The No. 2 seed Auburn Tigers took on the No. 15 seed Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The Tigers took care of business, winning the game 80-61.
Aside from the Gamecocks keeping it close early in the first half, this game was dominated by the Tigers as they were led by top NBA prospect Jabari Smith.
Smith had an excellent game, finishing the game with 20 points and 14 rebounds including this monster poster dunk over Jacksonville State center Brandon Huffman.
This dunk certainly got the attention of the college basketball world, and you can tell by the reaction of his teammates just how special of a player Smith is as he has the potential of being a top NBA star.
Oh goodness gracious Jabari Smith pic.twitter.com/Pf0Jf7jgg9
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) March 18, 2022
Smith is widely accepted by most college basketball and NBA analysts as a future top-3 pick, at the very least, in next year’s NBA Draft. Many think he could be the first overall selection in June.
It’s still early, but this dunk is definitely looking like the dunk of the tournament and has added to the already huge Jabari Smith hype machine.
Smith and the Auburn Tigers can make some real noise this NCAA Tournament, and it will seemingly be because of plays like this that Auburn is one of the most dangerous teams in the field this March.