Best UConn Center of All Time?

[CardiacAndre7]

How is it not relevant that Clingan was more impactful on the court than Thabeet was in his minutes and Clingan shared the center position with the best offensive big in the country and another good center for his two seasons while Thabeet shared it with a couple of nobodies?

Because the gap in minutes per game is so significant, and the stat doesn’t account for inevitable fatigue, which is incredibly relevant especially with guys that are 7’2 plus, lol.

 

[superjohn]

Because the gap in minutes per game is so significant, and the stat doesn’t account for inevitable fatigue, which is incredibly relevant especially with guys that are 7’2 plus, lol.

So you're penalizing Clingan because he shared the position with Sanogo and Samson.

Clingan had much better stats in the minutes he played, he was 2 for 2 in championships, Thabeet was 0 for 3. What are we doing here?

 

[businesslawyer]

1. What happens after they leave college is so irrelevant to the question at hand it amazes me folks still bring it up.

2. Thabeet as a junior could hit foul line extended jumpers. DC as a soph wasn't even allowed to take them. And, someone can prove me wrong, but I think by the time he was a junior Thabeet was a better foul shooter as well.

I stick with what I said earlier -- if you take just the last year at UConn of each of Sanogo, Thabeet and DC, you could make an argument for any of them being "best." But was DC "light years" better his last year than Thabeet was? Absolutely not. That's just not a reasonable argument.

 

[superjohn]

1. What happens after they leave college is so irrelevant to the question at hand it amazes me folks still bring it up.

2. Thabeet as a junior could hit foul line extended jumpers. DC as a soph wasn't even allowed to take them. And, someone can prove me wrong, but I think by the time he was a junior Thabeet was a better foul shooter as well.

I stick with what I said earlier -- if you take just the last year at UConn of each of Sanogo, Thabeet and DC, you could make an argument for any of them being "best." But was DC "light years" better his last year than Thabeet was? Absolutely not. That's just not reasonable argument.

Clingan was a significantly more effective scorer as a sophomore than the foul line extended jump shooting Thabeet was as a junior, lolz.

 

[Hoophound]

1. What happens after they leave college is so irrelevant to the question at hand it amazes me folks still bring it up.

2. Thabeet as a junior could hit foul line extended jumpers. DC as a soph wasn't even allowed to take them. And, someone can prove me wrong, but I think by the time he was a junior Thabeet was a better foul shooter as well.

I stick with what I said earlier -- if you take just the last year at UConn of each of Sanogo, Thabeet and DC, you could make an argument for any of them being "best." But was DC "light years" better his last year than Thabeet was? Absolutely not. That's just not reasonable argument.

Good post. However, the more I think about it, the answer to this question is Sanogo. He was a machine, completely reliable, could score at will, make the three and hit free throws under pressure. He was the man among these 3. We may have loved the other two and they brought a lot to the table, but Sanogo was our "Mailman", he always delivered. Given that he won a title and played the majority of minutes at Center, I think he's the guy in this debate.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

* My fandom is the (1999-Today) Championship Era *

1.) Emeka - The best total package. Awesome low post scorer and a beast on the offensive glass, combined that with top tier defense.

2.) Clingan - The best defender I’ve ever seen. I see a lot of him vs Thabeet discussion in this thread, to me Clingan was the equivalent of an elite corner who doesn’t pick off many passes, as by sophomore year he was rarely tested (Illinois showed why). Offensively he was an ELITE rim runner and his rolls to the basket lead to buckets and even more open looks by collapsing defenses.

3.) Adama Sanogo - Recency bias, maybe? But IMO Adama is the second best offensive big of the modern era (behind Okafor). Leading scorer and rebounded for a title team. Averaged 19.6 & 9.8 in the tournament and was named MOP.

Misc Thoughts - Winning a ring matters a lot to me, so the 2009 team failing keeps Hasheem out of any top conversation, when there are guys with comparable stats who won it all.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

Good post. However, the more I think about it, the answer to this question is Sanogo. He was a machine, completely reliable, could score at will, make the three and hit free throws under pressure. He was the man among these 3. We may have loved the other two and they brought a lot to the table, but Sanogo was our "Mailman", he always delivered. Given that he won a title and played the majority of minutes at Center, I think he's the guy in this debate.

Sanogo was just an automatic 18 & 8. His power/ finesse down low was something of a bygone era

 

[businesslawyer]

Clingan was a significantly more effective scorer as a sophomore than the foul line extended jump shooting Thabeet was as a junior, lolz.

So what would you like us to judge DC on other than how good he was while at UConn?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

So you're penalizing Clingan because he shared the position with Sanogo and Samson.

Clingan had much better stats in the minutes he played, he was 2 for 2 in championships, Thabeet was 0 for 3. What are we doing here?

Well in the minutes he played, he has worst stats. Per-40 isn’t your statistics. I’m not penalizing, you’re just putting a whole lot of weight into a stat that assumes a lot of things. Also, Championships are a team accomplishment.

BE POTY, 2x BE DPOY, Consensus All-American. Those are individual accomplishments. If DC played/needed to play 28-32 mins his Soph year, he would certainly have some awards. He didn’t need to/probably also couldn’t, so no point of dishing out the “if’s”.

 

[Mr. French]

1. What happens after they leave college is so irrelevant to the question at hand it amazes me folks still bring it up.

2. Thabeet as a junior could hit foul line extended jumpers. DC as a soph wasn't even allowed to take them. And, someone can prove me wrong, but I think by the time he was a junior Thabeet was a better foul shooter as well.

I stick with what I said earlier -- if you take just the last year at UConn of each of Sanogo, Thabeet and DC, you could make an argument for any of them being "best." But was DC "light years" better his last year than Thabeet was? Absolutely not. That's just not reasonable argument.

Accomplishments and accolades matter, not just “everyone knew” Clingan was the best player on earth even though he wasn’t considered for any POYs.

So what would you like us to judge DC on other than how good he was while at UConn?

Just toilet seat’s personal opinion.

 

[superjohn]

So what would you like us to judge DC on other than how good he was while at UConn?

That's what I'm judging him on.

Sophomore Clingan was a more effective scorer than junior free throw line extended jump shooting Thabeet. They both shot the same from the field and Clingan basically averaged the same amount of points as Thabeet in 9 less minutes per game. Clingan also won the national championship and was dominant in the tournament.

 

[superjohn]

Accomplishments and accolades matter, not just “everyone knew” Clingan was the best player on earth even though he wasn’t considered for any POYs.



Just toilet seat’s personal opinion.

Insults are okay here???

You show your arse every time you do this.

I take Clingan's play and accomplishments every time over Thabeet, Boone, and Armstrong but you do you.

 

[Mr. French]

Insults are okay here???

You show your arse every time you do this.

I take Clingan's play and accomplishments every time over Thabeet, Boone, and Armstrong but you do you.

What insult?

I didn’t say I wouldn’t take Clingan. You never even accurately go after my posts. You read 1 sentence and go off.

 

[Huskybass]

Thabeet won (in a WAY better league) DPOY in the Big East TWICE. He also won the NATIONAL DPOY TWICE. Objectively, Clingan didn’t come close to his accomplishments.

Do I think Clingan is the better player? Yeah probably. But Thabeet’s season was far better than Clingan’s, so your level of incredulity is not warranted. He deserves to be in the conversation every bit as much as Clingan.

My take on Clingan versus Thabeet is that Clingan was a far better overall basketball player while in college. For example, he simply had screen setting and passing abilities that Thabeet will never have. When you factor in Clingan's defensive presence in the NCAA tournament I recall a team (possibly Illinois)going 0 for 17 or something like that when Clingan patrolled the paint. That's an incredibly dominant performance on the biggest stage. He was a very important part of that second championship, and that carries lots of weight.

 

[Mr. French]

My take on Clingan versus Thabeet is that Clingan was a far better overall basketball player while in college. For example, he simply had screen setting and passing abilities that Thabeet will never have. When you factor in Clingan's defensive presence in the NCAA tournament I recall a team (possibly Illinois)going 0 for 17 or something like that when Clingan patrolled the paint. That's an incredibly dominant performance on the biggest stage. He was a very important part of that second championship, and that carries lots of weight.

Cool man. I agree he was better. Read my first response to you. You said he has no business in the convo then cited a bunch of NBA “facts.”

 

[uconngb]

Okafor was both a defensive and offensive force, so it's got to be him. Thabeet was purely defensive. Clingan was 80% a defensive force. Sanogo was more offense.

1. Emeka Okafor
2A. Donovan Clingan
2B. Hasheem Thabeet
4. Cliff Robinson
5A. Adama Sanogo
5B. Corny Thompson (if you consider him a center, which he played before Aleksinas's arrival)
7. Jake Voskuhl

I never saw Toby Kimball play. But based on his stats and NBA career, he's probably up there with Thabeet and Clingan.

Begins and ends w Emeka

 

[Horsebrnhil]

Gee, thanks. I was a regular at both the Holiday Festival and NIT growing up in the 60s and early 70s. Heck, I would be in MSG for the start of the 5th place consolation games where there wouldn’t be 100 people in the Garden. Yes, college basketball was different, but UConn wasn’t playing the Syracuses and St Johns and ‘Novas all thle time during that period. Yes, they played Providence regularly. And the record of eastern independents getting out of the Eastern regional and getting to the Final Four wasn’t great. Yes, occasionally someone would break through, but it was occasionally.

I’m not even sure why I responded to this. If anyone thinks our schedule was equivalent to what those in major conferences were playing before the start of the Big East ….

You're correct on some of your point, wrong on others. First, no we didn't play St.Johns or Nova until the Big East, however in the 60's Syracuse WAS a seasonal foe. As to Providence, same can said. PC wasn't a seasonal foe until the Big East as well. A typical schedule would be Yale, Yankee Conference foes, out of conference teams like Holy Cross, (then a New England power), Boston College and Boston University, Canisius, Manhattan, Rutgers. Remember that the NCAA tournament was 32 teams for years, into the 70's. You're correct re:Eastern basketball. Power house teams from Philadelphia's Big 5, Big 10, ACC, Missouri Valley Conference, Big 8, SEC, and the then Pac-8, we're your regular entries into the big dance. Back then there were very few "At large" entries in it. Yes times were WAY DIFFERENT then than now.

 

[MrPDog]

Andre Drummond. So good he only lasted one year, was drafted 8th in first round, and went on to have a solid NBA career.

He didn't have such a memorable UConn career because he was too good to stay. But if you are asking about the best center to play at UConn, I'd pick him.

 

[gsmooth]

Andre Drummond. So good he only lasted one year, was drafted 8th in first round, and went on to have a solid NBA career.

He didn't have such a memorable UConn career because he was too good to stay. But if you are asking about the best center to play at UConn, I'd pick him.

Later Edit: If talking about an NBA career, sure it's possible, but this thread is really about the career at UConn and Drummond is no where near the top center as far as that is concerned.

 

[Mr. French]

Andre Drummond. So good he only lasted one year, was drafted 8th in first round, and went on to have a solid NBA career.

He didn't have such a memorable UConn career because he was too good to stay. But if you are asking about the best center to play at UConn, I'd pick him.

Just pure talent you may have something. NBA career he may even be close to 1.

But UConn career specifically he’s not even top 5.

 

[KingAG]

It’s probably Mek. But I voted DC because of back to back titles. Different era. Mek played in a post up era. Junior Season DC would’ve been silly.