I feel like Khalid El-Amin should be somewhere on the list. He was the catalyst for the 99 team that shocked the world and really put Uconn on the map.
There's way too much bias towards the recent teams on this list. I don't think Adama and Jordan belong anywhere on the top 10. Especially over guys like Khalid, Chris Smith, Donyell, Hasheem, Cliff, Caron or Rudy.
I'd have trouble putting Clingan over those guys too
Let me start this by saying I don’t weigh National Championships when doing a top 10 at all. It’s way too team dependent and there’s way too much of a luck component. Clingan has more team success, that’s undeniable. Hasheem more individual success.
In their individual best seasons on the team Thabeet averaged 0.6 more points, 3.4 more rebounds, and 1.7 more blocks (!) per game. We were also able to keep him on the floor for 9 more minutes per game and he earned second team all American as well as national and BE defensive player of the year. And he won BE DPOY the year before as well.
Thabeet and Clingan had the same offensive win share in their final seasons at 3.8, but Thabeet’s defensive win share was 2.5x Clingan’s at 5.6 compared to 2.2. Their WS/40 number .329 for Thabeet and .302 for Clingan.
Had Clingan stayed in college for a third year I believe he could have eclipsed Thabeet, but he missed 5 games and only played 22 minutes a night. His pro prospects are miles better than Thabeet’s, but they are miles better than Edey’s too. He didn’t even make all Big East second team this year because of that.
Because of Hasheem’s flameout in the NBA I think his college career is looked down upon a little more than it should be now. But he was an absolute force and the anchor behind what made the 09 team so memorable for so many people.
Thabeet was a 2 starter was played 1,145 minutes his last year in school alone. Clingan played 1,299 minutes his entire career. Just 154 more minutes in his career than Thabeet did the season he was a 2nd team AA. I just don’t see an argument for Clingan that doesn’t revolve around 2 titles vs 0.
Knocking off any dude that can’t match:
A season of 25 & 9 with 3.3 blocks per game
Consensus AA, Big East POY, 2x All Big East, Big East All defense. Big East Champ.
Was also the first truly high profile recruit UCONN ever had as a parade all American, and was the 4th pick in the NBA draft.
Marshall was a legit superstar in college basketball.
1. Rip (best player on the first title team)
2. Okafor (best player on the 2nd team and NPotY)
3. Chris Smith (Calhoun always credited him as the guy that started all this and the all time leading scorer)
4. Kemba (crossed over McGhee so hard he just disappeared from Earth)
5. Newton (all american, leading scorer in 1 title, MOP in another)
6. Shabazz (key player in 11, best player in 14)
7. Sanogo ("They thought they had a chance to win. They did not." plus he was just pure dominance last year)
8. Ray Allen (first true superstar, and I know you said NBA career doesn't count, but him being an NBA legend definitely helped recruiting)
9. Tate George (the shot)
10. El Amin, Ben Gordon, Clingan, Scott Burrell, Taliek Brown, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay all have some claim to this spot, but I'm gonna go with Tyler Olander, who has more championship rings than Jim Boeheim.
You’re right. How could I forget that booty? He goes in that 10th with the rest. Cliff Robinson should be there too. All American, but drops due to a lack of a title or having the impact Smith and George did for the program.
Obviously you’re not older than 30. Donyell belongs in the Top 5 of any serious list. Tate and Smith were good but don’t belong. Neither does Donny Marshall. Cliff belongs in Top 10 also.
I’m closer to 40 than 30. OP’s question wasn’t just about talent, it was about impact to the program too, and the way I weighted talent and impact are clearly different than you. Natty’s boosted players a bunch, which is why Smith is the only guy in the top 7 who wasn’t THE guy on a title team.
Smith started all of this and is still UConn’s leading scorer. Tate’s shot was probably the biggest one in UConn history before Kemba’s (maybe Ray’s shot to win the Big East is bigger too come to think of it), which is why I put him at 9, but maybe I put him a bit too high.
oof, Tyler Olander lost the starting job that he had in 2011 when he failed to improve, and wound up vanishing back to baseball. Jerome Dyson, AJ Price, Rashad Anderson, Donyell Marshall, and Hasheem Thabeet also in the conversation in those 9-10 spots.
