MEMPHIS – For those who doubted Blake Griffin was really head and shoulders above the rest of college basketball this year, among the last of his 30 points for the Sooners' Friday night victory over Syracuse came on a baseline dunk - after he hit his head on the side of the backboard. (I know. It used to happen to you every now and then too.)"That was the first time that happened," Griffin said afterward. "It kind of took me by surprise."
(Video proof after the jump.)
I saw "Big Country" Reeves break a backboard in a Final Four warm up for Oklahoma State.
I saw Mateen Cleeves and Eduardo Najera head butt each other at full speed in a tournament game. (Najera was knocked woozy for the longest time.) I saw the Arkansas mascot blow out his knee in a pre-game routine before a Final Four game.
Griffin's head knock was a first. He should try to replicate it next February in the NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk contest.
Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a frequent sports opinionist on other outlets. A former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News, he currently lives in Silver Spring, Md.
