WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State senior men's basketball forward Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech), has been selected as a candidate for the 2024 "Dark Horse Dunker" Competition – with a chance to advance to compete in the State Farm College Slam Dunk championship held in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in Phoenix, Az., in April.
Hamilton recently completed his 4-year career with the Owls, scoring more than 1,300 points and grabbing 1,100 rebounds. He was a 2-time conference defensive player of the year, and a 4-time all-conference selection.
Hamilton will compete to be the "Dark Horse Dunker" at the contest, where a small-college player is selected to compete against NCAA Division I foes by virtue of a fan vote on Twitter/X and Instagram.
The contest, which has been held since 1989, has featured a number of future NBA players, including current L.A. Lakers coach Darvin Ham , Cedric Ceballos – an NBA dunk champion, Miles Plumley, Cleanthony Early, as well as former UMass players Will Herndon and Unique McLean.
VOTE NOW! - https://twitter.com/CollegeSLAM/status/1764712439906541899
Fans will determine the winner by voting on the event's Twitter (@CollegeSlam) and Instagram (@College_Slam) channels in a bracket-style competition. The Twitter voting window for each round will run for the duration of each round and the Instagram voting window for each round will run for the final 24 hours each week. First-round voting begins today at Noon CT and runs through Friday at Noon CT. The athlete with the most votes in each matchup will move on to the next round. The final round will take place March 20-24.
The schedule for each voting round will go as follows:
•Round One: March 4 at Noon CT through March 8 Noon CT (16 Players)
•Quarterfinals: March 11 at Noon CT through March 15 at Noon CT (8 Players)
•Semifinals: March 18 at Noon CT through March 22 at Noon CT (4 Players)
•Finals: March 25 at Noon CT through March 29 at Noon CT (2 Players)
The player that ultimately receives the most votes in the final round will be selected to compete in the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, an event featuring some of the best college dunkers and 3-point shooters in the country. The 2024 State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships will air live on ESPN during college championship weekend in Phoenix at 6 p.m. MST on April 4.
The following are the 16 Dark Horse Dunkers competing in the contest for their chance to showcase their talents in the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships:
Christian Adams, LeTourneau
Akol Arop, Florida Southern
Andre Ball, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Ryan Davis, Ripon College
Collen Gurley, Mount Union
Jermaine Hall, Jr., California (PA)
Brendon Hamilton, Westfield State
David McCullough, Florida Tech
Tim Moore, Benedict
Ikenna Okeke, Missouri S&T
Jake O'Neil, College of Idaho
JJ Ramey, University of the Cumberlands
Ali Sabet, Loras
Elijah Simmons, Ottawa University Arizona
Kendrick Tchoua, Indianapolis
Malik Whitaker, Fort Lewis
Three players who won the State Farm Dark Horse Dunker competition have gone on to win the Slam Dunk Championship, including Marcus Lewis (Eastern Kentucky) in 2014, James Justice (Martin Methodist College) in 2012 and Jacob Tucker (Illinois College) in 2011.
For more information about the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@CollegeSLAM) and Instagram (@College_Slam). Official rules for the State Farm Dark Horse Dunker competition can be found HERE.
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