Comparing this year’s team to ‘23 and ‘24 teams

[imno1]

I believe the 24 team was one of the best CBB teams I’ve ever seen but it’s amazing how close on every stat this current squad is to that historic team so far.

 

[Fan1978]

The 2024 team is the best team since at least the 1996 Kentucky team. This year's version is not that team, but it may be better than the 2023 team.

The defense was better in 23 and 24. No cling kong anchor makes all the difference

 

[uconnfan68]

'24 UConn is off limits, it's the best college basketball team of the 64 team era.

'23 UConn had 7 losses before the NCAA tournament beating three ranked teams. '26 UConn has 1 loss without 2 starters to the #1 team in the country in a close winnable game and has 4 wins over ranked opponents. UConn was a 4 seed in '23, I expect UConn to be a 1 seed in '26.

UConn '26 looks to be the better regular season team over '23 unless something goes drastically wrong. It remains to be seen what they'll do in the NCAA tournament.

When we win in ‘26, I’ll look back and see where we were better than ‘23. Not until.

 

[RuffRuff]

When we win in ‘26, I’ll look back and see where we were better than ‘23. Not until.

There are some really good teams out there this year - there really wasn't in 23. Bama was a really meh number 1 overall seed, losing to SDSU. I'd say, including UConn, there are 7-9 teams in this tourney better than that Bama team. UConn is likely going to have to beat 2-3 of them to get there.

 

[OceanDoggie]

The only way this year's team can challenge the '24 team is if Mullins becomes '99 Rip Hamilton in all phases of the game.

 

[superjohn]

Hear yeah, I continue to wonder if this team has that "gear" though. There is some season left to play out, but this team hasn't shown that kill shot 5th gear. They grind, they let up at times.

In 23, we saw that early in the preseason before they hit their January lull. When they were clicking, they were flying up and down the court, throwing up kill shot 3's.

The field was much weaker in 2023, but I could not see this year's team running through a tourney like that team did. They might grind through it. There is no way they could just overwhelm with pace and D like that team did. Let's not forget that team had two PLUS defenders in AJX & Clingan. Our current team has none. Clingan's 13 minutes created a major advantage. Reibe has been a nice surprise, but his metrics aren't great and he's not an enforcer like Cling was. i don't see it.

I think there is some misremembering going on with the '23 team being a juggernaut despite a blip in the Big East because they so thoroughly dominated the NCAA tournament.

They had the ranked win against Bama in the nonconference, it was a close game until late and UConn blew their doors off at the end but they didn't play anyone else in the nonconference and they lost 5 out of 7 ranked games in the Big East conference regular season/Big East tournament to go along with two bad losses getting blown out by Providence and losing to an awful St. John's team at home.

It all clicked in the tournament so we like to just remember that tournament dominance and that they went perfect out of conference but the reality is they didn't exactly play a murderers row out of conference and Hurley said himself he felt like he was on the hot seat before that NCAA tournament.

 

[TheChamps990411]

2024 team is one of the best cbb teams of all time. Not a knock on this squad to not even be in the same stratosphere as them.

I don't think this team is close to the 2023 team either. Aside from a crummy Jan, that squad blew everyone out of the water in the ooc slate.

Yeah people need to pump the breaks on comparing this team to those two teams especially 24` which is literally in the conversation for best team of the last 40 years. `23 if not for that horrendous january would also be in the conversation as when that team got it together in February there wasnt a team that was within 20 points of that team.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I think there is some misremembering going on with the '23 team being a juggernaut despite a blip in the Big East because they so thoroughly dominated the NCAA tournament.

They had the ranked win against Bama in the nonconference, it was a close game until late and UConn blew their doors off at the end but they didn't play anyone else in the nonconference and they lost 5 out of 7 ranked games in the Big East conference regular season/Big East tournament to go along with two bad losses getting blown out by Providence and losing to an awful St. John's team at home.

It all clicked in the tournament so we like to just remember that tournament dominance and that they went perfect out of conference but the reality is they didn't exactly play a murderers row out of conference and Hurley said himself he felt like he was on the hot seat before that NCAA tournament.

Werent they up by like 25 against Bama at one point? I dont remember that game being close at all.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think there is some misremembering going on with the '23 team being a juggernaut despite a blip in the Big East because they so thoroughly dominated the NCAA tournament.

They had the ranked win against Bama in the nonconference, it was a close game until late and UConn blew their doors off at the end but they didn't play anyone else in the nonconference and they lost 5 out of 7 ranked games in the Big East conference regular season/Big East tournament to go along with two bad losses getting blown out by Providence and losing to an awful St. John's team at home.

