ESPN Ranks all 75 NCAA National Championship teams

[Huskies0514]

Where do you think the 2014 team will be ranked?

 

[gtcam]

Are you serious? Ricky Moore was a GREAT on ball defender and he would have shut down Taliek and would have probably cut Ben's production in half. Ricky Moore as a senior was the best defender I ever saw wear a UConn uniform by a large margin. He was tough as nails and had a killer focus. It could be argued that he was MVP in the title game, as great as Rip was overall. He made a defensive stop on a really good offensive player all by himself to win the game for us. He played it absolutely perfectly and Langdon ended up traveling. Who could make a play like that on any of our teams since then? No one.

While '04 had the better overall talent, mainly in the person of Emeka, I could easily see '99 winning based on how mentally tough they were, as well as how well they played as a team. Jake would have played much better defense against Emeka than any of the Dookies.

you mean boatright isn't as good as ricky???? maybe ko should bring rm to help boat

 

[gtcam]

The elite 8 game against Alabama sticks out in my mind during that run. Mr Okafor invited more than half the Crimson Tide to his personal block party.

and rashad was lights out

 

[businesslawyer]

No.

Ricky Moore was a good on the ball defender but I can't see him keeping Taliek in front of him and Ben would give him fits.

No. Absolutely not. Ricky Moore could shut down any guard in the country. He was far, far better defensively than either Ben or Taliek offensively.

 

[7774]

I love Ricky Moore also and I know what he did but we cant sit here and act like Taliek had regular , get to the basket, foot speed. He was a blur at times.It's all debatable . The 2004 edge might be there NBA post players . All those guys went pro. You can argue that the 12 ? Point outburst that Ricky Moore got against Duke in 99 might've landed in the consessions stands against the 2004 team.

Your right. 99 has the mental toughness edge. As far as the Langdon play is concerned we as Uconn fans need to be honest - It was a classic stop by Moore but Langdon has zero ball handling skills. Lets be honest people.

You thinking Ricky Moore wouldn't be able to shut down Taliek Brown is one of the funniest things I've ever read on this board. First of all, Calhoun would never put Ricky on Taliek, that would be a waste. He would put him on Ben, and Ricky would make it very, very difficult for Taliek to even pass Ben the ball. As someone else mentioned in this thread, Ricky was a complete pain in the ass for Alan Iverson.

I love Taliek and think he got way more criticism than he ever deserved, but you would need to put his picture on the back of a milk carton if Ricky was guarding him.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Your right. 99 has the mental toughness edge. As far as the Langdon play is concerned we as Uconn fans need to be honest - It was a classic stop by Moore but Langdon has zero ball handling skills. Lets be honest people.

[/quote]

Yeah, but Ricky did that to many throughout his career, including Allen Iverson in the Big East Tournament during Ricky's frosh year. AI claimed after the game that he's "the only player in college basketball quick enough to guard me".

Ricky "cut the head off the dragon" and "removed the eye from the cyclops".

He would have given Ben Gordon fits on the 2004 team.

 

[Horatio]

You thinking Ricky Moore wouldn't be able to shut down Taliek Brown is one of the funniest things I've ever read on this board. First of all, Calhoun would never put Ricky on Taliek, that would be a waste. He would put him on Ben, and Ricky would make it very, very difficult for Taliek to even pass Ben the ball. As someone else mentioned in this thread, Ricky was a complete pain in the ass for Alan Iverson.

I love Taliek and think he got way more criticism than he ever deserved, but you would need to put his picture on the back of a milk carton if Ricky was guarding him.

Dude, people need to calm down. First of all I'm a fan so it's no need to get insultive people. If you read my first post on the thread I specifically said that Ricky Moore would have a hard "keeping Taliek in front of him". Again, I know Taliek wasn't a scorer but he was one of the quickest guys we had as far as dribbling and going to the hole with wreckless abandon , leading to an assist or a "and one" . Taliek at the point of a fast break was lethal . That's all.

 

[7774]

Dude, people need to calm down. First of all I'm a fan so it's no need to get insultive people. If you read my first post on the thread I specifically said that Ricky Moore would have a hard "keeping Taliek in front of him". Again, I know Taliek wasn't a scorer but he was one of the quickest guys we had as far as dribbling and going to the hole with wreckless abandon , leading to an assist or a "and one" . Taliek at the point of a fast break was lethal . That's all.

