Favorite UCONN moment | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Favorite UCONN moment

Man i dont even know where to start. I was 10 when Tate hit the shot. My parents were sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed. I was hiding under a blanket on the right side peeking out from underneath.

Uconn basketball is ingrained in my persona. I havent missed watching or listening to a game in over 10 years. Maybe 15. Maybe 20. The hair on my arms is standing straight up watching these videos and i get chills. I remember them all.

Sitting in the student section listening to coach say "we kicked some and broke some hearts" are words that will ring in my ears for life.
 
Not gonna lie, this is up there for me:

hc-rod-sellers-christian-laettner-video-20150303
 
Sitting in the brand new Gampel Pavilion on Opening Day (or was it Night?). I think we played St. John's? Don't remember many details, just the feeling that it was a super cool place and so dazzling & bright. Back then our seats were so close I could smell the players' sweat. Ah, the good ol' days.

It was St. John's. I was there with the "Golden Ticket" pass for the student seats under the basket, even though I had recently graduated. Need to thank my sister again for getting me that student sticker.

I can't list just one.
  • The Shot. I was at Champions in Hartford, in the basement watching, it was shoulder to shoulder packed. Had gone out the night before and we ran in to some of the Clemson guys at The Russian Lady.
  • The NIT championship. We burned lots of stuff in the Jungle Quad and the cops let it go. Wild celebration as the first time we ever won anything.
  • 1999 Title. The game itself was our best title game. Amazing to take down Duke, and especially the performance Moore put on. It's bittersweet though. I was in CA and effectively alone, having broken up with my longtime GF. Had no college hoops fans to share it with. I was back in New England before 1999 came to a close.
 
I think Ricky's game in the 99 championship if you can call it a moment, would be my favorite. When he took over offensively in the first half, it just lit me up. Then in the 2nd half, THE STOP was a moment more meaningful to me than THE SHOT. But if I have to take that game and isolate "one shining moment" from it, it's right here...
cryingdukewomen.jpg


Am I a bad man for liking this picture so much?
 
In no particular order.

-I will never forget that ball bouncing around the rim for what seemed like hours (no, just a second or so) before RIP somehow got the ball after it was tapped back to him, hitting a fall away 12 footer.

-That ´99 win over the Zags.

-That Kemba ankle breaker vs. Pitt. Need I say more?
-But just the entire 11 game journey. How can you pick just one moment? It was all amazing.

-That comeback to take down Duke in 2004.

Those are a few that come to mind.
 
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Either the entire 2011 postseason, or 2014 be MSU at MSG was an electric environment unlike anything I've experienced live at a major venue.
 
The moment that second Harrison corner 3 in the 2014 national championship bounced off the back rim. That's when I knew it was over. That was the best moment of my life so far. In Gampel with all my best friends and 10000 colleagues screaming as loud as we could, watching the team and school we cared so much about cap an incredible run with a national championship, one year removed from a nonsense ban. I didn't even see the end of the game for a few days, just immediately ran outside Gampel to a light drizzle, a DJ, some fireworks and a wonderful, liquor-heavy celebration. Wouldn't trade that night for the world
 
A word on "The Shot". For those who didn't see the game, the play itself was merely remarkable. But I've seen many amazing plays and shots over the years. The context is important. If it is available, I'd encourage you to watch the whole game. It was an incredible game, with the highest highs, and lowest lows. A 19 point UConn lead at half. 17 seconds to go, UConn still up by two, and turns it over. Clemson makes a 3 to go up one for the first time since we can even remember. But that's not the Shot yet...oh no. Tate misses a shot and Scotty fouls the rebounder. He misses the 1-1, Burrell the rebound and calls time. 1.0 left. Now...we get the Shot. You have to understand the level of despair here. We had blown a 19 point halftime lead. We had even just blown our lead of two points and possession with 17 seconds left. UConn fans are as low as they can be when that pass was thrown over Elden Campbell.

Then the remaining context: that game sends us on to face Duke in the Meadowlands. Laetner, Hurley, Thomas Hill, and a one point overtime loss.
 
It was St. John's. I was there with the "Golden Ticket" pass for the student seats under the basket, even though I had recently graduated. Need to thank my sister again for getting me that student sticker.

I can't list just one.
  • The Shot. I was at Champions in Hartford, in the basement watching, it was shoulder to shoulder packed. Had gone out the night before and we ran in to some of the Clemson guys at The Russian Lady.
  • The NIT championship. We burned lots of stuff in the Jungle Quad and the cops let it go. Wild celebration as the first time we ever won anything.
  • 1999 Title. The game itself was our best title game. Amazing to take down Duke, and especially the performance Moore put on. It's bittersweet though. I was in CA and effectively alone, having broken up with my longtime GF. Had no college hoops fans to share it with. I was back in New England before 1999 came to a close.

