duffy ranks top 20 calhoun players of all time

[cohenzone]

While playing during the JC era, Tate and Cliff weren't his recruits, so you could make a case for taking them off and clearing the way for Henefeld, who I would argue is top 20 anyway. All in all, a list most can agree on and quibble over placement.

 

[HuskyFan32]

quote="OkaForPrez, post: 336749, member: 997"]Amen. Price is criminally (no pun intended) underrated. He was a great player. That final four team had the chops. Between Price, beet and Adrien. They just didn't have the right chemistry.[/quote]

I'm really glad to see some support on this (only two likes, but Ill take it!) Anyway AJ is one of my favorite Huskies of all time. He sure had his fair share of issues, but he never gets the respect or love that he deserves for the great player that he really was. AJ wasn't a pure PG, but he was great at controlling the tempo; he knew exactly when to push it and when to slow it down, and he was a great passer. Plus he needs to get 20/20 hindsight props for keeping the dysfunctional Dyson, Stanley, Thabeet team in line and guiding them to the Final Four. Talented yes, but completely fell apart when he left. As far as the SG end goes, he could really score, and he was a consistent shooter. Not to mention that he could get into the lane and finish (except against MSU when he got into the lane at will, but couldn't finish. Not his fault tho, he had no help that game outside Thabeet). AJ was almost like a poor man's Ben Gordon; not quite as athletic, or with as good of an offensive game, but mixed with Taliek Brown's PG skills. A very underrated Husky. Love me some AJ Price.

 

[FeedTheDove]

AJ is unquestionably underrated and its nice to see him so highly appreciated. I always felt that Kemba took a lot in watching AJ play and watching him just take over games. He just knew how to win - one of my all time favorite players to watch

 

[huskiesnyc]

^^ I agree. If people were to go back and watch tape of the 2009 team, they would appreciate how much of an impact Thabeet had on both ends of the floor. The easy win @ Louisville (when they were #5 or so in the country) comes to mind immediately. Samardo Samuels got his first shot blocked by Thabeet and didn't even bother to look at the rim the rest of the game.

That Louisville road win was awesome. We had a healthy Dyson and were clearly the best team in the country. It's still amazing they were able to make the final four w/o him.

 

[tzznandrew]

quote="OkaForPrez, post: 336749, member: 997"]Amen. Price is criminally (no pun intended) underrated. He was a great player. That final four team had the chops. Between Price, beet and Adrien. They just didn't have the right chemistry.

I'm really glad to see some support on this (only two likes, but Ill take it!) Anyway AJ is one of my favorite Huskies of all time. He sure had his fair share of issues, but he never gets the respect or love that he deserves for the great player that he really was. AJ wasn't a pure PG, but he was great at controlling the tempo; he knew exactly when to push it and when to slow it down, and he was a great passer. Plus he needs to get 20/20 hindsight props for keeping the dysfunctional Dyson, Stanley, Thabeet team in line and guiding them to the Final Four. Talented yes, but completely fell apart when he left. As far as the SG end goes, he could really score, and he was a consistent shooter. Not to mention that he could get into the lane and finish (except against MSU when he got into the lane at will, but couldn't finish. Not his fault tho, he had no help that game outside Thabeet). AJ was almost like a poor man's Ben Gordon; not quite as athletic, or with as good of an offensive game, but mixed with Taliek Brown's PG skills. A very underrated Husky. Love me some AJ Price.

I'll say two things about this. First, I really agree that he is underrated. Remember, of the five years he was at UConn, and the three he actually played, we only saw the "real" AJ Price one year: his Junior year. Before that he had the AVM and the laptops keeping him out (and then him needing to play himself back into shape in 06-07), and after, in the NCAAs, he tore his ACL (and never got back to form at UConn)

His career is the greatest "What could have been." He should have played on:

2004-05 team that looked like a beast near the end of the year but lost to NC State in the second round--largely due to lack of depth behind Marcus Williams. That would not have been a problem with Price. That team would have been Price-Williams-Anderson-D.Brown-Villanueva-Boone-Gay. That team could have made a Final Four and maybe repeated.

2005-06 team that lost to George Mason--again in large part because of a lack of depth in the guard slot (and MW's issues with conditioning). They struggled to contain penetration, and had Anderson and Brown (players that I love) playing the 2 despite not being great ball-handlers (Brown better than Anderson). With Price, that team wins the title. They were clearly better than Florida, and while they often played down to their opponents, they always showed up for games where they respected the opponent (unfortunately they didn't respect GMU).

But lets say AVM and laptops do happen. Regardless, if he played four years that 2006-07 team would have been subpar (although as defending champs maybe they get Durant? Lawson? But I digress). But that 2007-08 team would not have gotten beat in the first round if he didn't tear his ACL. They would have played UCLA in the Sweet 16, and maybe had a shot.

