Colin Sexton making his way to Alabama.

Collin Sexton is a total freakshow.

That's what the college coach told me.

Actually, he paired another, earthier term with "show" to try to capture this one-man flying circus of a point guard headed for Alabama next season.

I didn't fully understand what the coach meant, but after seeing highlights of the McDonald's All-American Slam-Dunk Contest and the McDonald's All-American Game, I do now.

Sexton, all 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds of him, won the slam-dunk contest with the kind of vicious, ridiculous hops possessed by the last one-and-done talent to spend a single season in Tuscaloosa on his way to the NBA. But Childersburg's Gerald Wallace, also the Crimson Tide's last first-round draft choice in 2001, was 6-7.

In the all-star game itself, Sexton wowed the United Center crowd in Chicago with the kind of pinpoint ing Nick Saban would love to see from Jalen Hurts.

With the game barely a minute old, Sexton jumped in front of an outlet for a steal, but that was routine compared to what came next. In one motion, he whipped a backwards, one-hand, through-the-legs on the mark to a teammate for an easy dunk. Cole Mazza never delivered a flashier long snap.

On the final play of the first half, on a two-on-one fast break, Sexton left his feet on the wing to deliver a behind-the-back, left-handed, alley-oop scoop to a teammate for another throwdown.

That move put a big smile on the face of Dwyane Wade of the Chicago Bulls, who was sitting courtside.

Maybe the most encouraging thing Sexton did, the thing that should endear him to Alabama fans when he puts on a crimson-and-white uniform next season, happened at the end of the game. His team down two on the final possession, he wanted the ball in his hands.

He got it, blew by his defender and attacked the goal with a flying finger roll of a layup. It looked good in the air until a big man rejected it just before it hit the glass.

The shot was blocked, but the outcome wasn't as telling as the effort. Sexton wasn't afraid to take that shot, and he didn't settle for a distant jumper. That's the kind of fearless mentality Alabama basketball needs, and when it comes in a box of dynamite disguised as a point guard, all the better.

Sexton finished the game with a solid line of eight points, seven assists to only three turnovers and four steals, but it was his attack-mode athleticism that stood out. When you hear people you respect talk about him, when you watch him with your own two eyes, it's hard not to get caught up in the buzz surrounding the most hyped Alabama basketball recruit since Wallace.

The fan base should be starved in that regard. Only four Tide players have been drafted by the NBA since Wallace - Rod Grizzard, Mo Williams, Jermareo Davidson and Richard Hendrix - but none of them went in the first round.

Sexton still has a lot to learn and prove to get there himself, but he'll have plenty of help from the players coming back and the rest of the highest-rated g class in program history. If he doesn't get caught up in his own hype, if he keeps working and attacking, taking the right risks at the right time for the right reasons, he could be next in a long line of distinguished Alabama point guards.

And next season, Alabama might not just beat South Carolina. It might be South Carolina, making a joyful noise in March.

Colin Sexton 5 Star Recruit will be heading to Alabama. There he will be coached under Avery Johnson. Avery Johnson was a former 2006 NBA Coach of the Year when he lead the Mavericks to the playoffs. He also coached for the Cavs and the Nets. Alabama will be bringing in the #5 best recruiting class nationally. Only time will tell to see if Alabama will become a NCAA Powerhouse.