Vernon Carey Jr. is one of the top basketball recruits in the country. The University School (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) post man recently committed to Duke and is the No. 3 overall prospect in the Class of 2019 Chosen 25 by USA TODAY.

RELATED: USA TODAY Chosen 25 boys basketball rankings

With that ranking comes responsibility, and sometimes a bias against him. Case in point: The referee’s decision to hand him a technical foul in a recent game for this dunk:

Let’s break this down for a moment, shall we?

1) Did Carey swing with the balance of his weight on the rim? Yes. That at the very least raises the prospect of a technical.

2) Was the extra time spent on the rim used to showboat or highlight his skill? Not to our mind

3) Did he need to hang on to the rim either to avoid an opponent or teammate under the rim or to maintain his balance? Yes, and that’s where this entire technical foul call turns.

Carey came flying into the lane with so much force that it would have been almost impossible to keep his 6-foot-10, 275-pound frame from coming down off balance and hurting himself or simply landing flat on a teammate or opponent.

By the letter of those laws, Carey’s dunk should have been fine. It wasn’t, because a game official was probably ready to call Carey for something.

The good news from the game? Carey and his teammates rolled to yet another win. The bad news: Like Jaden McDaniels before him, it’s clear Carey will continue to have a target on his back, particularly at the rim.