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Favorite NCAAT Game (rd 1-6)

UofCT

UofCT

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This should get us through August. List your favorite UConn game from each round of the tournament.

First Round: 2023 vs. Iona
Second Round: 2014 vs. Nova
Sweet 16: 2006 vs. Washington
Elite 8: 2024 vs. Illinois
Final 4: 2011 vs. Kentucky
Championship. 2014 vs. Kentucky
 
Great question. I think the obvious ones are Duke championship 99, Duke F4 04, and St. Joe's 14.

The S16-E8-F4 games in '11 were all awesome, and that does conflict with Duke F4 above.

Illinois E8 this year is also pretty obvious, although Arizona E8 11 was a nail biter, Gonzaga 99 was iconic for ending their run, Gonzaga 23 was a fun beatdown, and Florida 14 was a statement upset in MSG. Just tough to top the jubilation of 30-0 in Boston, but a competitive category.

SDSU 11 for sweet 16 was great, Kembas flop is iconic, although some of that is hindsight with Kawhi. Was still a fun comeback win. I think poster ahead of me is right though that The Shot has to be it (I was only thinking title years at first) and also how do you top the 06 Anderson/Hamilton buzzer beaters in a comeback? Sweet 16 is definitely the hardest.

I liked Northwestern from 24 for round of 32 because it was such a beatdown. Nova in 14 was a pretty big upset though, so maybe that does have to edge it.

So I think my list is

St Joe's 14
Nova 14
Clemson 90
Illinois 24
Duke 04
Duke 99
 
What would be more fun is if you have to pick one from each championship season.

So I would go...

Round of 64: 2011 Bucknell
Round of 32: 2014 Villanova
Sweet 16: 2023 Arkansas
Elite 8: 2024 Illinois
Final Four: 2004 Duke
Championship: 1999 Duke
 
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First Round - Shaq dunks on us about 12 times but we take him down. I remember this putz who sat behind me in homeroom saying “Bye bye UConn” when the brackets came out. Threw a couple of expletives his way then did some elite level gloating after the W.

Second round - last year vs Northwestern bc some podcast dopes thought Northwestern had a chance

Sweet 16 beating Clemson on the Shot and it’s not close.

Elite 8 - dismantling the Illini last year when, again, a lot of podcasters inserted their feet into their mouths and were slobbering all over themselves talking about Terrence Shannon

Final 4 - Beating Duke is always sweet

‘Chip - See Final 4 post
 
Rico444 said:
What would be more fun is if you have to pick one from each championship season.

So I would go...

Round of 64: 2011 Bucknell
Round of 32: 2014 Villanova
Sweet 16: 2023 Arkansas
Elite 8: 2024 Illinois
Final Four: 2004 Duke
Championship: 1999 Duke
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Yeah I was thinking that same thing would be fun. I think my list would be the same except swap '11 and '23. So '23 Rick Pitino Iona trailed at halftime and '11 SDSU Kawhi.

Round of 64: 2023 Iona
Round of 32: 2014 Villanova
Sweet 16: 2011 San Diego St
Elite 8: 2024 Illinois
Final Four: 2004 Duke
Championship: 1999 Duke
 
lateralous said:
At least for the older people here, the Tate George shot in 1990 has to be the pick for Sweet 16.
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Nothing Like The Holidays Christmas Movies GIF by filmeditor
 
auror said:
Yeah I was thinking that same thing would be fun. I think my list would be the same except swap '11 and '23. So '23 Rick Pitino Iona trailed at halftime and '11 SDSU Kawhi.

Round of 64: 2023 Iona
Round of 32: 2014 Villanova
Sweet 16: 2011 San Diego St
Elite 8: 2024 Illinois
Final Four: 2004 Duke
Championship: 1999 Duke
Expand ...

After your swap, the only other decent argument for a swap is 23 and 14, because of Joes. But I can’t quibble with competitive Iona and entertaining takedown of the 2 seed.

Interesting!
 
