2022 Card-vent Calendar: December 6

December 6, 2022:

1993-94 Classic Draft Picks #26 Tony Dunkin

First of all, Holy Bejeebers, THAT'S a great name for a basketball player.  Until Tom Reception starts playing wide receiver in the NFL or Michel Highsticking gets called up to the Calgary Flames, this might be an all-time athlete name.

The question is, could this guy ball?  Well, despite most of the world not knowing his name, Tony Dunkin is still the only male college basketball player to have been named conference Player of the Year four times (D1).  This is a record that may never be equaled in our lifetimes.  Circumstances dictate the unlikelihood of repeating this feat.  First, if you're a freshman winning PoY in your conference, you're probably playing in one of the power conferences.  And if you win it your first year, you're probably on your way to an NBA career before your four years are up, given the state of basketball over the past 30 years.

On the other hand, let's say you're a freshman who wins the honor in a mid-major conference.  Not unheard-of, but unlikely.  A wunderkind just out of high school is probably not going to Louisiana-Lafayette or UW-Green Bay.  But let's say it does happen.  Is it easy to replicate over sophomore year?  Absolutely not.  But, for the sake of argument again, imagine a repeat happens.  A guy who's not good enough to go pro, but is right at the top of a smaller conference.  He could do it a couple more times, right?

Two words make this even less likely today: Transfer portal.

If a diamond in the rough at UC-Irvine starts lighting up the rest of the Big West, soon enough the Pac-12 (or whatever's going to be left of it) will come calling.  I'm calling it right now.  We will never see this happen again.

Tony Dunkin, you may not have had the most memorable professional basketball career, but the staff at this blog would like your remarkable feats as a Chanticleer to be acknowledged by the entire world.