One of the Best to Ever Do It: Chelsea Dungee's Incredible Career
As we celebrate a signature win in a stellar career, let's call it like it is: Chelsea Dungee is one of the absolute best Razorbacks ever for the Women's Basketball Team
I’ll be brief in this introduction, because I really want to get into the meat of the story. I’ll be reviewing the Arkansas-Missouri game later this week, but something more important has happened! If you’ll take a moment to subscribe if you haven’t already, it would be greatly appreciated:
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Last night, the #14 Razorback Women’s Basketball team defeated the defending national champions, #4 Baylor. It was an incredible, program defining win for Mike Neighbors’ team, and is the perfect signature win to kick off what could be a special year. The great win was an incredible team effort, with players like Destiny Slocum and Makayla Daniels showing unbelievable heart. Senior Amber Ramirez was on fire, scoring a team high 23 points, with 16 in the second half(!). One of the best performers on the night though was senior Chelsea Dungee, who finished with 22 points and a 10-12 shooting performance from the free throw line— all while on four fouls for most of the game. If you missed it, catch the highlights here:
It was a legacy defining performance from Dungee, who has been turning in several legacy defining performances of late. It got me thinking about her overall legacy, and despite the fact that this should be obvious, I’m not sure it’s being discussed enough: Chelsea Dungee is one of the best players in the history of Razorback Women’s Basketball. She belongs in the Pantheon of Arkansas basketball, and if you look at her career numbers, you’ll find that very, very few have had more productive careers.
The GOAT
I usually don’t like the Greatest of All Time debate in any sport. Most of the time I think it ignores context, and quite frankly, it does more to diminish the spirit of what is at its core a team sport. However, if you were to make a list of the best Razorback women to ever play, Chelsea Dungee is not far from the top. The storied program has only retired two jerseys— number 50 for legendary center Delmonica Dehorney and number 5 for arguably the standard bearer of Razorback basketball, Bettye Fiscus.
Call it recency bias, or a more favorable look on today’s game, but I think Chelsea Dungee is as close to that hallowed ground as anyone, and there have been A LOT of good women’s basketball players at Arkansas. From Malica Monk and Shelly Wallace, to C’eira Ricketts and Christon Smith, there are plenty of incredible athletes to play in the cardinal and white. But when I think of the singular impact one player can have on a team, I think of Chelsea Dungee.
Chelsea Dungee’s Career
Like I said above, context matters, and the beginning of Dungee’s collegiate career isn’t the traditional path to Razorback stardom. A highly recruited prospect out of Sapulpa High School in Oklahoma, Dungee led the US Women’s U16 team to a gold medal in the 2013 FIBA tournament. She chose to remain close to home, electing to be a Sooner at Oklahoma. She quickly made herself at home, earning a Big 12 All Freshman Team honor in her debut season.
Mike Neighbors’ arrival at Arkansas and a busy transfer portal resulted in Dungee electing to ply her trade in Fayetteville, as she joined Mike Neighbors’ innaugural recruiting class. After sitting out for a year due to stupid NCAA transfer rules, she made her debut for Arkansas in 2018, and her presence was immediately felt.
Dungee finished her sophomore season with “double figure scoring in 34 of 37 games.” She showed an elite ability to draw fouls, as her ability to get to the charity stripe would be a fundamental part of her game. How fundamental? Before this season, she sat at fourth on the list of most free throws attempted in a career and most made in a career, two records that she should easily break after this season. Her 229-275 effort from the line in 2018 was best in the SEC.
After being named All SEC second team, she earned the honors again with a stellar junior campaign in 2019. After a 38 point performance against Missouri, she solidified herself as one of the best pure scorers in Razorback history, as she alone has scored 38 points or more in a game TWICE. Her 1,000th point came against Little Rock, when she became the fastest to 1,000 in Razorback history in only 49 games. Keep in mind— this is only because her freshman year was at Oklahoma(!).
After COVID-19 cancelled the postseason, we never got to see what could have been, but as it stood, she sat at eighth in career points in only two seasons— truly a remarkable achievement.
2020
Now, Chelsea is giant-slaying, knocking off one of the premiere women’s college basketball teams in Baylor. Assuming all holds well, and she stays healthy, she’s on pace to shatter the free throws made and attempted records, as well as getting very close on points. If she only scores 20 points per game for the rest of the season (something that is well within her ability), she’ll be within striking distance of Bettye Fiscus’ 2073 career points in only three years. Assuming she performs better than that (and history tells us that she will), she should beat that record to become Arkansas’ leading scorer. If she does that, she will join Fiscus, SIDNEY MONCRIEF, and TODD DAY as one of only four 2000 point scorers in an Arkansas career. What an amazing achievement.
Chelsea Dungee’s Legacy
I truly believe that Chelsea Dungee belongs in the conversation as one of the best to ever play for Arkansas basketball. Coupling her incredible scoring abilities with her consistent leadership and drive to win, and you have the making of an Arkansas legend. It’s not up to me to retire jerseys, and I’m not bold enough to make predictions, but if we sat here and in 20 years saw number 33 hanging in the rafters of Bud Walton Arena, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. For Chelsea Dungee, there’s plenty of writing left to be done in her storybook career as an Arkansas Razorback, but what’s already written is enough to solidify her as one of the best. I know that I will remember her that way, and I hope Arkansas fans do too.
Thanks so much for reading this edition of Pig Tales! What’s your favorite memory of Chelsea Dungee in the cardinal and white? Who would be on your Mt. Rushmore? Leave a comment and let me know. Please also share with your friends, enemies, lovers, and haters.
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