& it therefore made him feel good about himself, despite the risk.

As a two-handed dunker, Alex has nothing to prove to himself or to others — by throwing one down in a game. But if you remain in doubt on that, I suggest you revisit some of his HS highlight vids.

Carlino was a very average athlete for 6'1 D1 guard. Compared to the average Joe on the street he was a very good athlete, no doubt. But compared to Alex Barcello, he was pretty pedestrian. (And I'm certainly not suggesting there aren't better athletes at the D1 level than Barcello. There are plenty of more athletic guards than him.)