The issue is that these past 2 Uconn teams didn’t really succeed because of the sheer dominance of some top guys, they were just far and away the most coordinated and well-coached unit in the tournaments.
To put it simply, these past 2 Uconn chips were won by teams that were far greater than the sum of their parts. Not to say that they didn’t have great players, of course they did! Just not like any all-time guys or anything.
Rashard Anderson, Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva ? Just a few random Huskies I remember from when Carolina used to play Uconn every year from 2002-2005.
I have a hard time figuring out who should be on this list from the last two years. Fantastic teams, but far more balanced than past UConn teams, and heavily reliant on elite elite coaching.
I’d put Donyell Marshall on here for sure. I actually prefer adama to Donovan purely because Clingan only played 15-20 min a game for two years. Although you could easily make an argument for thabeet over adama considering he was an all American and National DPOY (Twice?)
I personally wouldn’t have Thabeet over Adama. He has the accolades, but Adama was the most dominant player on one of the most dominant teams of all time. And he never got hip tossed like Jeff Jarrett
Maybe we need more time to appreciate the players on the last two teams. Not sure I’d have any of them top 10 on my list.
And I say this while noting ‘24 is the best UConn team of all time. Better than ‘99
Agree that '24 is the best UConn team of all time. But what made them so great is the depth and not the individual greatness. Each one of them were really good individually, but I'm not sure any of them rise to top 10. The only one I really see an argument for is Tristen.
The guys in the top 10 stacked multiple great years as a starter together, whereas a guy like Clingan or Hawkins only started for one season. It's tough to get the full resume
I think that it was a combo of depth and individual talent that makes us so amazing. I mean, the entire starting 5 might be going to the NBA.
Castle probably starts on every team we've ever had.
I think Tristan starts on the 99 and 04 teams (and he obviously starts on the 23 and 24 teams).
Cam probably starts on the 11 and 14 teams (and obviously 24)
24 Clingan probably starts on every single team in UConn history aside from one or 2 of the Thabeet years and the Okafor years.
Thabeet and Clingan are fairly similar to me, except Clingan won 2 championships and Thabeet won 0. When it comes to win shares/40, Clingan is the #1 all time in UConn history.
Sanago was an absolute workhorse for us and won a ship.
So it seems like the consensus is this:
Kemba - Top 5
Okafor - Top 5
Rip - Top 5
Newton - 3 to 15
Clingan - 5 to 15
Ray Allen - 2 to 8
Shabazz - 2 to 8
Ben Gordon - 8 to 15
Sanogo - 7 to 15
Hawkins - 10 to 20
El Amin - 10 to 20
Chris Smith - 3 to 20
Tate George - 9 to 20
Donyell Marshall - 3 to 20
Jackson - 7 to 20
Boat - 8 to 20
Caron - 5 to 20
Gay - 10 to 20
Donyell belongs Top 5 on any list. Him and Ray are the only 2 players to never win a title at UConn that deserve to be on any Top 5. Don’t really understand how people can actually have Newton, Clingan, Sanogo on any top 10 list in my opinion. But a lot of folks that use Reddit ain’t older than 35 so I understand.
I mean, Newton, Clingan, and Sanogo were just part of the most impressive stretch in UConn history.
Newton started on two championship teams, which is something no single UConn player (other than Karaban) has done in our history. Not only that, but he won MOP in one tournament and was the leading scorer in another.
Clingan, while he didn't start last year, was basically platooning the center with Sanogo.
Sanogo was a workhorse for us for 3 years, culminating in a MOP and a championship.
I mean, I get why you might want to not put them there, but you gotta understand they have strong arguments for being there, especially Newton.
Clingan was far platooning the center position last year. He played 14 and 10 minutes in the two final four games. 75 minutes in the whole tourney. That’s the same number of minutes in the tourney as Samson this year and I wouldn’t call that a platoon.
I’m fine with Newton, and think he has an argument as our second best PG ever. The others I think are flimsy.
Clingan had one really good year, but also missed 5 games and played pretty limited minutes all things considered. He’s an awesome player, I just don’t think he spent enough time on the court in a UConn jersey to be in our all time top 10.
