SPORTS


			Metro in a dunk funk?

	By Kyle Ringo The Metropolitan

	Nobody is throwing down around here anymore. What Iâm talking about has nothing to do with the rowdies in the Boiler Room. The Metro menâs basketball team never dunks anymore. So I am writing about it. Why? Well, because these are the things one starts writing about when covering a team in Utopia. Because the Roadrunners are winning, usually convincingly. Because the players like each other, and they like their coaches. Because the coaches like the players for their hard work and good grades. Because The Savior has earned his new nickname. Can anyone on the Metro team jam ÷ in a game? This is a dicey question to ask a basketball player. I donât recommend it.

	A cursory look around the Auraria Events Center yields no warning signs discouraging attempts to shatter the backboards. There is a rumor going around that freshman forward Rashawn Fulcher can leap a rack of basketballs in a single bound and slam one through the hoop. I havenât seen it, and I have been to three games in less than a week. Ollie Brent, another freshman forward and a headline waiting to happen, says he can dunk but chooses not to. ãDunking is overrated,ä Brent said. ãThat is a quote from coach Dunlap (The Savior). ãAll we need is two points. It might excite the crowd, but are you playing for the crowd, or are you playing for the team?ä Yes, playing for the team is good. Letâs not change that. How about a one-dunk-minimum per game? That sounds fair. It is the most exciting play in basketball after all, aside from the last-minute, game-winning shot. And we havenât had the chance to see too many of those, with all these double digit victories. Sure, senior center Chris Tiritas will dunk during the warmups, but that is Dan Issel when the crowd wants to see Michael Jordan. We are not asking for a dunk contest, although that is a nice promotional idea, free of charge, for the athletic department. A nicely executed two-handed rim-bender with a yell for emphasis at least once every 40 minutes will fill the tank. Metro leads the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in steals, so the team has its chances. The RMAC is said to be very close to signing a deal to televise both the menâs and womenâs tournament championship games live on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain in early March. The Roadrunners should be playing in that game. They could use the practice before the cameras are brought in. Just give us one lob to Brent ÷ The Ollie Oop ÷ or maybe a Fulcher Flush, and weâll shut up.