Introducing: Brittney Griner

Brittney Griner isn't going to enter the women's college basketball ranks until 2009, but the 6'8" soon-to-be high school senior has been garnering unbelievable amounts of hype since 2007.

It might have something to do with the YouTube video of her effortlessly dunking, over and over. She's somewhat of an internet celebrity now (she even has her own website now), being stopped by many on the street who recognize "that high school girl who can dunk."

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Dunking, of course, was more of an acquired skill for the still raw talent -- Griner has only been playing basketball since the 9th grade. The first skill that she displayed and thoroughly enjoyed was shot blocking, and it's certainly none too challenging for the girl with an 86.5" wingspan (for comparison, that's on par with Lennox Lewis). Her father will argue, and doctors have allegedly agreed, that Brittney may still grow to 6'10" or 6'11" by the time she reaches college.

Griner -- the #1 ranked women's high school player by ESPN Hoopgurlz -- has already committed to Baylor, choosing the Bears over Pat Summitt's Tennessee Lady Vols in order to stay close to her home in Houston. While the Baylor team is certainly no bunch of slouches (and while I do thoroughly enjoy watching Summitt dominate the women's game), I think it's great for the talent diversity of the college women's game that she didn't go to a major power like UT, UConn, Rutgers or Duke.

She should prove to be a dominant post player if she can continue to learn the game and refine her skills. Here is a video that displays a little less pure dunking highlights and a little more shot blocking, jump shooting and laying up.



It has occured to me that my last statements appear to be slightly vanilla and lacking in overwhelming enthusiasm regarding the talent. If she is properly coached through college, I think she can be a force to dominate and change both the play of and perception of women's basketball at both the professional and amateur levels. It just might turn a few heads favorably to see a forceful post player who can play above the rim.

That being said, I'm simply trying to keep a level head -- she is still in high school, and she has been playing against talent who probably average at least half a foot less in height than her. There is, of course, no sure thing in the world of sports.

I'm mostly trying to avoid ridiculous hyperbole like that of ESPN's Clay Kallam, who has already anointed her with his article "Griner could be best women's basketball player of all time." No, I didn't make that up. Kallam makes her out to be an absolutely unstoppable basketball machine with fine-tuned perfected skills in all aspects of the game, already comparing her to greats like Lisa Leslie and WNBA rookie superstar Candace Parker. Here is perhaps my favorite excerpt from Kallam's article:

Now, those blocks are her calling cards. She can control a game without scoring because she's not just 6-8; she's a long 6-8. She is also a fine athlete and would undoubtedly be a pretty good player even if she were 5-foot-7. As with her length, athleticism and timing, she is the best shot-blocker the women's game has ever seen. In a recent spring tournament, she would lay in wait in the lane as a 3-point shooter wound up on the perimeter. As the ball was released, she would leap out and intersect the shot long after it had left the shooter's hand.

I have to presume then, that while Griner was blocking the shot with one hand, she stretched her other arm a-la Mr. Fantastic out through a window to grab an infant from a burning building. Griner's not 5'7", and to state that she would "undoubtedly" be good at that height is absurd. I don't mean to insult her, but it's hard to dunk, post up and block shots at that height. I'm 5'9" -- I've got a pretty good idea of that.

ESPN's Chris Hansen has a slightly more level-headed approach to the high school phenom in his "Extended Evaluation," pointing out that Griner still has a lot to learn, particularly on the offensive side of the court. She needs to stop settling for contested jump shots and learn to use her physical tools to stop defenders from forcing her away from the basket -- funny, because these points are in direct contradiction to those of Kallam. However, Hansen falls into similar exaggeration -- it's probably something in the water at ESPN headquarters -- in later comparing her defensive skills to "Marcus Camby, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell and Ben Wallace." Mr. Russell's 11 NBA Championship rings would argue that she is still on the low end of the learning curve.

Again, I do fear that I've taken too much of a turn toward breaking down her inadequacies (something I couldn't possibly do accurately given the extremely little footage available to me and my lack of basketball expertise) in an attempt to shine a spotlight on ESPN's lunacy. She looks like a hell of a talent who has put herself in a good situation to become a truly dominant player. I hope that she lives up to her potential and beyond for both her sake and that of women's basketball as a whole.