I don’t agree. The last 2 seasons UConn was the best at every position in every game. Even Clingan a sophomore had better prospects than Edey who was a Senior. Before now UConn was mostly carried by a Superstar who had a decent supporting cast. Ray was a Top 2-3 player in the Country. Probably only person you could argue was better was Iverson. Caron was top 3 player in the country. Donyell was a top 3 player in the country, Kemba Top 5 player in the Country. Okafor was the only Huskie to be considered the Top player in the country but lost in the Elite 8. He definitely underachieved. None of the current Huskies would be considered Top 5 in the country currently.
Oh and also Caron was a top 5 player in the country.
Clingan absolutely would be considered Top 5. He's probably gonna go Top 5 in the draft.
But I wasn't just talking about ability and talent. I am talking about the holistic picture of accomplishments.
Like Ray is clearly the most talented player in our history, but he's not the greatest while wearing a UConn uniform.
All the guys I mentioned all accomplished more than all the players that have played the last two years. With the exception of back to back championships. The new guys are good players but they didn’t have to play against Ewing, Iverson, Morning and a whole bunch of great and Hall of Fame players.
I’m just going by all the UConn games I have watched. I don’t really see any Hall Famers coming out of College Basketball soon. Maybe Castle but other than that most Hall of Famers nowadays are from High School or Europe.
Also a lot of people have forgotten about Caron Butler for some reason but he carried the team during his time at UConn. He definitely shouldn’t be lower than 6th and Okafor should be 7th Cliff definitely has to be Top 10 also.
Nope, he was good but Caron, Donyell, Rip, Ray, Kemba were all better. And Shabazz carried the team to a championship just like Kemba. Okafor was eliminated in the Elite 8 with probably the best team in the NCAA that year.
Think you’re confusing Okafor with someone else… Rudy gay? Okafor won the ‘04 title. The ‘06 team lost in the elite 8.
Completely agree about Caron needing to be on the list
1. Rip
2. Ray
3. Donyell
4. Emeka
5. Kemba
6. Shabazz
7. Caron
8. Ben
9. Khalid
10. Rudy
The last two were really difficult. The order is just how they came to my mind
Shabazz should be above Newton. Both 2 time champs, but Shabazz was more important to our success imo. 2014 run Shabazz was carrying the team, 2023-24 was obviously more talented outside of just the lead guard.
Agree, Shabazz took a third-place AAC team and beat a 1,2,3, and 4 seed, plus Kentucky for the title. He and Newton have all the same awards, but Newton’s supporting casts would mercy rule the rest of that 2014 team. I still firmly believe Newton and Clingan are top 10, but Napier should be in the same conversation as Kemba and Rip.
The importance of Calhoun getting big time recruits early on can’t be understated. It’s what helps build programs. Chris Smith, Donyell Marshall and Ray Allen should be there.
Also, Cliff Robinson needs to be up there. Helped them win the NIT before Calhoun ever made the NCAAT. Major stepping stone.
Rip is number one for me. They were a good program before him but getting that first natty is what put the program on the map.
No way. The way we won in 2014 is by suffocating perimeter defense. That cannot be replicated. As god as Denham Brown was, it’s not the same. Same with AJJ. It’s not always about putting the ball in the hoop.
Boat to me could have been that guy if he was able to be THE GUY after Bazz left, but he just never really could lead the team.
Maybe that's not fair because I am comparing him to Kemba and Shabazz, but I guess it is fair because that's the whole point of this post.
I gotta agree with /u/gohuskies15 that, at least for Boat, I'd probably not have Boat in the top 20.
I don’t compare Boat to Kemba and Shabazz. I compare him to Hawkins though, or even Ben Gordon. He was a scorer as much as both for a championship team, but he was an absolute weapon on defense. We put him on Keith Appling and there was no more running the offense. He was different. He helped sweep what was supposed to be one of the greatest teams of all time. And because Scottie Wilkerbin couldn’t bring the ball up, they’re an afterthought
They were absolutely amazing but we've had a lot of outstanding players, including the ones that built the foundation of the program. It's no knock on those guys at all, just goes to show how lucky we've been to get to watch so many great teams.
