Have you heard of Keifer Sykes? If not, get to know the name.
As a junior last season, he averaged 20.3 points and 4.9 assists for a 24-win Green Bay team that beat eventual NCAA tourney 1-seed Virginia and lost to eventual Final Four participant Wisconsin by just three.
He's also one heck of dunker, as our C.L. Brown documented in the preseason. Even Sykes' missed slams are spectacular -- as was the case Wednesday night in a rematch with the Badgers at the Kohl Center.
During the opening minutes of the Phoenix's 84-60 loss to UW, the 6-foot guard took off from halfway down the free-throw lane and leaped right over the shoulders of 7-foot Wisconsin center Frank "The Tank" Kaminsky, who was recently named the No. 1 player in college basketball in ESPN.com's #CBBrank survey.
OK, so the attempt clanked off the back of the rim. Those are mere details. The effort was insane and Kaminsky certainly took notice, using his Twitter feed after the game to thank his lucky stars.
Thank God that @keifer1124 missed that dunk. Would have ruined my confidence as a basketball player.
— Frank Kaminsky III (@FSKPart3) November 20, 2014Sykes quickly responded, which led to a cordial exchange about the professional futures of both players. Well done, fellas.
@FSKPart3 didn't get a win or make the dunk but I'm sure it's a nice picture of the miss dunk that I can save to post when you get drafted.
— Keifer J. Sykes (@keifer1124) November 20, 2014@keifer1124 *when we get drafted
— Frank Kaminsky III (@FSKPart3) November 20, 2014@FSKPart3 true that's the goal, goodluck the rest of the way!
— Keifer J. Sykes (@keifer1124) November 20, 2014@keifer1124 you too man. Keep killin.
— Frank Kaminsky III (@FSKPart3) November 20, 2014