Bazz's place among the all time UConn greats ?

[Waquoit]

He was a great ambassador to the program.

And for all college basketball players.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I agree. I love Ray, Donyell and several others but for a program that has won 4 National Championships, I just can't put players who never even made a Final Four over the great players who have. For that reason, here's my top 10:

Shabazz
Kemba
Rip
Emeka
Ray
Donyell
Ben
Caron
Chris Smith
Burrell

There has to be room for Cliffy in the top 10. Bump Gordon or Burrell.

 

[Gurleyman]

I keep wavering on this topic. He's on Mt. Rushmore, no question (Bazz, Kemba, Rip, Emeka - IMO, with Ray as the 5th if we're choosing five). Those are the four Alpha Dogs on national title teams, and Ray was 49-5 in the Big East with two 2 seeds and a 1 seed in his career (he and Doron had the best overall careers in UConn history for entire body of work- that three-year run was pure dominance). All five were first-team A-As in the top three in the NPOY race..

Of those five, only Emeka and Ray did not have a bad season (Emeka was part of a 5 seed as a soph, which was inconsistent, but not bad)
Of those five, only Rip and Emeka did not have a bad postseason loss (Rip BET as a freshman, notwithstanding)
Of those five, only Kemba and Bazz were the sole All-American caliber players on title runs doing all the heavy lifting (Rip had KEA, Emeka had Ben)
Of those five, only Rip and Ray led their teams to 1 seeds (Kemba was part of one as a freshman as a reserve, Emeka probably would have without injuries - they were an awesome 2)
Of those five, only Bazz won twice (obviously), but he was the only one who played all four years

I personally still lean Kemba by a nose (Kemba-Bazz-Rip-Emeka-Ray would be my order, based on UConn-ness). He had a team of freshmen around him (and a sophomore AO), and was a notch more dominant in his postseason run than Bazz was, who had more upperclassmen help around him (Boat-DD-Giffey, and to some degree Kromah, who was older but new to the program). That 11-for-11 run is something special. And he was our best player on the floor for (perhaps) all 11 of them, with the exception of maybe the Butler game (he may have still been our best player despite shooting 5-18, given his energy level, nine hustle rebounds, etc.), but he was probably a bit drained by the title game and perhaps you could hold that against him (but then you have to make note that Brimah bailed Bazz out in the first round - Bazz dribbled off his leg o/b with two mintues to go and missed a chippy that Brimah followed up). DD was our best player against ISU/Florida and Boat might have been our best player against St. Joe's (but Bazz also allowed DD to be our guy on those two days he had it going by taking on a facilitating role, so that shouldn't be held against him).

Bazz gets bonus points for sticking with us and his importance to the program, but Kemba's run was almost as important, because people were kicking sand on our graves after the NIT year, JC's impending retirement, and our recruiting "failures" that led to the Napier-Giffey-Olander-Lamb-Smith class. Bazz wins that standoff, though - would have been easy to leave, and with the conference realignment problem and an umproven KO, we could be wallowing right now without him.

It's a tough call - but I do enjoy the problem of trying to sort out where all this greatness fits together. Maybe I lean Kemba because of the 5-in-5 on top of the title, but I have no issue whatsoever with those who say two rings gives Bazz the edge.

If this was the Premier League and every game counted the same, then I'd probably lean Ray by a nose over Rip (in my lifetime) with Emeka, Donyell, and Kemba 3-4-5 and Bazz a smidge behind. Ray had two A-A years for top five teams. Donyell had maybe the best singular season, but Ray-Rip-Emeka were better as sophomores. Bazz would drop since he was never part of a team that finished in the top 20 in the regular season. But this isn't the Premier League, so this paragraph is meaningless.

 

[Waquoit]

There has to be room for Cliffy in the top 10. Bump Gordon or Burrell.

No freakin' way unless you want factor in NBA longevity. He never made it to the NCAA's, that 89 year was very disappointing. The year after he leaves UConn went to the Elite Eight.

 

[Rondogg]

Do you all remember when we used to make fun of Bazz pounding the ball and pointing all over the place? Man all that yelling and pointing won him a Championship.

As for the question, its no disrespect to other stars saying that he had the best 'career' in a UConn uniform. The kid was mentored by the former best (Champion Kemba), lost a HOF coach (Calhoun), lost about 6-8 players along the way, was ineligible for post season play, and had to play for a brand new 'inexperienced' head Coach. In spite of all that he became a 1st team AA, Bob Cousy award winner and led his team to a Championship Title. Oh and sprinkle in a little help he gave to student athletes, getting meal plans changed.

Not sure anyone else could have done that, and I'd like (and want) to forever think that only Bazz could, making that his legacy.

Excellent point about the meal plans for athletes. He was pretty much directly responsible for that. He was also, (for better or worse) responsible for publicly humiliating the NCAA president on national television. No other Husky has been as big off the court as he has.

 

[UConn17]

I'll try to be clearer. He's getting a lot of bonus points because the team beat other teams that were, over the course of the season, better than they were. They beat Florida twice, but Florida, on the balance of their performance throughout the year, was the better team. Unless you think that Houston was better than UConn this year.



I'm judging on actual on-court performance. Allen played basketball better at UConn than Napier did, and it's not all that close.

lol

 

[UCONNfan1]

Best body of work for sure, along with Giffey (and yes, Olander). But most talented? No. Best leader? Not necessarily as he wasn't the starting PG when he got a ring 4 years ago. BUT... fan favorite? Sure. He was right up there as one of my all time favorites, but was completely pushed over the top with his "This is what you get when you ban us from the NCAA's. We are hungry huskies..." comment. And he followed it up with more comments at the presser. So yeah, my all time favorite Husky...

