All time defensive team

[CL82]

I think I have to sub Caron for Henefeld in that list. We only had a season of Nadav, and I never really followed his Israel career. At least we have two husky seasons and a substantial NBA career to go on with Butler.
So for me, it's...
Ricky
Lyman
Caron
Boat
Mek

I hear you but it is tough to take "the Gaza Stripper" off the list. It I were to sub in Caron, I think I'd do it for DePriest, but the youngsters here don't appreciate how effective he was.

 

[the Q]

Boat was such a fierce competitor, I heard he's killing it over seas.

I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more of a look in the league.

He is the proverbial 3 and d Pg.

He’s a great fit next to a guy like Simmons or Lebron.

 

[Huskybass]

I hear you but it is tough to take "the Gaza Stripper" off the list. It I were to sub in Caron, I think I'd do it for DePriest, but the youngsters here don't appreciate how effective he was.

Nadav was incredibly disruptive on the defensive end. His 138 steals may still be a D1 record for freshmen. He also tipped countless balls that led to other turnovers, or stalled possessions. I agree that he is a fixture in that top 5.

Huskyhawk, Nadav was a forward, not a guard.

 

[mauconnfan]

Outside of Mek, were any of those guys the best defenders in the country? Even at their own position? I'd wager Moore was.

For example, Moore could take away the other teams best player without question. Thabeet could take away an entire team driving the basketball, effectively eliminating the paint. His mere presence, caused other teams to radically alter their entire game plan/style.

And both Mek and Thabeet took only 3 years to get 2x NDOPY.

For some reason, Thabeet always gets undersold on this board.

Thabeet HAS to be in this team. Of the bigs we mention he is one of the only, if not the only, to intimidate the opposition enough for them not to go in the lane or even want to. Besides Blair of Ptt there were more people passing the ball back out in fear than going at him. If people had taken him on more his BPG stats would've been out of this world. Truly an intimidating factor for our defense in his 3 years.

And Nadav has to be one the 5 also due to his ability to make everyone around him better on defense. His anticipation of passes is 2nd to none in UConn lore, simply read the oppositions next move better than anyone who's put the uniform on.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I hear you but it is tough to take "the Gaza Stripper" off the list. It I were to sub in Caron, I think I'd do it for DePriest, but the youngsters here don't appreciate how effective he was.

I think there is always a challenge with "all defensive" teams. In almost every case, they include guys who are great defenders and also great players. The pure defensive specialist who is otherwise limited rarely gets included, even if they are possibly the better defender.

If you really wanted an all defensive great player lineup at UConn, it would exclude Moore and DePriest.

Henefeld is tricky. Huge number of steals playing in that zone press defense with Burrell, but Burrell is the all time steals leader for the team. Nadav was just one season.

 

[CL82]

If you really wanted an all defensive great player lineup at UConn, it would exclude Moore and DePriest.

Could not disagree more. But for Moore's defense we don't win the 99 natty. (We also don't win it without his first half offense, which carried us, but that's not relevant to this discussion.) Moore was locking down the opponent's best player week in and week out all through the '98-99 season. He's a definite on this list.

The Dream Season doesn't happen without Lyman DePriest. At 6'5" he could guard anyone. He locked down Danas Barros in the NIT semi's holding him to two shots. Yeah, you read that right two shots. The only argument against him is that wasn't a starter. But even in his reduced minutes he ended up with 37 steals. (In a lot of ways the Dream Team is a good model for this years squad. Relentless tough defense generating a turnover fueled offense.)

In the end maybe the best judge is Jim Calhoun. His take on UConn's greatest defenders:

"Lyman might be the best," Calhoun said. "Though Ricky Moore is certainly right up there.

 

[RichZ]

Nadav was incredibly disruptive on the defensive end. His 138 steals may still be a D1 record for freshmen. He also tipped countless balls that led to other turnovers, or stalled possessions. I agree that he is a fixture in that top 5.

Huskyhawk, Nadav was a forward, not a guard.

Kind of a misleading stat on the steals record for a freshman. He was a 21 year old "freshman" with experience in the Israeli national team, and the steals were at least in part because of the aggressive, trapping defense we so often played as a team. No doubt he was a great defender, but in my mind, being a one and done Husky knocks him down a few pegs.

 

[GiladKatzDeli]

Both Doron Sheffer and Rudy Johnson were underrated defensively, in my book.

 

[intlzncster]

Be better than Okafor...but he wasn't. Not close really. If the list was five best defensive players, he's on it. It's not. It's a team, one at each position.

