Alley-oop
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An alley-oop in basketball is an offensive play in which one player passes the ball near the basket to a teammate who jumps, catches the ball in mid-air and dunks or lays it in before touching the ground.
The alley-oop combines elements of teamwork, pinpoint passing, timing and finishing.
Etymology
The term "alley-oop" is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap.[1]
The term “Alley Oop” was first popularized in the United States in 1932 as the name of a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist V. T. Hamlin.
In
History
In the 1950s, some players began grabbing balls in mid-air and then dunking. K. C. Jones and Bill Russell teamed up to perform the alley-oop several times while at the University of San Francisco in the mid-1950s.[2][3]
In addition,
The Phillips 66ers of the National Industrial Basketball League had an alley-oop play in its playbook where Charlie Bowerman would pass the ball to Don Kojis.[4] Kojis played two seasons for the 66ers between 1961 and 1963 making that the time period when the play was executed.[5]
Some others credit David Thompson as the first player to execute the classic alley-oop play while at North Carolina State University, with his teammates Monte Towe and Tim Stoddard performing the necessary lob passes. NCSU's Thompson popularized the play during the early 1970s, exploiting his 44-inch vertical leap to make the above-the-rim play a recurring staple in the Wolfpack's offensive attack.[7] Because dunking was illegal in college basketball at that time, upon catching the pass, Thompson would simply drop the ball through the hoop – never dunking one until the final play of the final home game of his career.
After a decade of dunking prohibition ended in the NCAA in 1976, the alley-oop became associated in the late 1970s with
The following year,
During the 1990s, NBA stars turned the alley-oop into the game's ultimate quick-strike weapon. In recent years,[clarification needed] teams have often run the alley-oop as a planned play. The 2008 National Champions Kansas Jayhawks had several designs for alley-oops, including some thrown from inbound sets, and could execute them interchangeably with almost all of the players being able to both lob and finish the play.
In popular culture
In the 2008 film Semi-Pro, the protagonist invents the alley-oop after being knocked unconscious and speaking with his deceased mother in a depiction of Heaven.
Mickey Mouse frequently uses this phrase in early cartoons.
The phrase is also said by Killjoy in the computer game Valorant when an alarmbot or turret gets an assist on an enemy player.
See also
- Alley-oop (American football), the original usage of the term in sports
- NBA records
References
- ^ alley-oop, adv., int., adj., and n, Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ ISBN 9780803224445.
- ^ Paul, Alan (2018). "An Interview With Bill Russell".
- ^ Lacis, Reinis (October 24, 2018), The Handle Podcast – Don Kojis: 08/24/18
- ^ Eastern Basketball Association Rosters
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- ^ Posnanski, Joe (April 6, 2008), "Get ready for alley-oop game between KU and Memphis", The Kansas City Star, archived from the original on February 19, 2009
- ISBN 978-0805088106
- ^ Killen, John (January 23, 1982). "Lob it or leave it". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
- ^ "Vandals No. 6". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). wire services. March 2, 1982. p. 13.
- ^ "UI wins but falls to No. 8". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). wire services. March 9, 1982. p. 17.
- ^ Van Sickel, Charlie (March 15, 1982). "Vandals: Sweet 16 and..." Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). p. 15.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (April 11, 1983). "State had the stuff". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
- ^ "Wolfpack miracle rules land". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. April 5, 1983. p. 1D.
- ^ "Wolfpack stuffs Cougars for title". Milwaukee Sentinel. April 5, 1983. p. 1-part 2.