AJ was a lot of fun, and under appreciated, but there were just so many things outside of his control (and some inside it) that easily cloud our judgement of him. To be clear--I'd take him every day ahead of Marcus Williams. He's there with KEA and Sheffer as guards off the bench behind Kemba (especially as all of them, like Kemba, were quite good in a 2 PG system). To be fair, I have but faint memories of Chris Smith, so I didn't include him. Ricky would be there somewhere as well.

 

[joober jones]

I'd replace Boone with Donny Marshall

 

[aceboon]

You could easily put 4 guys in the #1 spot.

He was getting some heat for Kemba at #1, because obviously despite having the best individual season by far his other two years were more pedestrian. Still, Kemba accomplished more in 2011 than a lot of these guys did in their career, and he put the team on his back like no NCAA player, let alone Husky, that I can remember.

Okafor at #2, and the only other spot I'd consider putting him at is 1. This is another case of a modest NBA career making people forget absolute dominance in college. You also can't discount the PR he gave our university with his academic prowess. Watching the second half against Duke tells you all you need to know. Side note: it's really a damn shame that two mid-major guys caught fire and stole the Naismith in Walker and Okafor's stellar seasons. Both of these guys deserved the trophy, and it's eerily similar how they got robbed by small school guys but then rallied their teams to titles.

I can agree with Ray/Rip at 3/4; but after the top 8 or so it gets hazy. Putting AJ Price over Rudy Gay is a joke. Putting AJ over Hasheem is equally bad. However, the cloudiness is going to come with the territory after the first couple guys. I think overall this was a great list.

I'm interested in hearing how AJ over Rudy and Hasheem is a joke.

 

[blackbird]

I was proud of him for putting AJ ahead of Rudy and Hasheem. Hasheem was getting the credit on AJ's team. And although Rudy is obviously a better pro, AJ easily had the better Uconn career.

I think he is a pure PG, honestly. As his instincts are naturally to run a team. I also think he helped Kemba in a lot of ways that people don't realize. (In fact, I remember reading that throughout our last championship run, Kemba was still calling AJ for advice on how to be a leader and what to do during games.)

Price had one of the highest bball IQ's of anyone who has played here. He knew how to win. He knew how to control a game and control a team. He was an excellent passer, an underrated defender, he could score when needed too, and ended up one of the best leaders we've seen.

He's also one of four Huskies to be a regional MVP. And as others have said, that team (Stanley, Kemba, Dyson, Gavin..) blew up without him.

So good for Duffy for giving credit where it's deserved. AJ's usually underappreciated for two reasons, IMO. One being the laptops. If he had been the kid who almost died, came back to being an all American, than tore his ACL, then led his team to a FF - without the laptop situation. Price would have left Connecticut as one of the most beloved huskies of all time. But the laptop situation made Price a little harder to appreciate for a lot of people.

And two, perhaps bigger reason, he wasn't flashy and he wasn't extremely athletic. Price is a blue collar -gets the job done - kind of player. There's not much flash for the sake of flash in his game. Despite the fact that it's something that I personally liked him for, I think it makes people remember him less and underrate him.

edit: Kemba is an easy #1 for me. I don't think I've seen another player in Men's college basketball do what he did. And he was a key contributor on another FF team. He had one rough year, but the other two seasons more than make up for it.

 

[Silk City]

I was proud of him for putting AJ ahead of Rudy and Hasheem. Hasheem was getting the credit on AJ's team. And although Rudy is obviously a better pro, AJ easily had the better Uconn career.

I think he is a pure PG, honestly. As his instincts are naturally to run a team. I also think he helped Kemba in a lot of ways that people don't realize. (In fact, I remember reading that throughout our last championship run, Kemba was still calling AJ for advice on how to be a leader and what to do during games.)

Price had one of the highest bball IQ's of anyone who has played here. He knew how to win. He knew how to control a game and control a team. He was an excellent passer, an underrated defender, he could score when needed too, and ended up one of the best leaders we've seen.

He's also one of four Huskies to be a regional MVP. And as others have said, that team (Stanley, Kemba, Dyson, Gavin..) blew up without him.

So good for Duffy for giving credit where it's deserved. AJ's usually underappreciated for two reasons, IMO. One being the laptops. If he had been the kid who almost died, came back to being an all American, than tore his ACL, then led his team to a FF - without the laptop situation. Price would have left Connecticut as one of the most beloved huskies of all time. But the laptop situation made Price a little harder to appreciate for a lot of people.

And two, perhaps bigger reason, he wasn't flashy and he wasn't extremely athletic. Price is a blue collar -gets the job done - kind of player. There's not much flash for the sake of flash in his game. Despite the fact that it's something that I personally liked him for, I think it makes people remember him less and underrate him.

edit: Kemba is an easy #1 for me. I don't think I've seen another player in Men's college basketball do what he did. And he was a key contributor on another FF team. He had one rough year, but the other two seasons more than make up for it.

