Sure, there are still a few dunkers at the college level who are really exciting, but perhaps its LeBron James’ chase-down blocks that have renewed my love of the blocked shot. In my formative years as a college hoops fan, I watched guys like Corie Blount and Kenyon Martin send back shots. ↵↵The current king of swat, Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado, could set a new NCAA standard in that category tonight with eight blocked shots against Alabama at 9 p.m. ET. That would seem like a lot for most players, except he had seven in his last game and has had 10 four times in his career. Sitting at 528 blocks entering tonight’s game against Alabama, the record is hardly out of reach. If you’re unfamiliar with Varnado’s handywork, here are a couple of examples:↵
Jarvis Varnado Poised to Swat NCAA Blocked Shots Record
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So who is the man Varnado is passing? He’s well past the likes of Alonzo Mourning, Tim Duncan and Adonal Foyle. No, Varnado is passing someone who’s not exactly a household name: former Louisiana-Monroe big man Wojciech Mydra.↵↵Myrda, a 7-footer, played at Louisiana-Monroe from 1998-2002 and tallied 535 career blocks. As it turns out, Myrda was completely unaware his record was about to fall until Clarion Ledger writer Kyle Veazey contacted him. Veazey also provides a little bit more background on the reigning blocked shots leader:↵
↵↵⇥[Myrda] went on to a professional career in Europe before a knee injury limited his mobility and eventually ended his career. He is back in his hometown of Rzeszow, a city of about 170,000 a little under 200 miles southeast of the Polish capital of Warsaw.↵↵↵If Varnado breaks the record tonight, he’ll do it without the luxury of a national audience, but if he falls short, he’ll have a chance to do it on the road at South Carolina on ESPN (Saturday, 5 p.m. ET).↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