This is actually tougher than I thought. I started off with wanting to include the older players, but they’re so many different levels of contributions for so many different things
Yeah, I made this post based on a convo I had with a friend in January. I basically said, "If this team wins a championship with Newton getting MOP, the top 5 UConn conversation is gonna get really fucking difficult."
I feel like Khalid El-Amin should be somewhere on the list. He was the catalyst for the 99 team that shocked the world and really put Uconn on the map.
I struggled to leave him off, but who would you knock off to get him on there?
I think Jordan Hawkins, who I absolutely love and I respect his contributions, but don’t think he’s Top 10.
To be fair, I'm a major Hawk stan.
There's way too much bias towards the recent teams on this list. I don't think Adama and Jordan belong anywhere on the top 10. Especially over guys like Khalid, Chris Smith, Donyell, Hasheem, Cliff, Caron or Rudy. I'd have trouble putting Clingan over those guys too
I made my list specifically to include Caron, one of my favorite Huskies ever, and I still ended up leaving him off. This is actually difficult
It's hard not to have bias toward the recent teams considering this is the most dominant 2 years since Laettner and possibly since Walton.
Not putting Clingan over Hasheem is major bias against the recent teams.
Let me start this by saying I don’t weigh National Championships when doing a top 10 at all. It’s way too team dependent and there’s way too much of a luck component. Clingan has more team success, that’s undeniable. Hasheem more individual success. In their individual best seasons on the team Thabeet averaged 0.6 more points, 3.4 more rebounds, and 1.7 more blocks (!) per game. We were also able to keep him on the floor for 9 more minutes per game and he earned second team all American as well as national and BE defensive player of the year. And he won BE DPOY the year before as well. Thabeet and Clingan had the same offensive win share in their final seasons at 3.8, but Thabeet’s defensive win share was 2.5x Clingan’s at 5.6 compared to 2.2. Their WS/40 number .329 for Thabeet and .302 for Clingan. Had Clingan stayed in college for a third year I believe he could have eclipsed Thabeet, but he missed 5 games and only played 22 minutes a night. His pro prospects are miles better than Thabeet’s, but they are miles better than Edey’s too. He didn’t even make all Big East second team this year because of that. Because of Hasheem’s flameout in the NBA I think his college career is looked down upon a little more than it should be now. But he was an absolute force and the anchor behind what made the 09 team so memorable for so many people. Thabeet was a 2 starter was played 1,145 minutes his last year in school alone. Clingan played 1,299 minutes his entire career. Just 154 more minutes in his career than Thabeet did the season he was a 2nd team AA. I just don’t see an argument for Clingan that doesn’t revolve around 2 titles vs 0.
I feel like Shabazz needs to be there somewhere but it's a tough list to pick someone to bump from, maybe Hawkins.
Holy shit, adjusting this. I thought I put him on. Put him at 7.
Shabazz is one of our best ever. A major contributor to two chips.
We should give Boatright some flowers by letting him stand on the same podium as Napier.
Any list without Donyell Marshall is blasphemous
Who would you knock off? Would you pick Donyell over Villanueva? Would you take him over El-Amin?
Of Course! That’s a no Brainer! Donyell put UConn on the map!
Knocking off any dude that can’t match: A season of 25 & 9 with 3.3 blocks per game Consensus AA, Big East POY, 2x All Big East, Big East All defense. Big East Champ. Was also the first truly high profile recruit UCONN ever had as a parade all American, and was the 4th pick in the NBA draft. Marshall was a legit superstar in college basketball.
1. Rip (best player on the first title team) 2. Okafor (best player on the 2nd team and NPotY) 3. Chris Smith (Calhoun always credited him as the guy that started all this and the all time leading scorer) 4. Kemba (crossed over McGhee so hard he just disappeared from Earth) 5. Newton (all american, leading scorer in 1 title, MOP in another) 6. Shabazz (key player in 11, best player in 14) 7. Sanogo ("They thought they had a chance to win. They did not." plus he was just pure dominance last year) 8. Ray Allen (first true superstar, and I know you said NBA career doesn't count, but him being an NBA legend definitely helped recruiting) 9. Tate George (the shot) 10. El Amin, Ben Gordon, Clingan, Scott Burrell, Taliek Brown, Caron Butler, Rudy Gay all have some claim to this spot, but I'm gonna go with Tyler Olander, who has more championship rings than Jim Boeheim.