 

[rover]

Kemba is the best Husky of all time. What he did in 2011 is unprecedented and imo better then what Shabazz did (Shabazz was leading a veteran laden team, Kemba had Alex Oriakhi and some freshmen) and he also contributed more to the 2009 Final Four run then Bazz did to the 2011 run

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

How did he contribute more in 2009? I'm not saying that's wrong, necessarily, but I remember him having a big game against Missouri and that's about it.

 

[otp85]

I had not intended to post under this user name again and was going to start posting again late summer, but couldn't resist responding to this post.


If you're not a UConn fan, then well done Troll.
If you are a UConn fan, then you're a f-----g dimwit, and you should have your user name forcibly changed to "callme$h1tforbrains."

For comparison,
Ray was 26/6/3 in his last year. Shabazz was 18/6/5 from the point. 2 NCs, critical contributor to both teams. Captained the ship through his Soph/Junior year storm. Played huge when it mattered. Shabazz is tops for me, and number 2 is some distance behind. Calhoun built this program, but Shabazz will likely be remembered as the guy who was substantially responsible for heralding in the golden age of UConn the Blueblood. If Shabazz had left, we'd have struggled mightily to stay relevant, and it could have been a very, very long rebuilding process. By my reckoning, the program owes Shabazz a huge, huge thank you.

Great point, people are glossing over the fact that all those other guys had Jim Calhoun and the stability of the University their entire careers. What Shabazz did; along with KO, is going to be as important to our future as Tate George's shot. We can argue who's better than who forever; your preference probably goes with your age. Shabazz is just another in our line of greats; I personally hope we can have this argument with someone new soon......and thank you Shabazz

 

[tcf15]

How did he contribute more in 2009? I'm not saying that's wrong, necessarily, but I remember him having a big game against Missouri and that's about it.

I remember Kemba the bed against MSU. 1-5 from the field, 3-9 FTs and 4 turnovers.

I remember Shabazz sealed the game against Kentucky with 2 free throws to get UConn in the National Championship game (granted, Shabazz was 1-7 against UK and had 3 turnovers, but that doesn't help my argument ).

 

[tzznandrew]

I remember Kemba the bed against MSU. 1-5 from the field, 3-9 FTs and 4 turnovers.

I remember Shabazz sealed the game against Kentucky with 2 free throws to get UConn in the National Championship game (granted, Shabazz was 1-7 against UK and had 3 turnovers, but that fact doesn't help my argument ).

This did happen. But Kemba's performance against Mizzou was the only reason they made the Final Four.

Also, Kemba stepped up big time in general after Dyson's injury. He was initially just a change-of-pace, high energy guy. Once the back-court became him, AJP, and Austrie, his role intensified. Especially since 2009 AJP couldn't get into the lane as well as 2008 AJP (and that was never a major strength of AJP, at least relative to Dyson).

 

[Gurleyman]

That big game against Missouri was a really big game - 24 points and we needed all 24. Napier was important to allow Kemba to play off the ball, but his numbers weren't great (1-6 against Butler too). However, he did run the point the whole second half against Butler when we played a lot better offensively, and he had a couple of great passes after Butler tried to go zone. Those were key plays - sometimes the gimmick defense works and swings momentum (I say gimmick because Butler never played zone and was desperate), and instead I think Bazz's passing took the final wind out of their sails (stats show he had two assists, but they were in key spots, or he threw to guys who were fouled).

 

[UConnSwag11]

Best body of work for sure, along with Giffey (and yes, Olander). But most talented? No. Best leader? Not necessarily as he wasn't the starting PG when he got a ring 4 years ago. BUT... fan favorite? Sure. He was right up there as one of my all time favorites, but was completely pushed over the top with his "This is what you get when you ban us from the NCAA's. We are hungry huskies..." comment. And he followed it up with more comments at the presser. So yeah, my all time favorite Husky...

I'm pretty sure bazz was captain since his sophomore year, ran the show since kemba left and stayed with the school through everything makes him a pretty great leader and as for most talented i'd say he's right up there... he's no freak athlete like gordon but he's with gordon, ray, rip etc

 

[Huskybass]

Bazz did it on the biggest stage under the brightest lights in 2014 and played a significant role in 2011. That's why I consider him the greatest Husky of all time.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Best UConn career of all time: Shabazz
Best single season performance: Kemba
Most talented player: Probably between 3 or 4 players and is up for discussion

Have to disagree on most talented. I think Donyell was the best p4p player we`ve ever had. He could post up,block shots,hit threes and drive to the basket with the best of them. If donyell had been allowed to develop at the 3 in the nba instead of putting on weight to play the 4 he wouldve been an all star. As good as Ray,Rip,Mek,Caron,Kemba etc. were Donyell was better. his last year he averaged like 25 ppg and 9 rebounds and 4 blocks or something ridiculous like that.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Bazz did it on the biggest stage under the brightest lights. That's why I consider him the greatest Husky of all time.

I think hes the greatest Husky of all time. I really have a difficult time arguing against it. if not him then who?

 

[freescooter]

Kemba is the best Husky of all time. What he did in 2011 is unprecedented and imo better then what Shabazz did (Shabazz was leading a veteran laden team, Kemba had Alex Oriakhi and some freshmen) and he also contributed more to the 2009 Final Four run then Bazz did to the 2011 run

Oh I don't know about the 2009 comment. I remember Shabazz coming off the bench and making a number of "wow" plays. I'm not saying Kemba didn't contribute in 2009, but body of work-wise, Shabazz was a pretty important component.

this kind of argument is fun in the off-season. But at the end of the day, its really opinion. Like what was the bigger accomplishment, Joltin' Joe's hitting streak or teddy Ballgame's .406? You can make a case either way. And I think people also are forgetting just how good Emeka was in 2004. His impact in the 2nd half of the Duke game showed that.