It all clicked in the tournament so we like to just remember that tournament dominance and that they went perfect out of conference but the reality is they didn't exactly play a murderers row out of conference and Hurley said himself he felt like he was on the hot seat before that NCAA tournament.

They rolled a UF team at their place, a 6 seed Iowa St team, Oregon. Not murderers row, but it was the way they were beating them. It was kamikazi style. Any way you cut it, if you beat the number one overall seed by a double digits, you're pretty good. They were up by 19 with about 4 minutes to go.

 

[DogMania]

Reed is arguably having a better season than Sanogo and I think he’s still working himself back after the missed time. Here’s the stats for Sanogo versus Reed:

17.7 pts / 7.7 rebs / 1.3 asts / .7 stls / .8 blks
60% FG and 76% FT
versus
14.5 pts / 7.7 rebs / 2 asts / 1.1 stls / 2 blks
63% FG and 64% FT

This is certainly a better regular season team than 23 and I expect that to continue through the BET. But Let’s be honest we got a nice draw during the 23 tourney the highest ranked team we played was 3 seed Gonzaga. I would expect this team to win it all as well if they can dodge Michigan Zona ISU Purdue etc

Funny that you mentioned about the competition UConn faced in that 2023 tourney. I happened to wear my 2023 National Championship shirt recently that lists the teams we beat and the respective scores. I had forgotten that they didn't face any high seeds throughout that tournament. Though they did put it all together and dominate that tournament as they did the following year.

As many have pointed out it's really hard to make a comparison this early in the season. The 2023-24 team was really good right from the jump and had a dominant starting five once everyone was healthy. In addition to having a dominating defensive interior player in Clingan and a lockdown perimeter player in Castle, they had a very balanced offensive attack led by Newton who put together an amazing senior year and Cam Spencer, who brought a high basketball IQ & shot-making and unmatched intensity. Their bench was good, not great, with the change of pace Johnson at the 5, the pesty Diarra and their young freshman class.

As for the 2022-23 team, they we're very inconsistent until they put it all together heading into the postseason. Sanogo and Clingan formed a formidable duo in the post on both ends of the floor. Hawkins and Newton were a dangerous duo in the back court, but it was the change in how they were using Jackson as a point forward and a defensive savant that turned their season around. Also their bench included Joey Cal, Alleyne and Diarra, where one or two of them seemed to give the team a lift when called upon in any given game heading into that post season. After a hot start to the season they proceeded to lose 6 out of 9 games between 12/31 and 1/31, then began to put it all together winning 14 of their last 16 games, including the one that counted most.

As for the 2025-26 team, they've gone 15-1 that included a formidable non-conference schedule with a roster that has yet to be at full strength. They were down 2 starters in their sole loss to the now #1 team in the nation where they had the lead with 1:47 left in the game. This team has the chance to be the best and deepest offensive team of the three if they can somehow build some consistency throughout the lineup. We're just starting to see what Demary can bring to the table, and we're starting to witness how prolific a scorer Mullins can be. They should be raining threes every single game at a prolific clip. They have an abundance of players players that have the ability to do that, but just can't seem to do so consistently. They should be a much better defensive team than what they're showing. If they can somehow learn to defend without fouling at an alarming rate, which they seem to be improving slightly the last few games, who knows how good this team will be by the end of the season. Based on what I've seen from the other teams in the top 10 or so, I'm not sure if any of them have rosters that look dominating. Some of them have one or more outstanding players that could dominate and give their team a run at the championship. I think UConn has the chance to be right there with a few of those teams. They have the talent and depth, but only time will tell if this team can consistently bring it six games in a row games, ending their campaign with scissors in their hands.

Let's revisit this thread in March once the last team is standing.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Doesn't touch 2024.

Remember at this point in `24 we all thought the same about that team in comparison to `23. Btw anyone saying otherwise is lying unless they can present a receipt.

 

[RuffRuff]

Remember at this point in `24 we all thought the same about that team in comparison to `23. Btw anyone saying otherwise is lying unless they can present a receipt.

No way - I know I was high on that team based on roster alone. We may have not seen them as good as they were in March, but I certainly thought they were pretty studly. They had two losses at this point, one at Kansas.

 

[SportsFan88]

The ‘23-24 team is a top 3 all time team in the modern era of college basketball, this year’s team is great, I think we are the best team in the country, but it’s not the level of 23-24

 

[Jaydumo20]

When we win in ‘26, I’ll look back and see where we were better than ‘23. Not until.

the only logical thing to do is compare teams in retrospect. . We scrub past teams clean sometimes. There were some really tough times with that 23 team. Hurley thought he was gonna get fired. And nobody expected that tourney run, but I've only seen a handful of people say 26' may be better.
Youre right. After the tourney we'll know.

