Best big man | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Best big man

Palatine said:
No conversation of UConn big men is complete with mentioning Toby Kimball.

Averaged 18+ PPG and 17+ RPG over a three year career at UConn followed by a 9 year NBA career.

Scored 18 points and pulled down 14 boards in the 1964 NCAA regional final versus Duke.
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Or Uncle Cliff
 
In no particular order, because I can't

Toby
Corny
Meka
Thabeet
Sanogo
Clingan
Chaz
Cliff

I don't consider Donyell a big, and I suppose AD would be on the list if he stayed more than one year
 
Waquoit said:
I don't think you can blame the "pieces". His junior year they won the NIT and he wasn't the leader, he was just a piece of the puzzle. His senior year that team was good enough to dance but he just never came through, though he was a volume shooter. They go back to the NIT and bomb out. The next season, UConn basically just swaps out Cliff for Henefeld and it's the "Dream Season".
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I think Cliff was a big part of UConn's transition from a bottom half Big East team to a national power. I respect every name that people have listed on this thread (it shows how well the program is doing), but Cliff is one of the first names I think of when the topic of great UConn big men comes up.
 
Meka
Thabeet
Clingan

If Dyson doesn’t get hurt, we play NC in the national title game in 09 and Thabeet handles Hansbrough

Hasheem was an elite defender and a good scorer by his last season here

2x BE DPOY
BE POY
All American

He, Adrian, and Stanley deserved a shot a championship. 08-09 still bugs me
 
IndyLives said:
Cliff Robinson put Uconn on the national map. He deserves more respect.
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Cliff was awesome but I don't know if I would call him a center, even as a college player, and at least my interpretation views this as a center discussion.
 
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Palatine is right. You guys are dissing one of the best we ever had. You have recency bias.

Records are made to be broken. In the case of rebounds in college basketball though, the record in NCAA Tournament Games hasn’t been topped in almost 70 years.

Most Rebounds Ever in an NCAA Tournament Game. (Records still hold as of 2024)​

#2 Nate Thurmond, Bowl Green 31 vs Miss St 1963
#3 Jerry Lucas, Ohio St 30 v Ky 1961
#4 Toby Kimball, UConn 29 v St Joes 1965
#5 Elvin Hayes, Houston 28 v Pacific 1966

And #1 Fred Cohen, Temple 34 v UConn 1956
 
Last edited:
Okafor by a fair margin.

He did what Clingan did last night for two straight seasons, plus he was a hell of a defender as a freshman. He was absolutely unbelievable defensively despite being only 6'9. He made other top bigs like Sean May and Sheldon Williams look like scrubs, while averaging 18 & 12.
 
nomar said:
Agree re Emeka but I don’t agree re Hash. Call Illinois crazy for testing Clingan but by the end of his career teams weren’t even going into the lane against Thabeet. I distinctly remember playing Louisville and their guys were scared to shoot from inside 10 feet. It was like there was a force field.

Clingan’s more mobile and fluid than Thabeet but Hash was an eraser and by the end of his career an efficient scorer. I feel like his awful NBA career is making people forget how incredible he was. He went as high as he did for a reason.
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Maybe I need a refresher in Thabeet games, but I don’t remember teams straight up not scoring at the rim like we’ve seen this tourney.

Love a good reason to go back and watch those games though.
 
DaMuttzNutt said:
Meka
Thabeet
Clingan

If Dyson doesn’t get hurt, we play NC in the national title game in 09 and Thabeet handles Hansbrough

Hasheem was an elite defender and a good scorer by his last season here

2x BE DPOY
BE POY
All American

He, Adrian, and Stanley deserved a shot a championship. 08-09 still bugs me
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I wanted that Hansborough vs Adrien and Thabeet matchup so bad. 09 was really a complete team with Dyson.

Not much shooting outside of AJ, but they would lock you up defensively and run you out the gym. Fastbreaks with AJ, Kemba, Dyson, and Sticks were a blur.
 
DaMuttzNutt said:
Meka
Thabeet
Clingan

If Dyson doesn’t get hurt, we play NC in the national title game in 09 and Thabeet handles Hansbrough

Hasheem was an elite defender and a good scorer by his last season here

2x BE DPOY
BE POY
All American

He, Adrian, and Stanley deserved a shot a championship. 08-09 still bugs me
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They ran into Izzo and Draymond Green.
 
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willie99 said:
In no particular order, because I can't

Toby
Corny
Meka
Thabeet
Sanogo
Clingan
Chaz
Cliff

I don't consider Donyell a big, and I suppose AD would be on the list if he stayed more than one year
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I here yah, but you kind of have to. He lead the Team in rebounding, clearing the next Guy by 3.4 a game. He was our Center, with Travis Knight buried on the bench playing less than Samson.

Donyell was a stretch forward by trade, but he's without a doubt one of the best "Bigs" in Uconn history--25.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 3.3bpg in a very competitive Big East.
 
Lefty2one said:
Okafor by a fair margin.

He did what Clingan did last night for two straight seasons, plus he was a hell of a defender as a freshman. He was absolutely unbelievable defensively despite being only 6'9. He made other top bigs like Sean May and Sheldon Williams look like scrubs, while averaging 18 & 12.
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I love Clingan, but Okafor would have made Ledee look like Joel Soriano from start to finish.
 
Toby, Bill Corley, Chuck A., Okafor, Sonogo, Jake, DC, Donyell,
 
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HuskyWarrior611 said:
Maybe I need a refresher in Thabeet games, but I don’t remember teams straight up not scoring at the rim like we’ve seen this tourney.

