Article via Jason Jordan (USA Today)
In hoops the phrase “catch a body” means to dunk on the opposition, usually despite some sort of contact; sometimes resulting in the would-be shot blocker barreling to the hardwood.
No player, regardless of circuit, did this more consistently this summer than Team Wall (N.C.) point guard Kyran Bowman.
All the evidence you need can be found in the nickname Team Wall director/coach Kendrick Williams gave Bowman as a result of his propensity for posterizing his foes – “The First 48,” a play off the popular A&E series that takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life homicide investigations in the critical first 48 hours.
“I was thinking about Kyran’s body count for the summer and the name just came to me,” Williams said. “A lot of people don’t know this because Kyran is new and not as hyped as other players, but he had more than 10 legitimate bodies this summer. Every time he dunks, it’s on somebody. I never expect to turn on The First 48 and not see someone catch a body. After this summer I have the expectancy of Kyran; obviously we’re talking in the basketball sense.”
Not since Aquille Carr’s famous moniker “The Crime Stopper” has there been a more original nickname. Carr earned his nickname back in 2012 because it was said that when Carr, a schoolboy legend in Baltimore who graduated in 2012, took to the court the crime rate dropped because people were too entranced with his skills to be up to no good.
“I think what helps me finish dunks through contact is growing up with older brothers,” Bowman said. “I didn’t get any mercy out there and they definitely weren’t letting me call foul. I had to finish the play the best way I could.”
Before the AAU season kicked off last April, Bowman, who stands 6-foot-2, doubled as a star wide receiver at Havelock (Havelock, N.C.). He backed out of his football commitment to North Carolina in May to focus on hoops, a risky move that has paid off with basketball offers from Buffalo, East Carolina, Charlotte, Western Kentucky, Ruggers and Appalachian State and interest from South Carolina, Southern Cal and Miami after a strong summer on the adidas Gauntlet.
And what’s he think about forever being known as “The First 48?”
“Oh man I love it,” Bowman said with a laugh. “That’s an honor! I wasn’t known for anything before this summer other than football, but now people are noticing me a lot more. And now I’ve got the nickname and people are knowing me by that too. That’s never a bad thing.”
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