 

[willie99]

Just like both 23 and 24, it's January and we're in the conversation

That's the best you can hope for

Everything else will take care of itself come March

Enjoy the ride people

 

[NJHusky]

Let's revisit this thread in March once the last team is standing.

I’m hoping we r still standing in April

 

[Kembafan]

I still see defense as a potential weakness for this team. Silas and tarris are good defenders. Everyone else is suspect. For that reason, I think 2023 has a slight edge. That was a great defensive team

 

[BFieldHusky]

I think there is some misremembering going on with the '23 team being a juggernaut despite a blip in the Big East because they so thoroughly dominated the NCAA tournament.

They had the ranked win against Bama in the nonconference, it was a close game until late and UConn blew their doors off at the end but they didn't play anyone else in the nonconference and they lost 5 out of 7 ranked games in the Big East conference regular season/Big East tournament to go along with two bad losses getting blown out by Providence and losing to an awful St. John's team at home.

It all clicked in the tournament so we like to just remember that tournament dominance and that they went perfect out of conference but the reality is they didn't exactly play a murderers row out of conference and Hurley said himself he felt like he was on the hot seat before that NCAA tournament.

Its funny looking back. Everyone remembers Jackson as this amazing player. If we could go back in time to look at posts when we were losing about how ineffective he was. And he wasn't being properly used with teams essentially not guarding him. Getting him to the "dunkers" spot helped get us out of that funk.

I do remember feeling strangely confident the day after the Marquette loss in the Big East Tournament semis. To shoot 28 percent from 3, and lose a nail bitter to a Top 2 seed made me feel we could play with anyone.

 

[superjohn]

They rolled a UF team at their place, a 6 seed Iowa St team, Oregon. Not murderers row, but it was the way they were beating them. It was kamikazi style. Any way you cut it, if you beat the number one overall seed by a double digits, you're pretty good. They were up by 19 with about 4 minutes to go.

Florida was 16-17, Iowa State was 19-14 and got destroyed by Pitt first round of the tournament, Oregon wasn't a tournament team. The Bama win was a great one but it's all we had that mattered out of conference and we got beaten up in conference. If this team had 7 losses heading into the NCAA's you would be losing your sh^^ here.

 

[superjohn]

Werent they up by like 25 against Bama at one point? I dont remember that game being close at all.

Uconn was up big early in the first half, then it was tied with less than 9 minutes left in the game, then UConn blew it open and won by 15.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Uconn was up big early in the first half, then it was tied with less than 9 minutes left in the game, then UConn blew it open and won by 15.

Yeah. I remember vaguely at no point thinking we`d lose that game. We were really good early on but for sure after that January slump it was a whole different animal.

 

[jleves]

Just like both 23 and 24, it's January and we're in the conversation

That's the best you can hope for

Everything else will take care of itself come April

Enjoy the ride people

FIFY

 

[Punkbo]

At this point in the season, this team is clearly better than the ‘23 team. That team was a mess in January. The losses to St. John’s and Seton Hall were maddening. This team has all the pieces to be very good. My one hope with this team is Reed becomes the monster he should be. His On/Off switch needs to be turned to On more consistently.

 

[50cPitchers]

I'd lay -3 with this team vs the '23 team

 

[sdglast]

The 24 did actually fall behind PC in Providence by that same amount!

The 24 team also got blown out by Seton Hall in December losing by 15 (I still can't figure that one out), and came back later in the year and beat Seton Hall by 30. They were just so good. I think this team can develop along the lines of the 23 team. They are probably a bit further along than the 23 team who really struggled in January, especially when Creighton did the whole let AJ shoot 3s gameplan. I think this team is certainly as good an offensive team because of Jackson's struggles at times in the half court, as Mullins, AK, Silas, and Ball can all knock down 3s. They aren't quite as consistent down low, but this team is starting to come together. They are a work in progress, but I can see them putting a big tournament run together, as they can light it up and typically they play really good defense. They have to develop more of a killer instinct, rebound the basketball more consistently, and put teams away when they have the chance. That can certainly come in later January/early February, when Hurley's teams typically peak, and I expect nothing less with this team.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I don’t know about this comparison stuff but this teams record is better than both of those teams as of Jan 8 and their lone loss is by 4 to the current #1 team in the country down 40% of their starting lineup.

