2 great videos...

[champs99and04]

Chuck was one of the worst players to ever put on a uconn jersey. Painful to watch. Did he do some things bc he is 7'1? Yes. But dont tell me they wouldn't have made the championship without him.

This post got me looking back at old videos and wishing I could see Ray cut down the nets like kemba, Ricky Moore, rip, emeka and Benny etc. And then I have to watch Justin brown and chuck celebrating. Just makes me sad man.

It makes me sad that people like you are still ripping kids like Chuck even after they gave all they had to this program. I mean really, how can you not love Chuck? Did you see his interview after the BET? One of the all-time classics. Obviosusly in a perfect world guys like Ray, Donyell, Caron, etc, etc. would all have rings, but it makes me sick that a UConn fan is putting down a great kid like Chuck who came a long way from his junior to senior seasons and definitely helped us win the national championship. Would we have won it without him? Can't say for sure. You would have had a 7 foot german getting lost in the pick and roll instead.

 

[UConn3432]

I love uconn and I love chuck for playing hard but the fact is that if you didn't cringe every time he touched the ball you were probably rooting for the other team. Do I have to do some statistical analysis to show that the biggest guy on the team probably had one of the worst rebounding rates?

I also like how you just ripped on wolf to rip on me for ripping on chuck.

 

[UConnSwag11]

are we really going to argue over this? without chuck our team doesn't accomplish what it did, you can't hate on a kid for being on a team that won. chuck did his part came in played defense, blocked shots and rebounded to give ao a break...its not chucks fault that previous players didn't win a ring... when one husky wins a NC they all do... move on from this

 

[champs99and04]

I love uconn and I love chuck for playing hard but the fact is that if you didn't cringe every time he touched the ball you were probably rooting for the other team. Do I have to do some statistical analysis to show that the biggest guy on the team probably had one of the worst rebounding rates?

I also like how you just ripped on wolf to rip on me for ripping on chuck.

I'm not ripping on Wolf, the simple facts were that Wolf was not ready yet. It would have been like putting Chuck out there as a freshman. He would have been lost. Chuck's job was to make life difficult on opposing centers, use his five fouls, and get a few rebounds. I'd say he did that role pretty well. Chuck deserves credit for how far he came.

 

[TheChamps990411]

if you dont appreciate chuck try watching the arizona game in the elite 8. he did a solid job guarding williams who had trouble dealing with chucks length.

 

[UConnSwag11]

http://www.bigeast.org/BIGEASTTV/On...l-Championship-Interview-Charles-Okwandu.aspx

one of my favorite interviews of all time

 

[ctchamps]

http://www.bigeast.org/BIGEASTTV/On...l-Championship-Interview-Charles-Okwandu.aspx

one of my favorite interviews of all time

absolutely a terrific interview. He was so happy, he loves his team, they practiced hard every night and had fun and they were ready to go to war.

 

[TheChamps990411]

wow! never saw that before thanks for posting. play that for recruits.

 

[61cygni]

Without Chuck on the team, I think we may not have won the National Championship. Same for Olander, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Giffey, and DB among those with limited minutes.

 

[ctchamps]

Without Chuck on the team, I think we may not have won the National Championship. Same for Olander, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Giffey, and DB among those with limited minutes.

Exactly. This is a team sport. Even the walk ons help the team over the season. Every one contributes even in little ways. Some of us are more focused or primarily focused on the stars and they will undervalue the overall contributions of the total picture.

 

[UConn3432]

Exactly. This is a team sport. Even the walk ons help the team over the season. Every one contributes even in little ways. Some of us are more focused or primarily focused on the stars and they will undervalue the overall contributions of the total picture.

Don't forget the fans!

 

[ctchamps]

Don't forget the fans!

Even though you may be joking, the fans absolutely can contribute to success and that is why I would love to see mor students at the venues.

 

[61cygni]

I love uconn and I love chuck for playing hard but the fact is that if you didn't cringe every time he touched the ball you were probably rooting for the other team. Do I have to do some statistical analysis to show that the biggest guy on the team probably had one of the worst rebounding rates?

I also like how you just ripped on wolf to rip on me for ripping on chuck.

I'd like to see your advanced statistics. He's about right in the middle, surely not one of the worst on his team though clearly less than the C/PF players.

(Def. Reb. % + Off. Reb.%)/2
16.2% Oriakhi
13.1% Wolf (A statistical beast with 2/3 of his rebs being offensive, while shooting 60% no less!)
11% Roscoe
10.25% Olander
9.6% Okwandu
8.5% Lamb
8.4% Jamal Coombs-McDaniel
7.85% Beverly
7.6% Kemba
7.45% Giffey
5.35% Shabazz

Based on how many close games there were during this season that could have altered the trajectory of our seeding and NCAA tourney, I don't see how Chuck could be considered "expendable" by any UConn fan. 15 games were decided by 4 points or less at the end of regulation. We won a whopping 11 of those 15 games which is incredible. Call me crazy but the impact of one less block or one less rebound from losing a 15 min per game player and replacing him with a guy who managed 25 minutes all season could easily shift a bunch of W's to L's.