Love a good reason to go back and watch those games though.
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Start with this one — should be a fun watch:

www.espn.com

UConn 68-51 Louisville (Feb 2, 2009) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the UConn Huskies vs. Louisville Cardinals NCAAM game from February 2, 2009 on ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

UConn emphatically ended Louisville's nine-game winning streak by dictating the pace and using Thabeet's massive 7-foot-3 wingspan to hold Louisville to a season-low point total. The junior's defensive dominance was so complete UConn coach Jim Calhoun looked surprised when he found out his center was credited with just four blocks.

"Thabeet had four blocks? Come on," Calhoun said. "It doesn't matter if he has four or 40. Just his presence in there was intimidating."

The Cardinals shot 34 percent from the floor -- including 5-of-17 3-pointers -- and rarely challenged one of the nation's leading shotblockers. Louisville shot two free throws and the Cardinals were so reticent to get in the lane that they sometimes pulled up for jumpers on the fastbreak rather than try and get to the basket.

"It's February and it's time to get better," Thabeet said. "Coach told me to control the middle and not let them get into the offense and not give up uncontested shots. After I got a couple of blocks they stopped bringing it in there."
 
willie99 said:
I see Bruce a few times each year
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Next time you see him, say hi for me. As an NBA rookie Bruce Kuczenski started multiple games for the reigning champion Philadelphia 76ers alongside Julius Erving in 1984
 
FfldCntyFan said:
Cliff was awesome but I don't know if I would call him a center, even as a college player, and at least my interpretation views this as a center discussion.
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Its what he played for us. There wasn't even an alternative. His Sr. Year he hit some threes but he had not yet become the stretch 4 that today's NBA loves so much. Cliff really impacted at the pro level more than he had at UConn. Did Rod play the 4, Cliff's Sr year?
 
1. Okafor: a force on both ends. Always played at high intensity and always productive.
2. Sanogo: rare combination of strength and finesse. Improved every year and was a joy to watch. One of my all time favorite Huskies
3. Thabeet: owned the paint. teams feared him like no other player in uconn history.
4. Clingan: amazing help defender who at times can take over the game.
5. Probably Kimball but I never saw him play.

And a shoutout to Chuck Aleksinas. The Morris Mountain.
 
1. Chuck - (I’m from Morris)
2. Okafor -
3. Sanogo
4. Clingan
5. Jake - First UConn player I met as a kid.
6. Thabeet

Donyell is a favorite of mine and I met him after one of his camps once but I’m sticking to centers.

Out of the guys I’ve seen play. More of a list of my favorite Centers than best. Clingan is my second favorite CT player, after Chuck and ahead of Tyler.

Without disrespecting Kimball who could be #1 without any argument from me but I’ve never seen him play
 
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BarkingDog said:
1. Okafor: a force on both ends. Always played at high intensity and always productive.
2. Sanogo: rare combination of strength and finesse. Improved every year and was a joy to watch. One of my all time favorite Huskies
3. Thabeet: owned the paint. teams feared him like no other player in uconn history.
4. Clingan: amazing help defender who at times can take over the game.
5. Probably Kimball but I never saw him play.

And a shoutout to Chuck Aleksinas. The Morris Mountain.
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Feels like everyone forgot about Sanogo already! He was an absolute bucket last year.

Another guy who gets no love he Brimah. Amazing shot blocker.
 
Smp7598 said:
Exactly what would that be?
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Donyell Marshall:
  • Unanimous Big East Player of the year
  • Big East Defensive Player of the year
  • UConn's first Consensus First Team All-American
  • National Player of the Year Finalist
  • 2x All-Big East
  • 1x Big East regular season champion
  • 3-2 in NCAA tournament
  • 1st round 4th overall NBA draft pick
Uncle Cliff:

Your turn, Go....
 
nomar said:
Start with this one — should be a fun watch:

www.espn.com

UConn 68-51 Louisville (Feb 2, 2009) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the UConn Huskies vs. Louisville Cardinals NCAAM game from February 2, 2009 on ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

UConn emphatically ended Louisville's nine-game winning streak by dictating the pace and using Thabeet's massive 7-foot-3 wingspan to hold Louisville to a season-low point total. The junior's defensive dominance was so complete UConn coach Jim Calhoun looked surprised when he found out his center was credited with just four blocks.

"Thabeet had four blocks? Come on," Calhoun said. "It doesn't matter if he has four or 40. Just his presence in there was intimidating."

The Cardinals shot 34 percent from the floor -- including 5-of-17 3-pointers -- and rarely challenged one of the nation's leading shotblockers. Louisville shot two free throws and the Cardinals were so reticent to get in the lane that they sometimes pulled up for jumpers on the fastbreak rather than try and get to the basket.

"It's February and it's time to get better," Thabeet said. "Coach told me to control the middle and not let them get into the offense and not give up uncontested shots. After I got a couple of blocks they stopped bringing it in there."
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Thanks for sharing. Can’t find it in my initial search, there’s not a lot of non-tournament full games available to watch where we won online. But if anyone is able to find it I’m happy to watch.

I’ve found one where we were at full strength with the Gonzaga game so I’m in the process of going through that. Hard watch for Thabeet here because he was in foul trouble most of the game and the Zags had bigs who could shoot so he spent a lot of defense away from the rim. Don’t know how the hell we pulled this one out.

Going to have to look at Missouri and if I can stomach it, MSU (maybe cut the game off at the 5 min mark).

Skill for skill so far it’s hard to not give it to Donovan if I’m not looking at the accolades. A lot of the knocks on Thabeet (hands, coordination, knowledge of the game, being raw) are not issues for Donovan.

It sucks because he was robbed of a lot of the accolades he should’ve received this year because of injury. Plus as crazy as it sounds, he’s only playing 22 minutes a game. Kemba Walker played more minutes for the 09 team as a freshman with 25.

Talent wise, there’s a good argument for him having the most ever.
 
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