'99 team vs. St John's on SNY right now

[Danzz]

I miss those days when UConn truly played the run and gun style.

There seemed to be a change, after the 04 Championship, to a much more Big Ten style of play. Has anyone else noticed this?

Not complaining though, even with the perceived change in style, we've added 3 Sweet Sixteens, 2 Elite Eights, 2 Final Fours, and 1 Championship since 05.

It changed when we got a dominant big man (EO) and started blocking a lot of shots. Our perimeter defense also fizzeled some but of course we haven't had a Ricky Moore since Ricky Moore.
Before EO our big men were more of role players (Sellars, Knight, Voskul) and JC used to catch some flack for not being able to coach big men; all the way back to the Cyrulik days. Somehow JC got a lot smarter coaching bigs once we got EO.
Both systems work as you noted and Uconn fans have nothing to complain about but I also miss the old high energy days.

 

[UCweCONN]

RayRipKemba, yes, I noticed the shift once we started signing dominant big men. Before that the center position was usually filled by an undersized guy or a guy whose job was to rebound and start the fast break. I definitely miss the old running and pressing teams that could put 10 and 15 point runs on people just from their defensive pressure. When you play half court basketball you are more susceptible to getting beaten by lesser teams that have hot shooting nights. The notoriously tough UCONN practices made our players better conditioned than our opponents and we were able to run opponents out of the gym and wear them out in the second half. I don't think conditioning plays as much of a role when you run a half court offense and don't press.

 

[junglehusky]

Goddam that team was fun to watch. Back in those days, did people complain about KEA the way they have about every point guard since (except for Kemba last year)?

The other thing I like about these replays is they keep in the promos for CBS shows... Sammo Hung in Martial law, followed by Chuck Norris in Walker Texas Ranger. I never watched those shows, but for some reason I love the promos.

Oh, and Billy Packer sucks!

 

[WillB4]

Was that vs the Artest team in which the Huskies were down about 12 with about 7-8 minutes left and roared back? I was there on a bus trip and the place had over 10K Husky fanatics and was fun as hell...............

That's the one! Sat behind the basket (Uconn in 2nd Half). Just incredible game, back and forth. Great ending, WINNING!!!!

 

[WillB4]

I'm almost certain we had 2 losses that year (can't recall who the 2nd loss came to). I distinctly remember Billy Packer and Jim Nantz talking about how rare it was to have a Championship game where the two teams combined for only 3 losses. Considering Duke only had 1 loss at that point, we had to have had another loss in the regular season.

Second loss to Miami. On the steal and three pointer if I remember correctly.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

That team was down at the half 10 times that season, and won every one of them, including the championship game.

That's toughness!