And there have been studies showing the validity of home-team advantage, though clearly it cannot be entirely attributable to the fans, as there is travel, familiarity with the venue, etc. I'm sure there is a baseline to be drawn, and that playing at home to a completely empty stadium would have a detrimental effect however.

 

[UConn3432]

Is chucks whole family on this thing?

The only person with less total rebounds per minutes played in the BET + NCAA was Shabazz, and it was extremely close. In 11 games (177 min) Chuck only had 21 rebounds. Walk-ons and wolf didn't play so exclude them. He also averaged about 1 TO/game in about 15 minutes a game, a high # considering they didn't let him touch it much.

I'm not saying he didn't help win the title, he helped clog the middle and blocked a shot per game in those 11 games while altering others. What I'm saying is that he was not a good ball player - his baskets where gifts from god and for a guy his height and size he had trouble holding onto the ball and grabbing rebounds. You've seen the air balled layups he put up.

You guys can thank the walk-ons all you want but if a player isn't that good it's not a crime to say it. I'll say it again if you didn't cringe every time chuck touched the ball you didn't have a pulse.

 

[UConn3432]

Luckily we won't have many problems in the front court this year

 

[Scoe]

Is chucks whole family on this thing?

The only person with less total rebounds per minutes played in the BET + NCAA was Shabazz, and it was extremely close. In 11 games (177 min) Chuck only had 21 rebounds. Walk-ons and wolf didn't play so exclude them. He also averaged about 1 TO/game in about 15 minutes a game, a high # considering they didn't let him touch it much.

I'm not saying he didn't help win the title, he helped clog the middle and blocked a shot per game in those 11 games while altering others. What I'm saying is that he was not a good ball player - his baskets where gifts from god and for a guy his height and size he had trouble holding onto the ball and grabbing rebounds. You've seen the air balled layups he put up.

You guys can thank the walk-ons all you want but if a player isn't that good it's not a crime to say it. I'll say it again if you didn't cringe every time chuck touched the ball you didn't have a pulse.

altering shots is just as good as blocking shots, dont be ridiculous he stepped up when we needed him too thats all you need. Not every guy in our program is going to be an all american, you need role players on the team as well, and just because I would have wanted to see Ray and Caron win a national championship doesnt mean im going to rip guys that did, its a team sport.

 

[mets1090]

The main flaw in your question is that you are comparing a role playing center to the best shooter in the history of the sport. You should be asking "Does it piss you off that Ray didn't get a ring but Kemba did?" as they played comparable roles on their respective teams. Or "Does it piss you off that Role Playing Big Man in 2002 didn't get a ring but Chuck did?" The answer to both is of course no. Kemba did his part which was admittedly huge. Chuck did his part which was much smaller but still necessary to win a title.

Does it piss you off that Donyell doesn't have a ring but Ben Stewart does?

 

[61cygni]

Is chucks whole family on this thing?

The only person with less total rebounds per minutes played in the BET + NCAA was Shabazz, and it was extremely close. In 11 games (177 min) Chuck only had 21 rebounds. Walk-ons and wolf didn't play so exclude them. He also averaged about 1 TO/game in about 15 minutes a game, a high # considering they didn't let him touch it much.

I'm not saying he didn't help win the title, he helped clog the middle and blocked a shot per game in those 11 games while altering others. What I'm saying is that he was not a good ball player - his baskets where gifts from god and for a guy his height and size he had trouble holding onto the ball and grabbing rebounds. You've seen the air balled layups he put up.

You guys can thank the walk-ons all you want but if a player isn't that good it's not a crime to say it. I'll say it again if you didn't cringe every time chuck touched the ball you didn't have a pulse.

Yea, Chuck's whole UConn family is in on this.

First of all, you brought up advanced statistics, I give you the stats for off/def rebounding percentage for the entire season, and then you try to lay rebounds per minute for just the post-season on the table? Can you say, agenda? If you're going to throw out advanced statistics, don't give us some BS like points or rebounds per game.

Which stat do you suppose gives the better picture of how good a player is at rebounding? Imagine if AO played the first half of a game, and Chuck played the second half, yet in the first half, every shot went in, and the second half was the Butler championship game.

Second, you cherrypick the games further to try and move Chuck down the list that I provide. Because we all know that the Depaul game of the BET was so very important compared to our bigger non-conf. games when it comes to Chuck helping us win a championship.

Third, you don't even manage to manipulate your stats correctly, as Shabazz is not the only non-Wolf/non-walk-on to have fewer rebounds per minute in the BET/NCAAs; so does Beverly. This leads me to the conclusion that you didn't give a to calculate whatever stats you thought would support your opinion.

