March Madness 2017: New Orleans’ Travin Thibodeaux throws down monster dunk (Video)

New Orleans Privateers forward Travin Thibodeaux treated us to a thunderous dunk in the opening First Four game of 2017 March Madness

It’s relatively commonplace for college basketball fans to overlook the First Four when it comes to 2017 March Madness. As a new addition to the NCAA Tournament and with two games featuring a pair of No. 16 seeds, it’s at least logical to wait until the field is down to 64 teams. However, fans who chose not to watch the First Four were only missing out. And New Orleans Privateers forward  Travin Thibodeaux made sure to announce that with authority.

After helping lead the Privateers back from an early deficit against the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers with his presence on the inside, New Orleans and Thibodeaux were trying to pull level. At the very least, they were trying to get momentum on their side. Four minutes into the second half, the junior forward did all he could to make that happen.

Trying to find pockets of space in the Mount Saint Mary’s defense, Thibodeaux faded into the right short-corner. When his teammate drove into the lane, he was open for the pass. After receiving the dish, he went right for the rim.

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With complete disregard for the host of Mountaineers defenders trying to stop him, Thibodeaux then threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk that got the crowd on their feet:

Don’t tear the backboard down now, big fella.

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Unfortunately for Thibodeaux and New Orleans, that monster jam didn’t swing the momentum all the way in their favor. They pulled level with Mount Saint Mary’s. However, what they couldn’t do was surge past their opponents. Even worse, Thibodeaux later got into a scuffle with one of his own teammates. That’s not what you’d call capitalizing on a big play.