The Best Dunks So Far in the 2015-16 College Basketball Season

Nothing gets a crowd—and, nowadays, social media—whipped up into a frenzy like a good, thunderous slam dunk. The 2015-16 college basketball season is still quite young, yet we've already been treated to several throwdowns that could go down as some of the best of the year.

With nearly every game being shown on television or the Internet, we've been able to identify six of the best dunks so far. They're ranked based on their difficulty, abuse of the rim and, of course, Twitter reaction.

Think you've seen better? Let us know in the comments section and make sure to include a link to the jam.

6. Josh Adams, Wyoming

When: Nov. 28 vs. Montana State

Josh Adams currently ranks third in the country in scoring, at 25.5 points per game, and he does it from all over the court. The 6'2" senior guard shoots 42 percent from three-point range, and his 104 made free throws are third-most in Division I.

As that last statistic will indicate, he's not afraid to take on contact if it means getting to the basket. Just ask Montana State's Danny Robison, who tried to get in Adams' way and ended up getting used as a stepping stool for a thunderous dunk. Watch closely, and it looks like Adams actually continues to rise after colliding with Robison.

Adams was fouled on the play, and after converting the foul shot, he gave Wyoming a 64-55 lead en route to an 82-68 victory. He finished with 25 points.

5. Derrick Jones, UNLV

When: Nov. 24 vs. Chaminade

Derrick Jones entered college already having developed a reputation for his monster dunks, and NBC Sports ranked him as the best dunker in college before he ever played a game. Was this just hype, or could the 6'7" forward really fly?

Do yourself a favor and type "Derrick Jones dunk" into YouTube, but make sure you give yourself a few minutes to enjoy.

Jones has already destroyed several rims just over a month into his freshman season, and it seems like he's good for at least one great dunk per game. We chose his flush against Chaminade because it aired on national television and was part of the career-high 26 points he had in UNLV's 93-73 win during the Maui Invitational.

Because so many of his shots are high percentage, Jones is currently averaging 10.5 points per game on 58.1 percent shooting.

4. Darius Thompson, Virginia

When: Dec. 5 vs. William & Mary

A part-time starter as a freshman at Tennessee in 2013-14, Darius Thompson left the Volunteers after Cuonzo Martin took the California job. He sat out last season, per NCAA transfer rules, and during all that time watching from the bench, this must have been building up inside him.

It all came out in the form of one sensational slam, a transition flush that came after he and point guard London Perrantes passed it back and forth on a two-on-one. The dunk was so unlike Thompson, a 6'5" sophomore guard, that his father apparently fell out of his seat while watching the game.

"I was like, 'Whoa, where did that come from?'" Lonnie Thompson, a college basketball coach at an NAIA school in Tennessee, told Whitey Reid of the Daily Progress. "I had never seen that kind of attitude when he attacked the basket."

The flush completed an 8-0 run, giving Virginia a 59-44 lead en route to the 67-52 win.

Thompson is averaging 8.4 points per game on 58.3 percent shooting, including 45.5 percent from three-point range.

3. Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina

When: Dec. 18 at Clemson

The Clemson-South Carolina rivalry isn't nearly as big in basketball as it is in football, but don't tell Sindarius Thornwell that. The 6'5" junior guard only had eight points in the Gamecocks' 65-59 win at Clemson, shooting 2-of-10 from the field, but that included a ferocious dunk over 6'10” Landry Nnoko.

Thornwell took the dribble handoff and built up a head of steam, colliding with Nnoko in the air but not backing down. He completed the three-point play, part of 19-0 run to break an early 14-14 tie.

Plays like that are why South Carolina is 11-0 for the first time since the 1933-34 season and one of just five unbeaten teams in Division I.

2. Prince Ali, UCLA

When: Dec. 3 vs. Kentucky

The combination of a name straight out of a Disney movie and the ability to throw down on the top-ranked team in the country is a recipe for a Twitter explosion.

With UCLA leading by 12 points midway through the second half, Prince Ali took a pass beyond the three-point line, and after juking Tyler Ulis out of his shoes, he soared over Alex Poythress for the smash.

Twitter lost its mind with “Aladdin” puns, including one from ESPN's SportsCenter account, which read, “Prince Ali, mighty is he...Strong as [10] regular men definitely.”

Ali, a 6'3” freshman who only plays 13.1 minutes per night, made the most of his court time during UCLA's 87-77 win over the previously unbeaten Wildcats. He was just as shocked as everyone else who witnessed the dunk, laying face down on the court afterward for a few moments in hopes that it wasn't a dream.

1. Kerwin Roach, Texas

When: Dec. 1 vs. Texas-Arlington

When Texas hired Shaka Smart away from VCU this offseason, the hope was the young coach would be able to bring over his "Havoc" playing style that was so successful with the Rams.

The Longhorns lost three of their first five games, but they're now on a six-game win streak that includes an upset of North Carolina and a hard-fought win at Stanford. It started with an home victory over Texas-Arlington ion overtime, a game in which freshman Kerwin Roach wreaked havoc on a poor, defenseless rim at the Frank Erwin Center.

Roach, a 6'3" guard who averages 6.7 points and 18 minutes per game, was pretty unimpressive in the first 17 minutes of that game, with a missed field goal and a missed foul shot as well as a foul and a turnover. But after UTA took a 29-19 lead, Roach got the ball in the backcourt and didn't let go of it until he'd unleashed the best dunk of the 2015-16 season to date.

It had everything: a nice, deep reach-back as he jumped from just inside the free-throw line, a futile attempt by a Mavericks defender to contest the dunk and then the nonchalant saunter down the court as the ball rolled away from the basket like it just wanted to go back in the ball rack.

Roach's jam invigorated the crowd and his team, which finished the half on an 8-2 run and pulled out the victory in extra time.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.