Correction to this. It was the weekend before we ran into the Clemson guys when they were playing in the first and second round in Hartford.
 
Watching Trajon Langdon trip just after half court. First time I injured myself because of a UConn game.

This is mine as well.

"The Shot" always ticked me off because it never should have been needed. We were up damn near 20 points at one time. I always felt Big Jim was at his worst when coaching a big lead. But no one was better in back's against the wall" situation.
 
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1. Tate George
2. Coming back trailing Georgetown by 10 with 4 minutes left in Big East Tourney. Ray hit the winner.
3 Rip beating Washington early in the tourney
 
Right up there(after 77-74) is beating Cuse and Georgetown back to back in the Dream Season.

We kicked the door down and took our seat at the head of the table. The rest is History.

The HCC was beyond loud for those 2 games. The place literally shook.

Hear hear CC
 
Favorite moment I was at: Shabazz 35-foot game winner at Villanova.

Favorite moment overall: Kemba stepback at MSG.
 
Either the entire 2011 postseason, or 2014 be MSU at MSG was an electric environment unlike anything I've experienced live at a major venue.


That was one of my favorite games. Quite exciting!
 
This should be a project for one of the many video gurus we have here to put all these fantastic moments into a single video. If this already exists please point me to it! :)
 
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I was a student and was in Gampel watchparty for the Florida and Kentucky games in 2014, when we were down 16-4 it was real quiet in there, then the 11-0 run. Gampel was shaking everyone was going absolutley nuts.

Also, on monday night when Boatright dribbled out the clock with 8 seconds left will be a moment i never forget, again the place was shaking it was pandemonium in Gampel

Went from total doubt to total confidence in less than 2 minutes, after that run I had a feeling the game was going to be ours, and it sure was
 
During this lull in news, I'm wondering what is your favorite UConn moment.

Mine was in the 1999 finals, when Ricky Moore took it to the rack on the first possession of the game and then screamed at William Avery, 'You can't stop me. You never could stop me'. They were from the same high school

Ricky Moore was the MVP of the '99 NC in my book. The unforgettable film of Ricky after stopping Langdon on the drive, with Billy Packer questioning the wisdom of such a move as it happened. After that stop, he was intensity personified as he walked around the court. Maybe someone can find the video of this reaction, but it was classic. Greatest defender I have seen at UConn in the Calhoun era and beyond.
 
So many to choose from it's almost impossible. The first NC was amazing, especially in person, with two Puke fans sitting right behind us in the UConn section, for some unknown reason.

I'm gonna go old school and pick a couple from the 1970's. Jimmy Foster's 27 point performance at MSG in 1974 on St. Patrick's Day to beat heavily favored St. John's 82-70 in the NIT, and the 1976 ECAC New England Championship game at the old Springfield Civic Center, when we beat a Joey Hassett led Pee Cee 87-73 to win the title and get the automatic bid to the NCAAs. That win over the Friars was a forerunner of the changing of the guard in New England basketball. Up until then it had been all PC for many years. After that we were back on the New England map, and except for their unlikely Final Four appearance in 1987, it's been mostly all UCONN ever since. 4 > 0 in NCAA titles says it all.
 
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I've been to a lot of awesome sporting events in my life, but being at MSG when we beat Michigan St takes the cake. I've never heard such a loud "neutral" court
 
For those of tramatized by Christian Lattner shot in 1990.,when we were a Tate George deflection away from our first final four.
Than suffered through a series of close misses in the 1990's even with all our success. Even with all the great players we had somehow managed to blow it in the Tourney.We had never even been to a FF
And then there was 1998-99
We knew we could possibly be the best team in the country going into that year but our old nemesis Duke generated buzz as the greatest team in college basketball history. They were awfully good but not good enough.
When that final whistle blew with us on top 77-74 it seemed if all those ghosts of bygone years were exorcized.. The feeling was like nothing I've ever experienced
Yea I was there for Cuse ,GT wins that put us in the big time but it wasn't the same
Nothing could ever be the same.
Winning in 2014 was close ,

as we were a team written off as dead.
Even if that was the last Hurrah of a UConn big time BB team at least we've had Hurrahs
 
winning championships and such are a given, but this moment always sticks out in my mind (4:30)


Oh my god I forgot about this. Easily the most fun game I've ever been to, and without a doubt the loudest.
 
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