So while I personally think 24 is the best UConn team of all time I’m saying that with the benefit of having seen them in February, March and April. Anyone saying this team doesn’t have “it” or some such just sounds goofy to me.

 

[Teddie1056]

It’s been discussed a lot, but thought it would be a good time to revisit the conversation now that we are about halfway through the regular season.

We are sitting at 15-1, 5-0 in the BE with several impressive OOC wins and fresh off a huge comeback win at PC in which we showed Championship Pedigree and resiliency. This team can win in many ways and ultimately wears teams down with our balance and depth.

The ‘23 and ‘24 teams through 16 games were both 14-2. To me, this team looks like it can be better than the ‘23 team but not quite as dominant as the ‘24 team- so I would put them as Hurley’s second best team so far.

We obviously won’t have a definitive answer until the season is over, but it’s an interesting debate. Up to this point in the season- where does this team fit compared to the 23 and 24 teams?

I think that the 2023 team needed to find its mojo. This team is better that early/mid season 2022/23. Hot take, but late season 2022/23 was almost as good as 2023/24. Every single player in that starting lineup is going to play at least a little in the NBA, and of course you had Clingan on the bench. Aside from a slide in the middle of their schedule, their only loss was to a very good Marquette team by 2.

I mean, ask yourself, who would you take

1: Newton (24) > Newton (23) > Ball (26)
2: Castle (24) > Hawkins (23) > Demary (26)
3: Jackson (23) > Spencer (24) > Mullins (26)
4: Karaban (26) > Karaban (23) > Karaban (24)
5: Clingan (24) > Sanogo (23) > Reed (26)
6th Man: Diarra (25) > Smith (26) > Joey California (23)
Backup Center: Clingan (23) > Reibe (26) > Samson (24)

I am not saying by the end of the year that people don't move up that list, but it's not likely they surpass the 23 team head to head, even if they win out.

 

[Teddie1056]

I don’t know about this comparison stuff but this teams record is better than both of those teams as of Jan 8 and their lone loss is by 4 to the current #1 team in the country down 40% of their starting lineup.

So while I personally think 24 is the best UConn team of all time I’m saying that with the benefit of having seen them in February, March and April. Anyone saying this team doesn’t have “it” or some such just sounds goofy to me.

It's less of a mark against 26, and more that 24 was an all time great team, and 23 I think is insanely underrated.

 

[superjohn]

I think that the 2023 team needed to find its mojo. This team is better that early/mid season 2022/23. Hot take, but late season 2022/23 was almost as good as 2023/24. Every single player in that starting lineup is going to play at least a little in the NBA, and of course you had Clingan on the bench. Aside from a slide in the middle of their schedule, their only loss was to a very good Marquette team by 2.

I mean, ask yourself, who would you take

1: Newton (24) > Newton (23) > Ball (26)
2: Castle (24) > Hawkins (23) > Demary (26)
3: Jackson (23) > Spencer (24) > Mullins (26)
4: Karaban (26) > Karaban (23) > Karaban (24)
5: Clingan (24) > Sanogo (23) > Reed (26)
6th Man: Diarra (25) > Smith (26) > Joey California (23)
Backup Center: Clingan (23) > Reibe (26) > Samson (24)

I am not saying by the end of the year that people don't move up that list, but it's not likely they surpass the 23 team head to head, even if they win out.

If you're looking for next level impact '23 isn't the team for you. Only Clingan is an impactful NBA player from that team and he played just 13 minutes per game. Hawkins and Jackson are NBA players but they look like they're on their way out of the league. Sanogo got a tiny sip of coffee (87 minutes to be exact) in the NBA and now plays in Italy. '24 blows them away in terms of NBA impact players with Castle, Clingan, and Cam with likely the other two starters becoming NBA players. '26 should blow them away as well.

As for your player comparisons you have some of the wrong positions competing against each other. Silas '26 is better than Tristen '23, they are both point guards. It doesn't pertain to '23 vs '26 but Cam was way better than Jackson and Hawkins. Mullins is also better than Jackson and I think he will be better than '23 Hawkins and he will blow away Hawkins in the NBA.

Saying it's not likely '26 surpasses '23 if they win out is quite the take.

 

[Leebo]

The defense was better in 23 and 24. No cling kong anchor makes all the difference

All three of those seasons the defense was top 10 (and on barttorvik this year's defense is ranked #2, higher than it was in 23 or 24).

There may be defensive metrics that are better or worse, but on the whole this year's defense has been perfectly in line with those seasons from an efficiency perspective.