
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) January 13, 2018
Pretty good for a Gus Johnson scream … in the regular season.
But it doesn’t rank among the true Johnson masterpieces, like Isaiah Thomas’ game-winning shot to put Washington into the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
Or Adam Morrison’s game-winner for Gonzaga over Oklahoma State in 2006.
As Greg Gumbel once said after one of Johnson’s classic calls, “Gus will be out of the hospital in time for tomorrow night’s game.”
Johnson’s voice is iconic in college basketball, and while he’s no Dick Enberg or Keith Jackson, nobody in sports broadcasting today has the “lose his mind when something big happens” gimmick nailed down quite like Johnson does.
Maybe Johnson was inspired by Russ Hodges and his iconic “The Giants Win the Pennant” call of Bobby Thomson’s home run.
If his call of the Michigan State throwdown is anything to go by, he’ll be ready to go full cardiac when the conference tournaments come around.
Sadly, Johnson’s no longer with CBS — he left the network six years ago for Fox Sports and is FS1’s lead announcer for its college football and basketball coverage.
But whatever game Johnson is calling, you can be sure the great moments will seem even better.
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