ABSTRACT
The growing impact of the dunk shot–that is, jamming the basketball through the hoop–was the result of a number of factors:
the increasing percentage of tall, highly coordinated players;
the aura of showboating came to be viewed less in negative terms;
the greater tolerance of coaches with respect to allowing players more freedom of expression (many of the former seemed to feel it represented the only realistic strategy in order to attract the more athletic recruits who learned their game in a freewheeling urban playground milieu); and
coaches, athletic directors, general managers, etc., recognized that it was boffo at the box office–and money has always been the name of the game in college as well as the pros.
