All time UConn WBB starting 5 as of today...

[my2cents]

Swerve: 15-player UConn Squad A Team (based on the peak college version of themselves):

• Sue Bird
• Moriah Jefferson
• Paige Bueckers
• Diana Taurasi
• Shea Ralph
• Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis
• Svetlana Abrosimova
• Napheesa Collier
• Maya Moore
• Morgan Tuck
• Swin Cash
• Breanna Stewart
• Tina Charles
• Rebecca Lobo
• Kara Wolters

No Nykesha Sales is a huge miss on this list.

 

[hoophuskee]

I agree. They are very close. I'd take Bird offensively, but they are so close that Jefferson's defense does it for me. (similar to the DT/Moore/Stewart argument, whichever one you think is the best...I can see that) Bird of Jefferson, take your pick.

Actually we (I) did some polls on here a few years ago ranking players by position. It went about as expected, DT/Moore/Stewart/Charles, with Bird/Jefferson ending up in a dead tie. Maybe I'll try it again sometime.

You're argument for "spectacular" YEAR is what doesn't make sense (comparatively).

I have Stewie as #1. IMO her senior year was the most spectacular offensive individual season a UCONN player ever has had. And I value Offense over Defense. I don’t consider them equal. You’re mentioned DT was rated #1 on here. And she is considered one of the greatest even in College and Pro outside of here. How are her overall stats especially in combination of Offense and Defense? Looking at some basic stats they're not as good as either as Stewie or Maya. Yet I put DT over Maya. SO when I look at rating any of these all-time greats it’s not completely stats driven. There’s “context” when evaluating DT.

As for Stewart, another separator for me was in all four of her years she put her team on her back when it mattered most (Stewart win over ND in FF). She had a good frosh year before NCAA’s but not “great” until that point. While Dt and Maya certainly had big games they put their team on their back as frosh Steiw had the biggest. But the fact all 3 did it as freshmen also highlights each of their greatness too. However, when I evaluate, putting your team on your back is huge.

SO to get back to Bird vs MoJeff frosh year, what has always stuck in my mind was Bird putting her team on her back vs Tenn and in FF vs Penn State. When you put your team on your back for example in FF and add in a game like Tenn and you have stats like Bid did- imo that is spectacular. I can recall no games that Moriah in her soph year put her team on her back (i.e. signature games.).

I can’t say my pov is right. All this stuff is subjective. Just my pov nothing more and I’m sure down the list there are exceptions etc. But because I favor Offense. Because I favor Big Games. Because I favor for example the context of the scorer you are on your team in relation to winning is a sperator for example 3 vs 5; – I just watched the game when the announcers were saying that all-time great Pat Summitt telling her team to watch out for Bird. While at completely opposite spectrum all-time great Tara V set up a Defense to give as many open shots to Moriah as she would take. This is soph vs soph. For me, those are examples of massive separators defining “spectacular” vs “pretty good” between Bird and MJ. And Sue Bird doubled-down in the FF vs Penn State in which UCONN needed a scorer to help carry them. This is the same type of separator that I mention above with Stewie in her forsh year had vs DT and Maya. And something I can't recall MJ doing as a soph and I don't believe she was capable at the time. If there are big games in her soph year that she did carry offensivley then obvioulsy I would change my mind.