Fourthly, you didn't say that he didn't help win the title, but you did say "dont tell me they wouldn't have made the championship without him." which for the life of me I can't understand. As if we were so freaking dominant and won every game by 10+ points.

 

[mets1090]

Drive by Gordon at 1:24 is one of my favorite UConn plays ever

 

[UConn3432]

Yea, Chuck's whole UConn family is in on this.

First of all, you brought up advanced statistics, I give you the stats for off/def rebounding percentage for the entire season, and then you try to lay rebounds per minute for just the post-season on the table? Can you say, agenda? If you're going to throw out advanced statistics, don't give us some BS like points or rebounds per game.
Which stat do you suppose gives the better picture of how good a player is at rebounding? Imagine if AO played the first half of a game, and Chuck played the second half, yet in the first half, every shot went in, and the second half was the Butler championship game.

Second, you cherrypick the games further to try and move Chuck down the list that I provide. Because we all know that the Depaul game of the BET was so very important compared to our bigger non-conf. games when it comes to Chuck helping us win a championship.

Third, you don't even manage to manipulate your stats correctly, as Shabazz is not the only non-Wolf/non-walk-on to have fewer rebounds per minute in the BET/NCAAs; so does Beverly. This leads me to the conclusion that you didn't give a to calculate whatever stats you thought would support your opinion.

Fourthly, you didn't say that he didn't help win the title, but you did say "dont tell me they wouldn't have made the championship without him." which for the life of me I can't understand. As if we were so freaking dominant and won every game by 10+ points.

I'm so sick of this. Can we move on? There's so much to be excited about and you're picking apart someone watching old nat'l championship videos and saying they wish they could see Ray in one of those videos. He's my favorite player of all time like most of you and i'm sure and none of you can say you don't wish he had won a title so you could watch one shining moment with him in it.

Obviously you have to win every NCAA tourney game to win a championship, so that's not really cherry picking. I threw in the BET to help Chuck, his rate was lower if you only include the NCAAs. If they lost to Depaul in that first BET game they likely would have been playing Arizona or Kentucky in the second or third round of the NCAA, not later on, so take that however you want.

If you include the whole season you include the real outliers. Chuck had 3 games with ZERO rebounds, 14 games with just 1 rebound, 10 games with just 2 rebounds and 3 games with 3 reb. 30 out of 41 games he was under 3 rebounds. I don't care what metric you use, but if i'm the only 7 footer on the court for 16 minutes and I only grab 1 or 2 rebounds - i'm making sure I graduate bc basketball is not in my future.

I say he helped them win the title because he was on the court and anyone on the court played some part in it good or bad, everyone knows that. But I can't be convinced by anyone that they definitely would not have won if he wasn't playing. Kemba wouldn't have allowed it.

Lastly, Beverly had 8 rebounds in 64 minutes. Chuck had 21 in 177 minutes. Anyone got a calculator?

 

[Walker11]

Its not like Chuck was a great player but we didn't have anybody else that could do what he did for the team last year. If you couldn't see that he helped the team, your watching something else. And how quickly everyone has forgotten the patented Okwandu line-drive hook shot which he shot rarely but almost always made.

 

[61cygni]

Can admit when I'm wrong, miscalculated the DB one. My apologies. Moving on.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm so sick of this. Can we move on? There's so much to be excited about and you're picking apart someone watching old nat'l championship videos and saying they wish they could see Ray in one of those videos. He's my favorite player of all time like most of you and i'm sure and none of you can say you don't wish he had won a title so you could watch one shining moment with him in it.

Obviously you have to win every NCAA tourney game to win a championship, so that's not really cherry picking. I threw in the BET to help Chuck, his rate was lower if you only include the NCAAs. If they lost to Depaul in that first BET game they likely would have been playing Arizona or Kentucky in the second or third round of the NCAA, not later on, so take that however you want.

If you include the whole season you include the real outliers. Chuck had 3 games with ZERO rebounds, 14 games with just 1 rebound, 10 games with just 2 rebounds and 3 games with 3 reb. 30 out of 41 games he was under 3 rebounds. I don't care what metric you use, but if i'm the only 7 footer on the court for 16 minutes and I only grab 1 or 2 rebounds - i'm making sure I graduate bc basketball is not in my future.

I say he helped them win the title because he was on the court and anyone on the court played some part in it good or bad, everyone knows that. But I can't be convinced by anyone that they definitely would not have won if he wasn't playing. Kemba wouldn't have allowed it.

Lastly, Beverly had 8 rebounds in 64 minutes. Chuck had 21 in 177 minutes. Anyone got a calculator?

At least we know you're glad Donnell Beverly got his ring.

 

[CL82]

Just watched them back to back. Start the gosh durn season right now!!! Man, I'm so psyched for basketball!

Take any 50 seconds out of the Marat video and put 10 seconds of "Season tickets available" plus a phone number and we sell out!

 

[Scoe]

watching the baseball playoffs and the NFL/College season heating up will make it go by faster, so once October starts the season will get here fast.