Best 3 teams over last 30 years?

[champs99and04]

Yeah they were one of my first thoughts, I even went back to my post thinking I included them but I guess I ultimately didn't.

That was maybe soured for me by the Cuse run to the Finals and some of the best teams not making it there to challenge that UK team.

But I remember them and loved em, Delk, Anderson, Mercer, Walker, McCarty ...

That was Pitino's second to last year there, I think? He had that program stacked to the brim with talent, so much so that Tubby won with the remaining parts in '98. One of the great mysteries in college basketball history for me is what Pitino's records would look like if he had stayed in Lexington.

 

[Mr. French]

That was Pitino's second to last year there, I think? He had that program stacked to the brim with talent, so much so that Tubby won with the remaining parts in '98. One of the great mysteries in college basketball history for me is what Pitino's records would look like if he had stayed in Lexington.

Yeah, they were loaded again in 1997, lost in the championship to that on fire Arizona team, then Pitino went to Boston that offseason.

Amazing, they won 2 championships in 3 years and got to the final game 3 straight. Arizona getting super hot and upsetting them is all that halted a 3 peat.

People do sort of forget that stretch of dominance, me included.

 

[Mr. French]

By the way, I hate them deeply, but man Duke from 86-94:

9 years, 7 final fours, 5 title games, 2 titles.

Not a bad run.

 

[JeepCSC]

I honestly don't know what you are smoking. All five played in the NBA, at least two of them, maybe three were first round draft choices, a fourth went high 2nd round IIRC.

None of that is that unique. Even if we only look at 1989 squads, UNC, Louisville, Syracuse, and UNLV had more once and future first-rounders playing for them. And teams like Georgia Tech, Arizona, and Duke matched them with 3 first-rounders. And arguably the most talented team that year was a team unnamed thus far, Georgetown. And that's only if we narrow it down to non-title winning 1989 squads with an emphasis on NBA talent.

I imagine you are or know an Illini fan. That's fine. I'm a UNC fan who will go down with the good ship '98 as the best non-winning title team of late, where Vince Carter was a first-team All-American and still only the second best player on his team, depth be damned. We know what we know. But five NBA players who had fairly humdrum careers at best don't really move the needle for me as far as historically talented squads go.

 

[TheChamps990411]

The 2005-2006 team wasn't slouchy. Emeka, Ben and Taliek left but we trotted out Marcus at pg (NBA), Hilton and Josh (NBA), Rudy Gay (NBA) along with Denham and Rashad as Seniors.

Then we had Ed Nelson and Jeff Adrien (NBA). Oh and remember Marcus Williams?

It was the last game (i.e. who we lost to) that negated their legacy. But they were awesome and formidable and could hang with many of our great teams.

Yeah. What killed that team was ZERO depth at pg. We just had MW and he was a great passer but not much of a defender and not a guy who could get his own shots. If that team had AJP playing at the level he turned into before the knee injury that team likely cuts down the nets. I also thought Rudy couldve and shouldve been more than what he was. Hes one of the most baffling players to me ive ever seen. IMHO his talents were on the level of anyone not named Lebron or Kevin but hes never been more than a good player. not sure what it was but he just didnt have that "it".

 

[huskyrob1]

None of that is that unique. Even if we only look at 1989 squads, UNC, Louisville, Syracuse, and UNLV had more once and future first-rounders playing for them. And teams like Georgia Tech, Arizona, and Duke matched them with 3 first-rounders. And arguably the most talented team that year was a team unnamed thus far, Georgetown. And that's only if we narrow it down to non-title winning 1989 squads with an emphasis on NBA talent.

I imagine you are or know an Illini fan. That's fine. I'm a UNC fan who will go down with the good ship '98 as the best non-winning title team of late, where Vince Carter was a first-team All-American and still only the second best player on his team, depth be damned. We know what we know. But five NBA players who had fairly humdrum careers at best don't really move the needle for me as far as historically talented squads go.

Nope, not an Illinois fan, unlike you just a religious and unbiased Uconn fan whose giving credit in this thread where credit is due. Others in this thread have echoed what I remember and have criticized your biased posts about the Flying Illini, which by the way you have conveniently refused to refer to them by. It's not just fans like me who remember what a great team that was, a great coach who played against them twice in 1989 and lost by convincing margins both times called them the greatest team he had seen since Indiana's undefeated national championship team, but I guess you know more than him too.