There was never any stipulation that it could be only 1 player per position. And these 'all time' and all star lists almost always 'blend' roles. So our two 'posts' would be Mek and Thabeet.

Thabeet was definitely not a better all around center than Mek (who was much better man to man and more savvy), but he was more intimidating, like very few in history. I'd wager he changed more game plans than Mek.

 

[huskyrob1]

I'm going to be in the minority on this one but I'll say that I remember Boat frustrating the hell out of me on defense early on in his career. Didn't use his quickness as much as he should of, or overplayed, or was caught napping on back door cuts. I remember making remarks to other people about that. But he did make improvements for sure and Jr./Sr. Boat defense was much better. He was to me more of a move your feet quick and stay in front of your man while jumping passing lanes. Didn't ever use his hands as much as I would've liked to deflect passes or reach in when you had a chance to pick.

But with that said for that "era" I remember Shabazz and Kemba with way more one on one grand theft larceny (if you will) than Boat. Like I said older Boat was a guy who got a few pick 6's off of jumping the passing lane here and there and also locked you up as far as not penetrating but to me he didn't quite have the elite craftiness to pick pockets like Shabazz and Kemba. I still have the vivid memories of Kemba abusing Peyton Siva as he backed it out mid game BE tourney. Or Bazz with his patented let him slow spin out at half court and pick him from behind, or one of my favorites, his pick on Harrison twin in National Championship that left Greg Anthony saying "oh my goodness. Did you see the misdemeanor committed by shabazz napier!") Definitely not trying to bring RB down though he worked his way into a very good defender and plays with tremendous heart. For that I put him as honorable mention.

For me:

Taliek
Kemba
Moore
Mek
Thabeet

Honorable Mentions:

Shabazz
Stix
Burrell
Boat

Back Alley Dogs: Adrien, King & Sellers
King of Charges Drawn: Nolan

Glad someone finally mentioned Shabazz, fastest defensive hands I ever saw. Many times a much more highly regarded guard bringing the ball up and guarded at arm's length by Bazz, had his pocket picked before he knew it, and was left standing there as Bazz dribbled away for a layup.

 

[the Q]

There was never any stipulation that it could be only 1 player per position. And these 'all time' and all star lists almost always 'blend' roles. So our two 'posts' would be Mek and Thabeet.

Thabeet was definitely not a better all around center than Mek (who was much better man to man and more savvy), but he was more intimidating, like very few in history. I'd wager he changed more game plans than Mek.

I’d take that bet. Every time.

Thabeet could bully around inferior talent. But he was a bit soft.

 

[8893]

Glad someone finally mentioned Shabazz, fastest defensive hands I ever saw. Many times a much more highly regarded guard bringing the ball up and guarded at arm's length by Bazz, had his pocket picked before he knew it, and was left standing there as Bazz dribbled away for a layup.

Reach-around bandit!

 

[RichZ]

If you really wanted an all defensive great player lineup at UConn, it would exclude Moore and DePriest.

Were you high when you typed this?

Lyman Depriest was assigned to guard everyone from Dana Baros to Shaq.

Ricky Moore inspired Al McGuire to utter the phrase "He puts an elephant in your head." He had to spend the next 10 minutes explaining that to the other commentator, but basically it meant "he stops every move you have, and eventually the elephant in your head won't let you try them again," or something to that effect.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Could not disagree more. But for Moore's defense we don't win the 99 natty. (We also don't win it without his first half offense, which carried us, but that's not relevant to this discussion.) Moore was locking down the opponent's best player week in and week out all through the '98-99 season. He's a definite on this list.

The Dream Season doesn't happen without Lyman DePriest. At 6'5" he could guard anyone. He locked down Danas Barros in the NIT semi's holding him to two shots. Yeah, you read that right two shots. The only argument against him is that wasn't a starter. But even in his reduced minutes he ended up with 37 steals. (In a lot of ways the Dream Team is a good model for this years squad. Relentless tough defense generating a turnover fueled offense.)

In the end maybe the best judge is Jim Calhoun. His take on UConn's greatest defenders:

"Lyman might be the best," Calhoun said. "Though Ricky Moore is certainly right up there.

You perhaps misunderstand my point. I would put Lyman at the top and Ricky next based purely on defense. I saw Lyman a lot in person since I was in school at the time. And certainly, what Ricky did in the opening ten minutes of the 1999 title game was legendary.