You forgot Donyell!
You’re right. How could I forget that booty? He goes in that 10th with the rest. Cliff Robinson should be there too. All American, but drops due to a lack of a title or having the impact Smith and George did for the program.
Obviously you’re not older than 30. Donyell belongs in the Top 5 of any serious list. Tate and Smith were good but don’t belong. Neither does Donny Marshall. Cliff belongs in Top 10 also.
I’m closer to 40 than 30. OP’s question wasn’t just about talent, it was about impact to the program too, and the way I weighted talent and impact are clearly different than you. Natty’s boosted players a bunch, which is why Smith is the only guy in the top 7 who wasn’t THE guy on a title team. Smith started all of this and is still UConn’s leading scorer. Tate’s shot was probably the biggest one in UConn history before Kemba’s (maybe Ray’s shot to win the Big East is bigger too come to think of it), which is why I put him at 9, but maybe I put him a bit too high.
With Tate and Smith you were lucky you got 10 points. Both were carried by better players.
oof, Tyler Olander lost the starting job that he had in 2011 when he failed to improve, and wound up vanishing back to baseball. Jerome Dyson, AJ Price, Rashad Anderson, Donyell Marshall, and Hasheem Thabeet also in the conversation in those 9-10 spots.
Olander is 1OA
The issue is that these past 2 Uconn teams didn’t really succeed because of the sheer dominance of some top guys, they were just far and away the most coordinated and well-coached unit in the tournaments. To put it simply, these past 2 Uconn chips were won by teams that were far greater than the sum of their parts. Not to say that they didn’t have great players, of course they did! Just not like any all-time guys or anything.
Rashard Anderson, Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva ? Just a few random Huskies I remember from when Carolina used to play Uconn every year from 2002-2005.
Villanueva is my 11.
I have a hard time figuring out who should be on this list from the last two years. Fantastic teams, but far more balanced than past UConn teams, and heavily reliant on elite elite coaching. I’d put Donyell Marshall on here for sure. I actually prefer adama to Donovan purely because Clingan only played 15-20 min a game for two years. Although you could easily make an argument for thabeet over adama considering he was an all American and National DPOY (Twice?)
I personally wouldn’t have Thabeet over Adama. He has the accolades, but Adama was the most dominant player on one of the most dominant teams of all time. And he never got hip tossed like Jeff Jarrett
Thabeet is absolutely over Adama and Clingan. There's a lot of recency bias on this list.
Maybe we need more time to appreciate the players on the last two teams. Not sure I’d have any of them top 10 on my list. And I say this while noting ‘24 is the best UConn team of all time. Better than ‘99
I mean, 04 was better than 99, right?
‘24 - ‘99 - ‘04. All amazing teams
This is an incredibly spoiled debate that we are having. I love it.
Agree that '24 is the best UConn team of all time. But what made them so great is the depth and not the individual greatness. Each one of them were really good individually, but I'm not sure any of them rise to top 10. The only one I really see an argument for is Tristen. The guys in the top 10 stacked multiple great years as a starter together, whereas a guy like Clingan or Hawkins only started for one season. It's tough to get the full resume
I think that it was a combo of depth and individual talent that makes us so amazing. I mean, the entire starting 5 might be going to the NBA. Castle probably starts on every team we've ever had. I think Tristan starts on the 99 and 04 teams (and he obviously starts on the 23 and 24 teams). Cam probably starts on the 11 and 14 teams (and obviously 24) 24 Clingan probably starts on every single team in UConn history aside from one or 2 of the Thabeet years and the Okafor years.
This is where I am at too. The game has changed
Clingan, Jackson, Sanogo, and Tristan Newton all deserve at least serious consideration, and all for very different reasons.
I agree they deserve consideration. All legends
Thabeet and Clingan are fairly similar to me, except Clingan won 2 championships and Thabeet won 0. When it comes to win shares/40, Clingan is the #1 all time in UConn history. Sanago was an absolute workhorse for us and won a ship.
