The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the contestants for the 2018 NABC-NAIA Shoot & Slam, presented by US Bank. The final four 3-point shooters and three-of-four dunkers were selected by a committee, while the fourth and final dunker will be picked using a fan vote pushed out on social media.
The Fan Vote dunkers are Marcus White of Dickinson State (N.D.), Tyler Bell of Jarvis Christian (Texas) and Joseph Williams of Xavier (La.). Fan voting open Tuesday, Feb.
20 at 9 a.m. CST for the final dunker as it occurs on the @NAIA Twitter and @PlayNAIA Facebook accounts. Fans can vote as many times until Monday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. CST.
The 3-point and dunk festivities take place March 17 at 4 p.m. CDT and are in conjunction with the 81st Annual NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.
These three players earned a spot in the Dunk Contest, with the fourth to be determed by the Fan Vote: Arsenio Arrington of Aquinas (Mich.), Titus Rice of Ottawa (Kan.) and DeShun Patterson of Tabor (Kan.). The order of dunkers will be alphabetical by school name. All four dunkers will be judged on two dunks in the first round. Each dunker must complete one dunk within a two-minute span. The two dunkers with the highest composite score advance to the final round. The format is the same in the final round. The dunker with the highest final round score will be the winner. A panel of judges will score the dunks from 8-to-10 points, resulting in a maximum score of 50 and a minimum score of 40 per dunk.
The following players were selected to participate in the 3-Point Contest: Reed Dungan of Dalton State (Ga.), Colton Kooima of Northwestern (Iowa), Will Hill of Rio Grande (Ohio) and Brandon Scott of Science & Arts (Okla.). The order of contestants will be alphabetical by school name. All four players will participate in the first round with the goal of making as many 3-point shots as possible in 60 seconds. Similar to the NBA 3-point contest, five racks with five balls each will be stationed around the arc. The two players with the highest score from the first round advance to the final round. The contestant with the highest final round score will be the winner.