R1 St Joe's 2014
R2 Texas A and M 2009
S16 Washington 1998
E8 Gonzaga 1999 or maybe Zona 2011, that's tough
FF Duke 2004
C Duke 1999

Honorable mentioned
C Purdue 2024
 
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Great idea and wish I had a long car ride today to play this the whole way. Gonna try to pick all games I haven’t seen so far.

1st rd — 2016 Colorado. My wife and I had to drive 3 hours each way to NJ to pick up our new puppy the second this game ended. It was gonna be a VERY long drive, then Purvis took over.

2nd rd — 2011 Cincy. Mick Cronin took a shot at Calhoun over Kemba’s 1st-team all-Big East snub. If you take a shot at the GOAT, you go home.

Sweet 16 — 2002 Southern Illinois. There really isn’t a reasonable answer to this that tops what has been mentioned but going with Caron and one of the best single-player tourney runs we’ve had. Also considered, Purdue 2009: Dan Wetzel took a shot at the GOAT, Purdue went home.

Elite 8 — Alabama 2004. This was Illinois 2024 before Illinois 2024. Rashad and BG broke a fan base’s soul in the first half.

Final 4 — 2014 Florida. My wife and I had a connection through Orlando on the way to Dallas and Gator fans told us it was cute we made the trip. We got down 16-4 against a team that hadn’t loss they got Bazzed in December. Then T-Sam and DeAndre sparked the run, Boat broke Scottie Wilbekin’s will to live and the next 3 days were a celebration of What happens when you ban us.

Title game — 2023 SDSU. Anyone who was in Houston can attest that Aztec fans were weirdly cocky going in. The place got LOUD when they made their run. Then Hawk hit his 3, Newt took over and seven years of AAC, dark years, not sure we would ever be truly BACK frustration poured out all over that stadium and city.
 
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JonnyRI said:
Don’t see how 99 Duke can’t be best championship.
Expand ...

I was in elementary school then, didn’t hit the same for me as the wins after I enrolled.
 
UofCT said:
I was in elementary school then, didn’t hit the same for me as the wins after I enrolled.
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This whole thing will come down to age. If anyone puts any sweet 16 game over the Clemson win with “the shot” there is no way they were watching back then. Probably do not even own the “Huskymania” VHS tape.
 
Huskygrad88 said:
This whole thing will come down to age. If anyone puts any sweet 16 game over the Clemson win with “the shot” there is no way they were watching back then. Probably do not even own the “Huskymania” VHS tape.
Expand ...
Yes.

For those that put The Shot as favorite SW16 win, I would say the 1998 Hamilton at buzzer SW16 as definitely 2nd best.
 
1st rd- 1992 beating Shaq, because it's well Shaq the Diesel

2nd rd- 2014 vs Nova, knocking off a big east team after banning us from their tourney.

Sweet 16- 2024 vs Arkansas, seeing total domination and Musselman knowing his team was cooked right off the bat.

Elite 8- 2024 vs Illinois, I was there when I saw tickets priced in the 200s I decided to bite the bullet, was definitely money well spent, no worry of travel expenses and seeing the best team off all time going back to the final four. I'm sure the vast amount of Illini fans knew they were losing this game but they did have a bit of that big ten arrogance thinking they were tougher being from the big ten was enjoyable seeing the 30-0 run then seeing a bunch of Illini fans leave all quite.

Hearing the U C O N N chant echoing off buildings was euphoric, I did hear an Illini fan walking saying "I bet you most of these fans don't even know where UConn is" I just laughed very loudly and said is that really supposed to be an insult. Did Illini fans really think they were gonna outdraw UConn fans in New England.

Final Four- 2004 vs Duke, making the Dukies cry they thought this was their 1999 moment then Rashad and Emeka said not so fast my friend.

National Championship- 1999 vs Duke, how could anything top the 1st title, no amount of video or explanation can describe that feeling in 99. 2014 and 2024 I flip flop from 2nd and 3rd.
 