 

[mauconnfan]

None of that is that unique. Even if we only look at 1989 squads, UNC, Louisville, Syracuse, and UNLV had more once and future first-rounders playing for them. And teams like Georgia Tech, Arizona, and Duke matched them with 3 first-rounders. And arguably the most talented team that year was a team unnamed thus far, Georgetown. And that's only if we narrow it down to non-title winning 1989 squads with an emphasis on NBA talent.

I imagine you are or know an Illini fan. That's fine. I'm a UNC fan who will go down with the good ship '98 as the best non-winning title team of late, where Vince Carter was a first-team All-American and still only the second best player on his team, depth be damned. We know what we know. But five NBA players who had fairly humdrum careers at best don't really move the needle for me as far as historically talented squads go.

Has nothing to do with the NBA at all or careers. They were a great college basketball team and certainly in the argument with whoever wants to throw any team on the board. Everyone has an opinion right but in this one, while playing together at Illinois this team was really really good I don't care what careers they had or didn't have at the next level, they were a stacked college team and maybe only coaching help them back from a title.

 

[JeepCSC]

Nope, not an Illinois fan, unlike you just a religious and unbiased Uconn fan whose giving credit in this thread where credit is due. Others in this thread have echoed what I remember and have criticized your biased posts about the Flying Illini, which by the way you have conveniently refused to refer to them by. It's not just fans like me who remember what a great team that was, a great coach who played against them twice in 1989 and lost by convincing margins both times called them the greatest team he had seen since Indiana's undefeated national championship team, but I guess you know more than him too.

I have refused to call them the Flying Illini? What in the world is happening? I don't make it a habit to use fan-generated nicknames for teams I don't follow. Kentucky nicknames every other squad, but I just don't have the desire to learn which was the Untouchables and which was the Unforgettables.

I started following basketball in 1993. I never heard of the Illinois squad until 2005. I have admitted they were not on my radar so my approach to them has been trying to fill in the blanks from you and other's posts. You throw out number of first round picks and the players' names as proof. I investigated both and found neither terribly compelling. I acknowledged that Illini fans in general found '05 above '89 from my experience, and even if that was recency bias, I don't think the 2005 Illini are a historically great team.

Maybe they were simply a team you had to watch. Maybe they were better than their accolades and parts would have you believe. If that is true, then it's hard for you to explain it in a post apparently. We will both just have to accept that.

 

[huskyrob1]

I have refused to call them the Flying Illini? What in the world is happening? I don't make it a habit to use fan-generated nicknames for teams I don't follow. Kentucky nicknames every other squad, but I just don't have the desire to learn which was the Untouchables and which was the Unforgettables.

I started following basketball in 1993. I never heard of the Illinois squad until 2005. I have admitted they were not on my radar so my approach to them has been trying to fill in the blanks from you and other's posts. You throw out number of first round picks and the players' names as proof. I investigated both and found neither terribly compelling. I acknowledged that Illini fans in general found '05 above '89 from my experience, and even if that was recency bias, I don't think the 2005 Illini are a historically great team.

Maybe they were simply a team you had to watch. Maybe they were better than their accolades and parts would have you believe. If that is true, then it's hard for you to explain it in a post apparently. We will both just have to accept that.

No one in this thread has brought up the 2005 Illinois squad except you, while myself and others fondly remember what a great great team the Flying Illini were. You are a majority of one, at least so far.

 

[nwhoopfan]

One of the great mysteries in college basketball history for me is what Pitino's records would look like if he had stayed in Lexington.

I've thought about that as well. He had them at the top of the stack and it's not too hard to imagine he could've kept them there for a decade or more.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I wasn't a huge fan, but would the Fab 5 Michigan teams be in the running for best to not win a Championship? Soph year for those guys they were fairly dominant.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Arizona in '97 was a huge longshot, but the next year almost all of those guys were back and they rolled thru the regular season, so I don't think it was a complete fluke.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They miss the cutoff by a little bit, otherwise I think Houston from around '83 or '84 have to be considered best all time to not win a Championship. Hakeem and Clyde the Glide on the same team, and a bunch of other guys that weren't chopped liver.

 

[huskyrob1]

I wasn't a huge fan, but would the Fab 5 Michigan teams be in the running for best to not win a Championship? Soph year for those guys they were fairly dominant.

They should be in the running and probably would have won a title if Weber's bonehead timeout with none remaining doesn't happen. Lol