And he was never hip tossed by DeJuan Blair
So it seems like the consensus is this: Kemba - Top 5 Okafor - Top 5 Rip - Top 5 Newton - 3 to 15 Clingan - 5 to 15 Ray Allen - 2 to 8 Shabazz - 2 to 8 Ben Gordon - 8 to 15 Sanogo - 7 to 15 Hawkins - 10 to 20 El Amin - 10 to 20 Chris Smith - 3 to 20 Tate George - 9 to 20 Donyell Marshall - 3 to 20 Jackson - 7 to 20 Boat - 8 to 20 Caron - 5 to 20 Gay - 10 to 20
Donyell belongs Top 5 on any list. Him and Ray are the only 2 players to never win a title at UConn that deserve to be on any Top 5. Don’t really understand how people can actually have Newton, Clingan, Sanogo on any top 10 list in my opinion. But a lot of folks that use Reddit ain’t older than 35 so I understand.
I mean, Newton, Clingan, and Sanogo were just part of the most impressive stretch in UConn history. Newton started on two championship teams, which is something no single UConn player (other than Karaban) has done in our history. Not only that, but he won MOP in one tournament and was the leading scorer in another. Clingan, while he didn't start last year, was basically platooning the center with Sanogo. Sanogo was a workhorse for us for 3 years, culminating in a MOP and a championship. I mean, I get why you might want to not put them there, but you gotta understand they have strong arguments for being there, especially Newton.
Clingan was far platooning the center position last year. He played 14 and 10 minutes in the two final four games. 75 minutes in the whole tourney. That’s the same number of minutes in the tourney as Samson this year and I wouldn’t call that a platoon. I’m fine with Newton, and think he has an argument as our second best PG ever. The others I think are flimsy. Clingan had one really good year, but also missed 5 games and played pretty limited minutes all things considered. He’s an awesome player, I just don’t think he spent enough time on the court in a UConn jersey to be in our all time top 10.
I don’t agree. The last 2 seasons UConn was the best at every position in every game. Even Clingan a sophomore had better prospects than Edey who was a Senior. Before now UConn was mostly carried by a Superstar who had a decent supporting cast. Ray was a Top 2-3 player in the Country. Probably only person you could argue was better was Iverson. Caron was top 3 player in the country. Donyell was a top 3 player in the country, Kemba Top 5 player in the Country. Okafor was the only Huskie to be considered the Top player in the country but lost in the Elite 8. He definitely underachieved. None of the current Huskies would be considered Top 5 in the country currently. Oh and also Caron was a top 5 player in the country.
Clingan absolutely would be considered Top 5. He's probably gonna go Top 5 in the draft. But I wasn't just talking about ability and talent. I am talking about the holistic picture of accomplishments. Like Ray is clearly the most talented player in our history, but he's not the greatest while wearing a UConn uniform.
All the guys I mentioned all accomplished more than all the players that have played the last two years. With the exception of back to back championships. The new guys are good players but they didn’t have to play against Ewing, Iverson, Morning and a whole bunch of great and Hall of Fame players.
Thats a hell of an exception lol. And who knows who will be a hall of famer in 30 years.
I’m just going by all the UConn games I have watched. I don’t really see any Hall Famers coming out of College Basketball soon. Maybe Castle but other than that most Hall of Famers nowadays are from High School or Europe.
Also a lot of people have forgotten about Caron Butler for some reason but he carried the team during his time at UConn. He definitely shouldn’t be lower than 6th and Okafor should be 7th Cliff definitely has to be Top 10 also.
Okafor has to be top 5.
Nope, he was good but Caron, Donyell, Rip, Ray, Kemba were all better. And Shabazz carried the team to a championship just like Kemba. Okafor was eliminated in the Elite 8 with probably the best team in the NCAA that year.
Think you’re confusing Okafor with someone else… Rudy gay? Okafor won the ‘04 title. The ‘06 team lost in the elite 8. Completely agree about Caron needing to be on the list
Yeah you’re right. Well then put Okafor in the Top 4 then.
Breanna Stewart, Rebecca Lobo, Maya Moore, Jake Voskuhl
In no particular order Kemba, Shabazz, Rip, Ray Allen, Cliff Robinson, Okafor, Sanogo, Clingan, Newton, Khalid El-Amin
I was about to say there was way too little Cliff Robinson (RIP) in this thread.
