Remembering Hakim Warrick's "Texas Tea Bag" Dunk on Royal Ivey & "The Block" on Lee

Players in this post:
Royal Ivey Hakim Warrick

His performance in the 2006 NBA Slam Dunk Contest was mediocre at best and although Hakim Warrick has posterized a few players in the league, you have to go back to his Syracuse days to see why I'm always bringing the Helicopter up in conversations about great dunks and dunkers.

TEXAS TEA BAG

I easily rank Warrick as one of the top 20 most exciting college players ever and his "Texas Tea Bag" dunk over Royal Ivey during the 2003 Final Four is one of the best and most memorable of dunks of the past 20 years. The amusing part that most people don't remember is the dunk didn't count and the refs actually called Warrick for an offensive foul.
(Correction by Ryan Brookins: I would just like to point out that the dunk did count. It was one of those weird situations in which the offensive foul was still assessed but the basket counted. Essentially, the refs said he dunked the ball before committing the foul, which is crazy awesome.)

THE BLOCK

Just as memorable (especially if you are a Kansas fan) and impressive is "the block" Warrick had on 3-point specialist Mike Lee of Kansas in the final seconds of the National title game in 2003.

"I didn't even know my shot was blocked because I couldn't find the ball," Lee said. "Then I heard the whole crowd scream, 'Oooh,' and I realized the reason I couldn't find the ball was because it was about three rows back."

Warrick's memory of the block: "It was kind of slow motion. I was looking and I saw the ball go to him in the corner and Lee was wide open. I was pretty much the guy closest to him … and I was under the basket! I know he was probably thinking, ‘Man, I’m wide open.’ After I got the block, I just started shaking. I was looking at the crowd. I was looking at my teammates. Because after I blocked the shot, that was pretty much the game. I was jumping in celebration. I don’t remember anything after that. I don’t remember what Lee did or where he went."

Here are 4 minutes of more reasons why I will continue to bring up Warrick's name in conversations and on this site.

							

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *