Build Your Championship Starting 5

[PNolanFan]

I go Napier/Hawkins/Sanogo at 4 each and then karaban and smith. I think this team is one of the best shooting teams in history and is also a great rebounding team. Maybe not the best with on ball defense but can outscore and out rebound everyone

 

[Wise2]

$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$2 - Alex Karaban
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)

2 point guards, two shooting wings and a center who can score and rebound

 

[FlexOnEm]

Kemba, Ricky, Rashad, Boone, Voskuhl

 

[Mr. French]

Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!

You sweet bastard!

These are the best and worst, most annoying and enjoyable things I waste my time on!

I'll be back in 2 hours with a long ramble.

 

[B1GEast]

You could probably win a title with less than $15.

Should add a dollar value for 3 coaches.

1st choice

$5 - Kemba Walker
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$2 - Alex Oriakhi

2nd choice

$1 - Taliek Brown
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

3rd choice

$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Ricky Moore
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

 

[B1GEast]

Add 3 bench players from $1 to $3 dollars

 

[JonnyRI]

$5 Okafor
$4 Bazz
$2 Karaban, Boat, Giff

Crazy value at $2.

2 point guards, 4 deadly shooters, 2 guys who can get their own shot, killer FT shooting, and the ultimate rim defender. And 2 guys who can board like a PF.

Can’t think you can do better than this. You can’t possibly double anyone ever.

 

[fatlucy]

I didn’t leave out anyone! Just the starting 5’s for each championship game

Ok that makes sense.

 

[EricCantona]

$5 - Kemba
$1 - Ricky Moore
$1 - Roscoe
$2 - Karaban
$5 - Okafor

Give me the best PG and C in the history of the program. You are NOT going to score on us. We're going to grind you down and beat you 53-41 every game. Also, Karaban is a free square at $2 in the modern game. He spaces the floor for my center and fits into any offense.

Edit: Just realized that's only 14 and I can't count. If I were to change it I'd put Giffey in for Roscoe for some shooting. But I kind of like the original gritty lineup anyway.

 

[storrsroars]

Had to splurge on Kemba as he can do it all. Really wanted both Rip and AJax as forwards, but as that wasn't possible, looked for the best transition guys who could both rebound and shoot 3s. So Niels and Karaban. Figured Lamb did just fine with Kemba, so he's my other guard. Leaving $3 for Jake, for his offensive rebounding.

 

[jleves]

Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!

Having not read any comments yet, Khalid and Lamb are easy picks for $3. Adding Rip for $5 over the other choices is a no brainer. Leaving $4. So with that in mind, I would take Jake and Tyler Olander to complete the squad. Maybe a little weak on the defensive side, but Jake makes up for some of that.

 

[InKembaITrust]

4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$1 - Ricky Moore
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

I actually thought long and hard about this. This team has incredible balance, a game-changing PG that can create his own shot, solid defenders at both guard positions who can pressure their matchups with Mek protecting the rim, can go 4 out and isolate Mek down low, and elite 3-point shooting in Bazz/Rashad/Karaban.

This team is SOLID.

 

[Malamute]

I have the Team:
3 from 1999 the original championship team that whooped the supposed best team ever, and 2 from 2023 that had the most dominant run.

El-Amin - True leader who exudes confidence. 3
RIP - Best scorer/ shooter. 5
Ricky - Lock down. Bargain at 1
Alex - What’s left to say about this kid. 2
Adama - Automatic on O and Tough on D. 4

 

[huskyfever34]

$3 KEA
$2 Boatwright
$3 Rashad
$2 Karaban
$5 Okafor
Ball handling, shooting and swagger in the backcourt plus Boat's awesome on-ball D. Rashad and Karaban being perfect 3 and D wing shooters. Okafor dominating the paint on both ends. Fun exercise!

 

[caw]

Now that we have 5 championships, we have the perfect number of championship starters for this exercise. Using an allotted $15, buy your ideal starting 5 with each UConn National Championship starter being valued from $1-$5 listed below. You can only choose one player from each position. Each player is valued as they were during their championship season (ie. 2011 Jeremy Lamb instead of 2012)

PG:
$5 - Kemba Walker
$4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$3 - Khalid El-Amin
$2 - Tristen Newton
$1 - Taliek Brown

SG:
$5 - Ben Gordon
$4 - Jordan Hawkins
$3 - Jeremy Lamb
$2 - Ryan Boatright
$1 - Ricky Moore

SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
$4 - Andre Jackson
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Niels Giffey (2014)
$1 - Roscoe Smith

PF:
$5 - Kevin Freeman
$4 - DeAndre Daniels
$3 - Josh Boone
$2 - Alex Karaban
$1 - Tyler Olander (2011)

C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
$4 - Adama Sanogo
$3 - Jake Voskuhl
$2 - Alex Oriakhi
$1 - Phil Nolan

Please provide insight into your selections! Some of the decisions that went into making this list were difficult so feel free to let me know if you disagree with anyone’s value. But if anything that just means you get a steal!

PG: Taliek - $1
SG: Ricky - $1
SF: Andre - $4
PF: Daniels - $4
C: Okafor - $5

This might be the most unwatchable offensive team possible at $15 but have fun scoring. Boone might be a better defender but I wanted to reach $15.

PG: Taliek - $1
SG: Hawk - $4
SF: Rip - $5
PF: Karaban - $2
C: Jake - $3

Here I put our two best off ball runners with our best screener in Jake a floor spacer in Karaban and a solid defender, leader and passer at the one.

 

[David 76]

I'll take
Kemba(5) and Enema (5)
Boat(2) Roscoe (1) and Karaban (2)

 

[HuskyFich]

I'll take
Kemba(5) and Enema (5)
Boat(2) Roscoe (1) and Karaban (2)

That should be a waterfall attack that no team would be able to handle

 

[David 76]

That should be a waterfall attack that no team would be able to handle

That was supposed to be Okafor
OMG!

 

[Mr. French]

4 - Shabazz Napier (2014)
$1 - Ricky Moore
$3 - Rashad Anderson
$2 - Alex Karaban
$5 - Emeka Okafor

I actually thought long and hard about this. This team has incredible balance, a game-changing PG that can create his own shot, solid defenders at both guard positions who can pressure their matchups with Mek protecting the rim, can go 4 out and isolate Mek down low, and elite 3-point shooting in Bazz/Rashad/Karaban.

This team is SOLID.

I really wanted some more size at the guard spot, and there isn't much breaking down of defenders with this lineup...but it was the first one I came up with as well.

Otherwise, you can also go Okafor, Karaban, Roscoe and then have 2 scoring guards like Kemba and Boat or Bazz and Lamb.

Cripes I hate these things.

 

[rip81]

$1 - Taliek Brown

$4 - Jordan Hawkins

$5 - Rip Hamilton

$2 - Alex Karaban

$3 - Jake Voskuhl

Close

PG:
$1 - Taliek Brown - don’t need scoring here. Defense and passing (6.5 assists per game in 2004 and 5.4 pg for his career)

SG:
$2 - Ryan Boatright
Boat was incredibly consistent for 4 years.
38% 3 pt fg %


SF:
$5 - Rip Hamilton
Consistent scoring and the epitome of clutch.
20 ppg for career. 21.5 in 1999


PF:
$2 - Alex Karaban
I’ll take Alex’s passing and shooting and save a few bucks here.


C:
$5 - Emeka Okafor
17.6 ppg in 2004
11.6 rbg in 2004
4.1 blocks per game in 2004!
Emeka was such a force

 

[Spaceman213J]

Ricky Moore is a steal at a $1. He could bring ball up against pressure and his defense is legendary... "The Dragon Slayer"!
I'd take Newton at $2. He was stuffing the stat sheet again in the championship game and his TO's could be lowered playing with Ricky.
I'd take RIP at $5. He can score at every level.
Karaban is my 4 for $2. Great complimentary player.
Which allows me to get Okafor as well. He was dominant at both ends. I like Sanogo a lot, but Okafor is more athletic and he had the ability to protect the room and his defense often led to fast breaks. I hope he teaches DC how to block shots and keep them in play.

 

[auror]

PG: $1 - Taliek Brown
SG: $2 - Ryan Boatright
SF: $5 - Rip Hamilton
PF: $2 - Alex Karaban
C: $5 - Emeka Okafor

Yup this is where I landed. Think Taliek is way better than the other 1s outside maybe Ricky, so started there to afford multiple 5s. Think Karaban is not far off from any of the PFs and a lot better than the 1, so he was an easy inclusion, too.

So then the options were

Rip, Emeka, Boatright
Rip, Ben, and Oriakhi
Ben, Emeka, Giffey

Think Rip and Emeka are better than Ben and also Boatright is clearly better than Giffey and on the same level (maybe slightly worse) than Oriakhi. So think Rip, Emeka, Boatright is the combo of choice.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Give me Bazz, Boatright, Giffey, Karaban, and Emeka.

No defensive weaknesses, endless shooting, and great decision making all around. Let’s run.

Music to my ears.

 

[temery]

I'm using foreign exchange rate to build a team with eight players. Everyone gets some rest, and will run any of your teams into the ground.

$5 Emeka Okafor

$3 - Jake Voskuhl

$.0002 - Adama Sanogo ($5 in Mali currency)
$.5 USD Amida Brimah ($5 in Ghana currency)
$.33 USD Kentan Facey ($5 in Jamaican currency)
$.002 USD Hasheem Thabeet ($5 in Tanzania currency)
$3 USD Denham Brown ($5 Canadian)
$3 USD Justin Brown ($5 Australian)

Actually, for $5 USD I could pack the stands with people from Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania, and have enough left for free beer night.

 

[storrsroars]

I'm using foreign exchange rate to build a team with eight players. Everyone gets some rest, and will run any of your teams into the ground.

$5 Emeka Okafor

$3 - Jake Voskuhl

$.0002 - Adama Sanogo ($5 in Mali currency)
$.5 USD Amida Brimah ($5 in Ghana currency)
$.33 USD Kentan Facey ($5 in Jamaican currency)
$.002 USD Hasheem Thabeet ($5 in Tanzania currency)
$3 USD Denham Brown ($5 Canadian)
$3 USD Justin Brown ($5 Australian)

Actually, for $5 USD I could pack the stands with people from Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania, and have enough left for free beer night.

For $0.0235 you could've added Antric Klaiber. For $0.011, you could've added Charles Okwandu. Even better, for $0.085 you could have Souleymane Wane.

Btw, Denham Brown would cost you $3.70 and Justin Brown $3.35. So you've actually spent $16.05.