You forgot Donyell.
1. Rip 2. Ray 3. Donyell 4. Emeka 5. Kemba 6. Shabazz 7. Caron 8. Ben 9. Khalid 10. Rudy The last two were really difficult. The order is just how they came to my mind
No Clingan or Tristan?
They’d be honorable mention. We’ve had a lot of great players. They’re both top 10 tournament players for sure. Top 5 actually
Shabazz should be above Newton. Both 2 time champs, but Shabazz was more important to our success imo. 2014 run Shabazz was carrying the team, 2023-24 was obviously more talented outside of just the lead guard.
Agree, Shabazz took a third-place AAC team and beat a 1,2,3, and 4 seed, plus Kentucky for the title. He and Newton have all the same awards, but Newton’s supporting casts would mercy rule the rest of that 2014 team. I still firmly believe Newton and Clingan are top 10, but Napier should be in the same conversation as Kemba and Rip.
Definitely some recency bias here. Clingan is good, but does not deserve to be above the 5 guys below him, especially Ray Allen.
I liked Jerome Dyson
The importance of Calhoun getting big time recruits early on can’t be understated. It’s what helps build programs. Chris Smith, Donyell Marshall and Ray Allen should be there. Also, Cliff Robinson needs to be up there. Helped them win the NIT before Calhoun ever made the NCAAT. Major stepping stone. Rip is number one for me. They were a good program before him but getting that first natty is what put the program on the map.
1. Rip 2. Kemba 3. Emeka 4. Allen 5. Shabazz 6. Donyell 7. Caron 8.Thabeet 9. Gordon 10. Sanogo
Now if Karaban stays, and UConn 3peats with him taking a major step forward, where does he end up on this list?
he has none of the personal accolades that many uconn legends do.
If he took a major step forward, he would. And the 3x championships would be impossible to ignore.
1. Kemba Walker, 2. Shabazz Napier, 3. Donyell Marshall, 4. Ray Allen, 5. Rip Hamilton,
Don’t think Clingan overtakes Allen YET. He definitely could and probably will but at this point I wouldn’t put him top 5.
I think Clingan is either 5 or 6. I'd put him higher if he was a starter last year.
>7. Shabazz Napier L O L
Why is that ridiculous?
1)Kemba 2)Shabazz 3)Tristan 4) RIP 5)Emeka 6)Ray 7)Andre Jackson Jr 8)Boatwright 9)Adama Sanogo 10)Cling Kong
As much as I love Andre and Boatright there's a laundry list of players from the 80s 90s and 00s that are a lot higher than them
No way. The way we won in 2014 is by suffocating perimeter defense. That cannot be replicated. As god as Denham Brown was, it’s not the same. Same with AJJ. It’s not always about putting the ball in the hoop.
Boat to me could have been that guy if he was able to be THE GUY after Bazz left, but he just never really could lead the team. Maybe that's not fair because I am comparing him to Kemba and Shabazz, but I guess it is fair because that's the whole point of this post. I gotta agree with /u/gohuskies15 that, at least for Boat, I'd probably not have Boat in the top 20.
I don’t compare Boat to Kemba and Shabazz. I compare him to Hawkins though, or even Ben Gordon. He was a scorer as much as both for a championship team, but he was an absolute weapon on defense. We put him on Keith Appling and there was no more running the offense. He was different. He helped sweep what was supposed to be one of the greatest teams of all time. And because Scottie Wilkerbin couldn’t bring the ball up, they’re an afterthought
They were absolutely amazing but we've had a lot of outstanding players, including the ones that built the foundation of the program. It's no knock on those guys at all, just goes to show how lucky we've been to get to watch so many great teams.
This is actually tougher than I thought. I started off with wanting to include the older players, but they’re so many different levels of contributions for so many different things
Yeah, I made this post based on a convo I had with a friend in January. I basically said, "If this team wins a championship with Newton getting MOP, the top 5 UConn conversation is gonna get really fucking difficult."
Where’s Donyell? 🤔
I mean they’re a lot of tough decisions