Sorry, didn't mean to insult you at all. We just disagree. Taliek was no real outside threat, so Ricky would be able to give him more space than normal and easily cut off all his driving angles. He would have no problem keeping Taliek in front on him in my opinion. Ricky could roll out of bed and keep guys like Taliek in front of him. He was amazing.

 

[jleves]

Dude, people need to calm down. First of all I'm a fan so it's no need to get insultive people. If you read my first post on the thread I specifically said that Ricky Moore would have a hard "keeping Taliek in front of him". Again, I know Taliek wasn't a scorer but he was one of the quickest guys we had as far as dribbling and going to the hole with wreckless abandon , leading to an assist or a "and one" . Taliek at the point of a fast break was lethal . That's all.

I don't think he was trying to insult you. Maybe you started watching after Ricky Moore. Maybe your perception is different than many of us. But Ricky shutdown everyone's best guard for years. Many of them better than Taliek, several at least as fast. He shut down scorers better than Ben. He just shut everyone down. It was a given going into a game that the other teams best guard would be around half their average with twice as many turns. No matter what he scored, he was worth at least 10 points on the defensive end.

I've always wondered what it would be like if Ricky could have played with Oak in their college primes. That would have been fun to see. No team shoots better than 30% against that duo.

 

[Horatio]

I don't think he was trying to insult you. Maybe you started watching after Ricky Moore. Maybe your perception is different than many of us. But Ricky shutdown everyone's best guard for years. Many of them better than Taliek, several at least as fast. He shut down scorers better than Ben. He just shut everyone down. It was a given going into a game that the other teams best guard would be around half their average with twice as many turns. No matter what he scored, he was worth at least 10 points on the defensive end.

I've always wondered what it would be like if Ricky could have played with Oak in their college primes. That would have been fun to see. No team shoots better than 30% against that duo.

Ok. It's all cool. But if Rick guards Ben then who guards Taliek. El Amin . I'll give 99 the advantage as far as having Ricks defense and Rips scoring. But 2004 had a height advantage and Pros in the post positions. I started watching during the NIT championship year. I used to visit friends at uconn when I was at WCSU. I was on campus when Tate hit the shot against Clemson.

 

[7774]

Ok. It's all cool. But if Rick guards Ben then who guards Taliek. El Amin . I'll give 99 the advantage as far as having Ricks defense and Rips scoring. But 2004 had a height advantage and Pros in the post positions. I started watching during the NIT championship year. I used to visit friends at uconn when I was at WCSU. I was on campus when Tate hit the shot against Clemson.

El Amin definitely guards him. He's actually the perfect type of player for El Amin to guard.

 

[diggerfoot]

The poster who mentioned that if Duke won in 99 they would've been considered top ten of all time is on target. During the season pundits were speculating on that very notion. They had umpteen McD AAs and quite a few became pros. We beat them against the odds, though I always felt we were the better team that year. The 04 team did not beat any team of the same caliber as Duke 99. The best team they beat that year was probably Duke 04 and I doubt any Dukie thinks their 04 team comes close to their 99 team.

I understand giving 04 the benefit of doubt based on talent. I give 99 the benefit of doubt based on the higher level of team they demonstrated they could beat, and the higher level of play at their worst.

 

[jleves]

Ok. It's all cool. But if Rick guards Ben then who guards Taliek. El Amin . I'll give 99 the advantage as far as having Ricks defense and Rips scoring. But 2004 had a height advantage and Pros in the post positions. I started watching during the NIT championship year. I used to visit friends at uconn when I was at WCSU. I was on campus when Tate hit the shot against Clemson.

Yeah - El Amin would have guarded him. It's an interesting matchup. Jake and Freeman were really good at covering up. But honestly, El Amin had a pretty quick first step and he was a little tank so he could get enough of his body in front and would slow down quick guards long enough. The fact that you didn't need to worry about Taliek's shot would make it a lot easier on Khalid. He could play 2 or 3 feet off and get to where he was going first.

In the end, I think 04 had too many other things going and would actually beat the 99 team in a 7 game series. I'd even give them an edge in a one game series. But I guess the point to the debate is Ben wouldn't be a leading scorer in that game. Rip would probably have a field day, but so would the 04 wings.

 

[Horatio]

It's a good debate. I'd still give Oak , Boone , Hilton and CV the advantage based on rebounding and shot block ability but Rip is Rip. We should probably start comparing 2009 (with) Dyson to 2004. Maybe not.