Favorite Non Connecticut Team and/or Player

[Duncan Idaho]

PC. Ernie D years
Rutgers. Final Four era
Manhattan. Coach Powers' years

Rob Carrington BC
Bill Curley. BC
Jim Mcmillian. Columbia
Tim James. Miami
Howard Porter. Villanova edit.

 

[navery12]

Scottie Reynolds and Nova. Was never a UConn fan until I went there for college so rooted for Nova

 

[Vuce]

I got totally hooked on the Big East when I was a kid which was also when it started. Our family just got this new thing called cable TV and there was this all sports channel that started broadcasting games from a new league named The Big East. I would come home from hoops practice and watch The White Shadow (Hayward and Coolidge!) and Big East basketball. This was years before I decided to attend UConn but being totally honest, Big East hoops is part of the reason I wanted to go to UConn. The thought of seeing all those great teams live was perfect. I loved the league and basically rooted for all those teams in the NCAA tournament until I decided I was going to be a Husky.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Loyola Marymount ca. 1990.

They have several games up on YouTube. If you're a fan of wild, woolly, high scoring action, then you can't get much better.

 

[Umami Zen]

David "Skywalker" Thompson. NC St. (pre-coke/pre-injuries) .Inventor of the Alley Oop. Check out 1976 ABA Dunk Contest on YouTube vs Dr J
Ernie D and Pistol Pete were fun
Clyde the Glide Drexler
*Local talent-Calvin Murphy Niagara / Super John Williamson New Mexico St
*interpreted "Non-Connecticut player" as non-UConn

 

[Deepster]

FSU - Otto Petty, King, Royals
ND - Shumate, Dantley, Brokaw
Memphis State - Larry Kenon, Finch
Jacksonville - Gilmore, Burroughs, Morgan
PC - Hassett, Eason, Campbell
NC State - Thompson, Burleson, Towe
Marquette - Ellis, Tatum, Lee
URI - Owens, Garrick, Green
BC - Murphy, Adams, McCready, Clark

Kenny Green led the nation in blocks his senior year. That URI squad was a great all around team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'll surprise people and not pick a Kansas team.

Favorite for me was Loyola Marymount 1989-90. Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble. Just a run and gun scoring machine. I really liked that UNLV team they eventually lost to as well.

I also did really enjoy the 1991-92 Kansas team that lost to UNC in the Final Four. Special for me because I went to every home game that year, my first in Lawrence. Rex Walters, Richard Scott, Greg Ostertag, Adonis Jordan.

Lastly, the Houston teams with Drexler and Olajuwon. They were incredible to watch.

 

[Husky25]

Paul Pierce and it's not close. Trying not to take anything away from 'Zona (That was a great game), but they should have won it all in '97.

How do you lose with Vaughn Haas, Pierce, Lafrenz, and Pollard?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Paul Pierce and it's not close. Trying not to take anything away from 'Zona (That was a great game), but they should have won it all in '97.

How do you lose with Vaughn Haas, Pierce, Lafrenz, and Pollard?

Ugh. That team had no business not winning a title.

 

[businesslawyer]

Johnson, Augman, Anthony, Hunt, Butler

Remembering UNLV Basketball’s National Championship 30 Years Later - Mountain West Connection (mwcconnection.com)

View attachment 64248

Not that the regional final loss to Duke in '90 wasn't painful for so many reasons, but I was really looking forward to the Dream Team getting their shot at UNLV in the Final Four. I thought the key to UNLV's success was LJ and Augmon just killing other teams with strength and athleticism, and was looking forward to see if Burrell could negate Augmon's athleticism and Henefeld could deal with LJ's strength.

 

[UConNick]

I know at this point it's not quite as fashionable as it was maybe 10 years ago, but I still really like Gonzaga and enjoy watching them play.

The first year I really remember noticing them was 03-04, when they went about 27-2 and got a 2 seed (then promptly got upset in Ro32, of course, that tourney would be remembered for other reasons, too). Then of course, the Adam Morrison years were fun, and an affinity was born. Wish they'd beaten the cheaters in 2017. I'd love to see them break through and finally climb that mountain some time soon, unless it would be at our expense; maybe this year?

Oddly enough I did not know about the connection between UConn and the inception of Gonzaga's ascendance until much later, maybe around 2010. I was still too young to comprehend the 1999 team at the time (I was 3-4 years old), but found the link between the two teams an additional reason to be partial to the Zags.

Plus, for a young kid, "Gonzaga" was just fun to say!

 

[Husky25]

Ugh. That team had no business not winning a title.

That team made Roy Williams an enemy for life for me.

Of course there is the academic fraud, but he is most responsible for me rooting against UNC in neutral games prior to the Big East Collapse...except for Duke. After 2003, I wanted either Cameron or the DeanDome to catch fire. Now I want every ACC arena to catch on fire.

 

[Kenny11]

I liked the Michigan final four team in 2013.

