How Collin Chandler turned a 'Simple Play' into the Dunk of the Year

Collin Chandler‘s dunk vs. Nicholls went viral on Tuesday night, claiming the top spot in SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day and setting basketball Twitter on fire, with rapper Lil Wayne even chiming in. The video probably has over a million views by now, several coming from Mark Pope himself, who honed in on one thing: Chandler’s expression. After he landed, Chandler snarled at his defender, Grant Sanders, and said a few words before turning and trotting back down the court. To Pope, that look spoke volumes.

“There was so much video footage of that particular play, close-up stuff, and you kind of see the expression on his face as he goes to finish that play,” Pope told reporters today. “And I like to think that expression is not something that he just made up. It’s something that’s been earned through pain and suffering, through failure and setback, through a lot of doubts.”

Tuesday will mark four years since Chandler signed with BYU to play for Mark Pope. Since then, Chandler was named Utah Gatorade Player of the Year, completed a two-year Mormon mission, followed Pope to Kentucky, and even got married. Most of Chandler’s freshman season was spent trying to get his feet back under him after two years away from the game; he was starting to hit his stride in March, but Tuesday night’s performance vs. Nicholls, that dunk specifically, showed that he’s ready for his breakout moment.

Even then, it didn’t come easily. Chandler may have finished with a game-high 15 points, but he only had four points in the first half, starting the game 0-3 from the three-point line. With Denzel Aberdeen easing his way back in from a groin injury, Chandler started at point guard and struggled for the second straight game. When Pope put Aberdeen in at point guard, Chandler used his time on the bench to regroup.

“I was really proud of him,” Pope said. “I talked to him after the game for a while, called him a couple of hours after the game, and just asked him what his experience was.”

“What he told me is like, man, when I go back in, I’m going to make the simple play. I’m going to make the simple play. And that’s a second-year guy. It’s a second-year guy that understands that. Because you can sit there and be mad and angry and frustrated and sad and blame and excuse and all this stuff. But he was just like, nope, this is what I’ve got. So where’s my control in this thing? My control is that I’m going to actually focus right now, so that when I get back in this game, I’m going to go make the simple play.

“And the simple play was to go 4-4 for the three-point line and have maybe the highlight dunk of the year. That’s the simple play. That’s where the simple play leads you.”

For Pope, it’s the perfect example of a lesson he continually preaches to his players: control what you can control and don’t worry about the rest.

“One of the things we spend a lot of time with our guys on is just reminding them, don’t give away your power,” Pope said. “Every time you point a finger at someone else, you’re essentially saying that they have control over your existence now and your future later. Never do that, man. Be stubborn and in a sense, arrogant, and be like, nope, I’ll find a way. I’ll figure out a way to do this.”

When you do, you might even end up on SportsCenter and have the basketball world buzzing about you. Even LeBron James liked the video of Chandler’s dunk, a surreal moment for a kid from Farmington, Utah.

“In that moment, he set a great example for our team,” Pope said. “It was super fun. The top play on SportsCenter was super fun. Lil Wayne tweeting out about him was super fun. LeBron [James] jumping on the bandwagon was fun. The pictures were great. I think BBN had so much fun with it.”

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Pope on Chandler: “He’s a killer”

Chandler’s snarl may have represented resiliency to Pope, but it also showed that the sophomore has a mean streak. We’ve heard tales of this team’s competitive fire. Chandler’s dunk and snarl showed he might be one of the fiestiest of the bunch.

“He seems so soft-spoken and mild-mannered when he’s with us, very even-keeled,” Pope said. “How does he flip that switch to become that guy? He’s a killer. So, the word on the street, you guys have to ask Collin, but the word on the street is that his family doesn’t like to play board games with him because he almost wins every time, and when he doesn’t, he’s really salty about it. So he is a killer. He’s a competitor, competitor, competitor. He fits in exactly with our locker room.”

He may have the dunk of the year so far, but Chandler isn’t perfect. Pope said he’d like to see the sophomore continue to take strides on defense and ball handling. He’s becoming a more consistent shooter; he was 3-3 from the three-point line in the second half vs. Nicholls, and Pope says he’s 50% from three over his last 30 attempts. Having Aberdeen and Jaland Lowe back in the lineup will only help.

“Denzel makes a big difference,” Pope said. “It helps our other guys, too. Collin Chandler, right now, is a better defender at the off-guard spot than he is guarding a point guard. That’s just true. So is Jasper…It helps move our guys to more natural positions, at least for some part of the game.”

Pope spent a lot of time talking about Chandler’s dunk and what it represented on Tuesday. To him, it’s a microcosm of what this team could be when it’s win or go home in March.

“I think that’s how he’s built. I think that’s how the guys in my locker room are built. They are problem solvers. They don’t sit in problems. They don’t bellyache about problems. They don’t complain about problems. They don’t blame about problems. They try and go figure them out. And I think that’s, as long as we can stay in that space, I think we have a chance to be great.”