This is episode 60 of the Dunk Talk Podcast, a solo debrief on Dunk Camp 2025. I’m Dylan Haugen, and this is my honest accounting of the week: the good dunks, the hoop-hopping that scrambled my day one, a contest result I’m going to discuss with maximum diplomacy and minimum satisfaction, and a pro show where half the best dunkers alive were held together with tape. Camp remains the fixed point my whole training year aims at, and this year I aimed at it on JumpX programming in its new Jump Master X era, with Kilganon himself now among my coaches.
The lead-up: two flat sessions and one reassuring one
The two sessions before camp were flat, for reasons that were mostly environmental (empty gyms, nobody watching, the usual suspects). The final Wednesday session in Eau Claire with my friend Christian Ferguson rescued my confidence: one of my highest jumping days ever despite anxiety about getting kicked out, a good behind-the-back, and an Eastbay caught two-handed, which I never do but will take. Then Sunday I flew to Utah, roomed with Hunter as always, and spent the evening in the Airbnb ecosystem that remains camp’s most underrated feature: the community is the product; the dunks are the excuse.
Day one: four hoops, too many restarts, still a good day
This year’s roster of pros: Kilganon, Isaiah Rivera, Jonathan Clark, Jordan Southerland, Tony Crosby, Travis Reynolds, Dom Gonzales, Donovan Hawkins (present, not jumping), plus Darius Clark for the show, all orbiting Andy Nicholson, who is still dunking in his fifties and still running the best week in the sport.
I chose not to test my vertical this year. Not from fear; I’m confident I’d have PR’d. I just care about dunks more right now, and a Vertec session spends the exact max-effort jumps I’d rather spend on the rim (Kilganon’s point from episode 47 about height checks costing more than dunks applies). The actual mistake of day one was logistical: I changed hoops four times, chasing first the crowd, then the better dunkers, then Kilganon when he started jumping (I’m his athlete; I’m dunking with my coach). Every move meant re-warming and, worse, restarting my routine: I’m a deeply routine dunker (lob Windmill, Reverse Pump, cuff Windmill, Eastbay, behind-the-back, you’ve seen the pattern), and each new hoop reset the cycle. Add my baseline session anxiety, trained into me by a lifetime of overcrowded Minnesota gyms, and day one never quite settled.
It was still good: Windmill, Reverse Pump, a great Eastbay plus two more later, a behind-the-back, only my second-ever Scorpion (much better than the first), one of my best 360 cuff Windmills, a back-rimmed Inverted Scorpion that was my closest attempt ever, and respectable looks at the 360 Scoop and 360 Lost and Found. The Underboth didn’t come, which is the one that stings.
Brooke’s week, and the middle days
I skipped a classroom block to watch Brooke jump, and I’d skip it again: her highest jumps yet, grabbing rim, fully peaked. Six months of training her (mostly low rim plus max-effort jumps on 10’) has her close; the missing piece is that we’ve never actually practiced the boring tip-in lob dunk that first dunks are made of, only trick work and max jumps. Within the year, I’m calling it. Day two was content day: filmed low-rim videos with Hoopin’ Nate (door-hoop legend, basically my age now, which is strange and wonderful) and Hunter, plus a 3-on-2-on-1 dunks-only game whose footage was largely destroyed by a human standing in front of my untripoded camera. If you have clips, send them. Day three: no jumps, lots of interviews banked for this channel, four or five mini-podcasts coming.
The 10’ contest: scored by a system I believe in and didn’t enjoy
Day four I entered the 10’ contest for the first time, feeling vaguely ill (a Wisconsin-camp tradition at this point). The contest ran on the WDA format, and here’s my carefully balanced take as one of the loudest objective-scoring advocates on the internet: the idea remains right, the current implementation has real flaws, development has stalled, and it did not feel ready to decide this contest. My dunks: a Reverse Pump with some of my best style ever, then two missed Eastbay attempts salvaged into a genuinely good cuff Windmill. I didn’t advance. I think, dunk for dunk, I should have, along with one other guy I’m not naming, over one advancer I’m also not naming. Ben Hopkins was winning from the start and deserved it completely, so this gripe changes no outcomes. And the disciplined conclusion I’ll actually stand on: I missed two Eastbays in a contest, that’s mine to own, and next year’s fix is in the training, not the scoring sheet.
The show: a 51, a 50, and a medical tent’s worth of pros
The pre-show went well for me: Reverse Windmill, two Eastbays, a cuff Windmill, a beautiful late one-hander, and a handoff behind-the-back with Brooke holding the ball, which is now my favorite piece of footage I own. The pro show was strange and historic at once. Dak tested 51 inches. Isaiah Espinosa tested 50. The volleyball player from the Utah contest is now a confirmed member of the 50 club, and Dak’s 51 resets the record conversation entirely. Meanwhile the attrition list read like a war report: Donovan (IT band) never jumped, Crosby’s knee went mid-show, Dom hit a 360 Reverse Windmill and a Snake before his knee complained, Kilganon managed adductor issues, Travis too, and Isaiah Rivera was visibly below 100 percent. The show still delivered, which says something about how deep the talent pool has gotten; the full video (pre-show, testing, pro show) is on my personal channel.
Back home, and what’s next
First session back in Minnesota: two new dunks on 9’10.75”, an off-the-dribble behind-the-back and an off-the-dribble Eastbay, which sets up the 360 Eastbay campaign nicely. The self-assessment for the week: good dunks, real complaints only with my own hoop-hopping, contest misses, and the Underboth that didn’t come. Camp remains undefeated as an institution; thank you, Andy.
Coming on this channel: the Ben Hopkins episode (he won the 10’ contest and the FIBA invite that comes with it, on bad knees, which deserves its own hour), then the greatest dunker of all time returns (you can guess), then more solo episodes, plus the Dunk Camp interview backlog. We’re near 1,000 subscribers, and monetization means paying guests for their stories, the whole point of this project. Subscribe if you’re new. Peace out.