Forward blows nation’s top recruit a kiss after dunking on him
It's not every day that the nation's best high school hoops prospect gets embarrassed on a dunk in a nationally hyped game. When that actually happened on Wednesday, the player who threw down the slam took matters even further, openly insulting Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman High star Shabazz Muhammad by blowing him a kiss.
As you can see in the video above, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei High forward Xavier Johnson made no bones about the fact that he knew precisely who he had just slammed over during his squad's surprising, 79-69 victory in the fifth-place game at the nationally renowned City of Palms Classic. First he threw down a nasty slam which Muhammad couldn't get back in time to defend. Then, he looked directly at the nation's No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2012, and blew him a little kiss.
The English might call it cheeky. American coaches are more likely to call it either audacious or classless, depending on their personal opinions. Either way, it was a bold statement in a potential signature win for Mater Dei, which was paced by point guard Katin Reinhardt's 23 points and 15-of-15 shooting from the free throw line.
One could argue that Muhammad finished with the upper hand on Johnson because he led all scorers with 26 points. That's not unusual; after all, Muhammad is the nation's top recruit, sought after by the likes of Duke and Kentucky for a reason.
Still, the highlight of the game -- which also happened to be the 900th win in the career of legendary Mater Dei boys basketball coach Gary McKnight -- was Johnson's dunk, with the Colorado signee's slam showcasing all the athleticism and exuberant confidence that he first made public with this slam on then top-recruit Austin Rivers in 2010, a dunk which reached the "SportsCenter" Top 10 by the time it had finished circulating across the Internet.
In fact, Johnson didn't hesitate to compare this year's dunk to last year's on his personal Twitter account.
Dunked on both number 1 players in the nation
Maybe dunking on top-ranked recruits is just Johnson's thing? Maybe Colorado should look into scheduling the likes of Kentucky and Duke for the next three or four years, just in case. The games might be worth the one-off highlight reel dunks alone.
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