My point was that most of these lists cheat towards including great defenders who were also great players (Michael Jordan). Ricky doesn't make it on a list of great UConn PGs, despite what he did in 1999. And several great UConn PGs were very strong defenders, including Kemba, Bazz and Smith.

I do hope this year's squad takes a page from the dream team. I've been waiting for another UConn team like that and this one seems poised to give it a try.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Were you high when you typed this?

Lyman Depriest was assigned to guard everyone from Dana Baros to Shaq.

Ricky Moore inspired Al McGuire to utter the phrase "He puts an elephant in your head." He had to spend the next 10 minutes explaining that to the other commentator, but basically it meant "he stops every move you have, and eventually the elephant in your head won't let you try them again," or something to that effect.

Neither were "great players". Were you high when you read it? A couple posts up I had both on my all defense team.

 

[intlzncster]

I’d take that bet. Every time.

Thabeet could bully around inferior talent. But he was a bit soft.

He was bullied around repeatedly by 1 guy, DeJuan Blair. Other guys got him at times, but they still couldn't shoot over him. The soft label was a bit overdone (largely because of Blair WWEing him and his lackluster offense). Was he the strongest post guy we've had? Of course not.

But teams that thrived on driving to the paint were forced to become perimeter shooters for a game, or else they could barely score. I haven't seen a game plan changer like that in a long, long time. A the guy that changed more shots than he even blocked.

If only we could wager, I could use some extra coin!

 

[the Q]

He was bullied around repeatedly by 1 guy, DeJuan Blair. Other guys got him at times, but they still couldn't shoot over him. The soft label was a bit overdone (largely because of Blair WWEing him and his lackluster offense). Was he the strongest post guy we've had? Of course not.

But teams that thrived on driving to the paint were forced to become perimeter shooters for a game, or else they could barely score. I haven't seen a game plan changer like that in a long, long time. A the guy that changed more shots than he even blocked.

If only we could wager, I could use some extra coin!

And that weak mich st front line

 

[BlueDogs]

I will go with
Ricky Moore
Lyman de priest
Emeka
Donyell
Burrell

Forgot the Dove

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The pure defensive specialist who is otherwise limited rarely gets included, even if they are possibly the better defender.

If you really wanted an all defensive great player lineup at UConn, it would exclude Moore and DePriest.

Did you mean to say "wouldn't"?
There's a bit of that going around.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

This team is incomplete without the Reacharound Bandit. Bazz and Boat were a great DEFENSIVE BACKCOURT. Boat was absolutely great but can’t ignore Bazz. Their ability to bottle up much bigger dudes was incredible. They were barely 6’ and they completely ate the 6’6” Harrison twins lunch.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Did you mean to say "wouldn't"?
There's a bit of that going around.

My assertion was that many of these lists are not straight up the best pure defenders, and instead the best defenders who were also great players overall. Jordan, Leonard, Pippen etc.

So I said that if you were making a list of great UConn defenders who were also great overall players, Moore and DePriest would not make the cut (Ricky is closer to making it). Guys like Donyell, Emeka, Burrell were great defenders and much more than that. As noted, Kemba, Shabazz, Boat and Chris Smith were well above average defenders.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

My assertion was that many of these lists are not straight up the best pure defenders, and instead the best defenders who were also great players overall. Jordan, Leonard, Pippen etc.

So I said that if you were making a list of great UConn defenders who were also great overall players, Moore and DePriest would not make the cut (Ricky is closer to making it). Guys like Donyell, Emeka, Burrell were great defenders and much more than that. As noted, Kemba, Shabazz, Boat and Chris Smith were well above average defenders.

I was making a different reference here as to would/wouldn't, and it fit well with your post in the context of the thread as the Subject line was written.

 

[Peacefrog]

You’ve got to have DePriest and Okafor on there and probably Ricky Moore. After that lots of good choices including: Thabeet, Hemefeld, Boat, Donyell et al. I’m surprised Freeman hasn’t received even an honorable mention along the way. Calhoun used to put him on the opponent’s best wing and it was usually shutdown city.

 

[Huskies4ever]

You’ve got to have DePriest and Okafor on there and probably Ricky Moore. After that lots of good choices including: Thabeet, Hemefeld, Boat, Donyell et al. I’m surprised Freeman hasn’t received even an honorable mention along the way. Calhoun used to put him on the opponent’s best wing and it was usually shutdown city.

Good call on KFree. Voskhul was pretty good, too.

 

[Huskies4ever]

For some reason, Thabeet always gets undersold on this board.

Some of it might have to do with his NBA career.