Nevada's Deonte Burton Annihilates Basket with Strong Dunk of the Year Candidate

This may not just be a candidate for Dunk of the Year. It looks like a winner.

Nevada senior guard Deonte Burton took off eight feet from the basket and rocked home a one-handed jam over Boise State’s Ryan Watkins on Wednesday night in what could stand to be the nastiest dunk of the 2013-14 college basketball season.

Video of the posterization was uploaded to Instagram by the Mountain West Conference (h/t Rob Dauster of College Basketball Talk). Burton is 6’1”, but took Watkins (6’9”) to the cup with zero hesitation.

General rule: When you dunk on your opponent and their fans scream “Ohhh,” you know you did a bad, bad thing.

Burton left nothing but scorched earth and Bronco tears by the time he left Boise State’s Taco Bell Arena that night. His thievery of Watkins’ soul was just part of a huge individual performance for the senior. Burton dropped 25 points against Boise State and helped Nevada top the Broncos in an 83-81 double-overtime victory. 

Burton is no stranger to life above the rim, however. He’s essentially a one-man poster factory.

It’s a strong man’s game, and Burton is one strong man. 

Burton played all 50 minutes of the game for the Wolf Pack—what else would you expect from a man whose bounce spits in the face of gravity and inertia?

Burton’s dunk has already earned him the No. 1 spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10, a distinction that will only help his NBA draft stock.

It remains to be seen why Burton has only been a blip on the national media’s radar, according to DraftExpress.com, despite scoring over 2,000 points in his college career.

NBA scouts love him for his athleticism, but they’re a bit tentative due to his age (per DraftExpress). At the age of 22, Burton is three or four years older than many other top prospects, but athleticism like this doesn’t disappear overnight.

Burton’s skill set is for real, and I’d much rather have him dunk for me than on me.

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