If you look at their roster it was extremely talented and probably a little overlooked at the time.
Trey Burke
Tim Hardaway jr
Glenn Robinson jr.
Nik Stauskas
Mitch McGary (what happened to him)?

and the best player who didn't play much on this team became Caris LeVert

 

[NYC_HUSKY22]

In general: Michigan and Gonzaga. Michigan is always fun to watch, and a few buddies at work are big fans. Zags always put together a good team, and alwaaayys come so close but can never seem to clinch it in march. If it isn't us i'd really like to see them win a natty in '21.

Also F Cuse.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

chris webber, jay williams, blake griffin, and the guy who averaged 26 and 11 as a freshman, KD.

 

[Palatine]

Wayne Gretzky was the first dominating athlete ever I saw that didn't dominate by athleticism. He was NOT bigger and stronger than other players. Nor was he the fastest or quickest guy on the ice. He didn't have the hardest shot.

He was simply smarter and more skilled than those around him. That made him unstoppable. He played the game in the future while other players were confined to the present.

The first UConn opponent that I saw who had some of what Gretzky has was Malik Sealy form St Johns. Obviously Sealy was nowhere near the Gretzky level. But he was so smooth. The game was so easy for him. I would watch him and wish the Huskies could have a guy like that. And we eventually did when Ray Allen came down the heavens.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

ND - Shumate, Dantley, Brokaw
Memphis State - Larry Kenon, Finch
Jacksonville - Gilmore, Burroughs, Morgan
PC - Hassett, Eason, Campbell
NC State - Thompson, Burleson, Towe

This is the kind of answer that could inspire me to do similarly. These bring back clear memories.

 

[mauconnfan]

Paul Pierce and it's not close. Trying not to take anything away from 'Zona (That was a great game), but they should have won it all in '97.

How do you lose with Vaughn Haas, Pierce, Lafrenz, and Pollard?

And yet Dickie V' sMt Rushmore has Roy Williams on it who has been as blessed as any coach with the best talent available year in year out for most of his career. JC is SO much of a better coach than Roy Williams it's not even close.

 

[selles]

Never Nervous Pervis at Louisville
Reggie Williams and David Wingate at Georgetown
Phi Slamma Jamma at Houston- Dream, Clyde, Michael Young, Benny Anders, Alvin Franklin
Larry Johnson and Sticks Augmen at UNLV
Big Fundamental Timmy D and Randolph Childress at Wake
Waymon Tisdale at Oklahoma
Jerome Lane at Pitt
Glen Rice Michigan

I'm sure there will be several others mentioned in this thread but off the top of my head those are a few.

Reality is after UConn Dream Season interest in those outside of the Huskies became much less.

We must be the same age. This is basically dead on for me, maybe take out the Wake guys and substitute Armon Hammer and Anderson Hunt for UNLV. There are a few more to add: Lowell Hamilton, Nick Anderson, Kenny Battle, etc from that Illinois team of jumping jacks, Keith Gatling from Maryland, Derrick Chievous from Mizzou, Mel Turpin from Ky, Baskerville Holmes, Keith Lee and Andre Turner from Memphis St.

But like you say, Wingate/Williams, Tisdale, Jerome Lane...those are the absolutely the guys I wanted to be when I was a youngster.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Wayne Gretzky was the first dominating athlete ever I saw that didn't dominate by athleticism. He was NOT bigger and stronger than other players. Nor was he the fastest or quickest guy on the ice. He didn't have the hardest shot.

He was simply smarter and more skilled than those around him. That made him unstoppable. He played the game in the future while other players were confined to the present.

The first UConn opponent that I saw who had some of what Gretzky has was Malik Sealy form St Johns. Obviously Sealy was nowhere near the Gretzky level. But he was so smooth. The game was so easy for him. I would watch him and wish the Huskies could have a guy like that. And we eventually did when Ray Allen came down the heavens.

I remember him having a run of game-winning shots and a tragic, early death. Because he was slender, I think more of Rip than Ray.

 

[mauconnfan]

This is the kind of answer that could inspire me to do similarly. These bring back clear memories.

You know what's funny is when I was scraping the driveway at home honing my shooting skills in the winter it all started with the likes of Howard Porter, Jim McDaniel, Rex Morgan, Larry Kenon, Pistol Pete, Ernie D, David Thompson, Adrian Dantley and our own Poughkeepsie Popper, Cal Chapman, Jimmy Foster, Al Vaughn, Bobby Boyd and Staak.

Thats's where college hoops started for me.

 

[Get a Job]

Tacko!

 

[scotty0330]

Loyola Marymount ca. 1990.

They have several games up on YouTube. If you're a fan of wild, woolly, high scoring action, then you can't get much better.

had a nice little 30 for 30 ESPN about their coach and that run and gun philosophy he lived and died by. Entertaining as anything and after the death of Gathers hard to not root for them in the tourney

 

[ClifSpliffy]

appropo of nothing concerning this thread, i just saw this version for the first time. the crowd noise is very cool.

 

[superjohn]

had a nice little 30 for 30 ESPN about their coach and that run and gun philosophy he lived and died by. Entertaining as anything and after the death of Gathers hard to not root for them in the tourney

Paul Westphal passed away 1 month ago, he was a true basketball innovator.