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First round: 2009, Stanley Robinson show.
Second round: 2011 vs Cincy, lol Cronin.
Sweet 16: 2014 vs Iowa State. My first NCAA game.
Elite 8: 2024 vs Illinois: 30-0.
Final Four: 2004 vs Duke, great game and great teams.
Championship: 2011 vs Butler. I wanted to pick 99 vs Duke since it was the first or 2024 because of the repeat and Zach Edey being a big oaf. But the 2011 title game was probably the worst UConn game I watched (excluding any coached by Kevin Ollie) and yet it counts just as much as the one Syracuse won. It brings me joy that such a bad game matches the high water mark of their program.
 
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While the 99 championship game is obvious-- great game, beating Puke, first Chip. I just love the hungry huskies 2014 run, with Shabazz and his speech
 
UofCT said:
This should get us through August. List your favorite UConn game from each round of the tournament.

First Round: 2023 vs. Iona
Elite 8: 2024 vs. Illinois
Expand ...
I definitely agree with these two.

The Iona game was my first time seeing UConn in the NCAA tournament and that game was my first coming off rehab following a scary neck injury, so overall that was a very important game for me. Just loved the whole experience of being up there in Albany.

The Illinois game was an entire s---show with the 30-0 run against a very good team. That was the game where I was like oh my gosh, we're going back to back.
 
1995 against Maryland—Sweet 16 if my memory serves me correctly. That Maryland team was stacked and I was convinced we were going to the final 4 :(
 
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auror said:
Great question. I think the obvious ones are Duke championship 99, Duke F4 04, and St. Joe's 14.

The S16-E8-F4 games in '11 were all awesome, and that does conflict with Duke F4 above.

Illinois E8 this year is also pretty obvious, although Arizona E8 11 was a nail biter, Gonzaga 99 was iconic for ending their run, Gonzaga 23 was a fun beatdown, and Florida 14 was a statement upset in MSG. Just tough to top the jubilation of 30-0 in Boston, but a competitive category.

SDSU 11 for sweet 16 was great, Kembas flop is iconic, although some of that is hindsight with Kawhi. Was still a fun comeback win. I think poster ahead of me is right though that The Shot has to be it (I was only thinking title years at first) and also how do you top the 06 Anderson/Hamilton buzzer beaters in a comeback? Sweet 16 is definitely the hardest.

I liked Northwestern from 24 for round of 32 because it was such a beatdown. Nova in 14 was a pretty big upset though, so maybe that does have to edge it.

So I think my list is

St Joe's 14
Nova 14
Clemson 90
Illinois 24
Duke 04
Duke 99
Expand ...
Florida 2014 in MSG?? Do you mean Mich St?? That was a great game and my pick for EE, probably because I was there and the Garden was insane that day.
 
uconngb said:
Florida 2014 in MSG?? Do you mean Mich St?? That was a great game and my pick for EE, probably because I was there and the Garden was insane that day.
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Yes.
 
Everyone sleeping on 2023 Gonzaga in the elite eight. That's my favorite non-championship game.

The Zags came into that game highly-rated, arrogant, and full of hype and we just put them to sleep. Timme was brutally exposed, and we probably cost him a spot in the draft. That was incredibly satisfying.
 
UofCT said:
This should get us through August. List your favorite UConn game from each round of the tournament.

First Round: 2023 vs. Iona
Second Round: 2014 vs. Nova
Sweet 16: 2006 vs. Washington
Elite 8: 2024 vs. Illinois
Final 4: 2011 vs. Kentucky
Championship. 2014 vs. Kentucky
Expand ...
Young man. Ya gotta go back all the way.

First round - 2014 vs. St Joseph’s
Second round: 2014 vs Nova
Sweet 16: 1990 vs Clemson
Elite 8: 2024 Illinois
Final Four: 2004 vs Duke
Championship: 1999 vs Duke
 
The Yakk said:
Everyone sleeping on 2023 Gonzaga in the elite eight. That's my favorite non-championship game.

The Zags came into that game highly-rated, arrogant, and full of hype and we just put them to sleep. Timme was brutally exposed, and we probably cost him a spot in the draft. That was incredibly satisfying.
Expand ...

UConn didn’t put them to sleep. We violently hit them over the head with a baseball bat and went Negan on them.
 
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