Price was a very solid blue-collar player, and gave us a ton while he was here. But he was a more replaceable player than Hasheem. And don't misconstrue that as me saying AJ was replaceable. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that Thabeet's presence inside (especially his final year) is something that gave us a distinct advantage in reaching that FF that no other team really had, and isn't underscored enough.

Look at how our team collapsed on D in 2009-2010. Of course we missed AJ, but Kemba began to emerge in his place and put up the exact same numbers despite being a soph (other than a lower 3pt%). Yet guys just couldn't recover from losing our safety net in the paint.

Yeah, a lot of it was just physical gifts. Yeah, AJ got more out of his ability and certainly belongs on this list. But I'm not going to penalize Thabeet for being taller than everyone and making pretty damn good use of it. It's too bad he's remembered for a few goofy things (the Blair backflip, #2 Draft pick, etc) rather than how much he helped us in 2009.

 

[blackbird]

We get farther in the tournament without Hasheem than without AJ, IMO.Not a knock against Thabeet, because obviously I have a high opinion of AJ.

Thabeet was great for us, but it was AJ's team. And AJ was the best player on the team. Thabeet offered Uconn something that no other team had, but AJ offered the team what that 2009 team needed.

Kemba may have been similar statistically to AJ the following year, but he wasn't close (yet. He was just a sophomore at that time, I'm not in anyway blaming him) in terms of leadership and the ability to control the game and control the players. We didn't have defensive lapses because of Thabeet. Don't get me wrong, he was a huge gift defensively, but Gavin and AO, and Stanley should have been a pretty decent defensive front court. The breakdowns usually occurred because Gavin would over help because Stanley or AO (or sometimes Kemba or Dyson) lost their guy, because no one was telling Stanley where he needed to be. (Similar consequences on offense.)

That team was at a level of dysfunction that I haven't seen on a Uconn team (Even last years..which is saying something.) Because there was no leader, and there was no one who had control of the team. The leadership aspect of Price's game (and the ability to control a game) was always his best feature. And was somehow underrated or under appreciated. But then you have Kemba Walker who credits AJ for teaching him how to be a leader, and Kemba was the best leader Uconn has ever had.

 

[aceboon]

Price was a very solid blue-collar player, and gave us a ton while he was here. But he was a more replaceable player than Hasheem. And don't misconstrue that as me saying AJ was replaceable. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that Thabeet's presence inside (especially his final year) is something that gave us a distinct advantage in reaching that FF that no other team really had, and isn't underscored enough.

Look at how our team collapsed on D in 2009-2010. Of course we missed AJ, but Kemba began to emerge in his place and put up the exact same numbers despite being a soph (other than a lower 3pt%). Yet guys just couldn't recover from losing our safety net in the paint.

Yeah, a lot of it was just physical gifts. Yeah, AJ got more out of his ability and certainly belongs on this list. But I'm not going to penalize Thabeet for being taller than everyone and making pretty damn good use of it. It's too bad he's remembered for a few goofy things (the Blair backflip, #2 Draft pick, etc) rather than how much he helped us in 2009.

Ok, I disagree, now how is AJ above Rudy a joke? What did Rudy accomplish in his 2 years that was beyond what AJ did in his 3(the first should be thrown out since AJ had no legs coming back from the layoff)?

 

[CTBasketball]

People sometimes forget, but Hasheem Thabeet was only "good" for one season. He was a below-average center his freshman year and average his sophomore year. AJ Price was the anchor to that team for 3 seasons. Without AJ Price we probably would have won single-digit games in 06-07, not made the tournament in 07-08, and not gone to the Final Four in 08-09. Plus Price was one of the best leaders UConn had since Okafor. Hasheem didn't really lead or anything to the magnitude of Price.

As for Price being better than Gay, I agree with that also. If Rudy stayed for his junior season then he would have averaged 30ppg easy, thus making him better than Price. But Price was needed by his team rather than Gay was. Price also put up good numbers while dealing with so much.

 

[aceboon]

People sometimes forget, but Hasheem Thabeet was only "good" for one season. He was a below-average center his freshman year and average his sophomore year. AJ Price was the anchor to that team for 3 seasons. Without AJ Price we probably would have won single-digit games in 06-07, not made the tournament in 07-08, and not gone to the Final Four in 08-09. Plus Price was one of the best leaders UConn had since Okafor. Hasheem didn't really lead or anything to the magnitude of Price.

As for Price being better than Gay, I agree with that also. If Rudy stayed for his junior season then he would have averaged 30ppg easy, thus making him better than Price. But Price was needed by his team rather than Gay was. Price also put up good numbers while dealing with so much.

lol, this is absurd.