The Argument: Vote Colorado
In the Paint: More on that later, but let’s be clear: Donyell, Brimah and King will own the paint vs Donny and Hilton. But, let me start with guard play, because that’s what you guys all seem to think wins games:
Guard play: Let me be very clear. ColoradoUCFan’s lead guards can penetrate and deliver the rock better than NYC. At first glance, one might think that Khalid and Boat will out play Colorado. Lets look at the facts: For starters, Ben Gordon actually averaged 4.7 assists for two straight seasons ‘03 & ‘04. And even more when it counted, 5.75 in BE play in ‘03, for instance. It’s easy to forget that Ben was a good ball handler, because he was one of UConn’s all-time best shooters. Obviously KO was a quick sneaky effective PG, averaging 6.4 assists his senior year, and 619 over his career. That’s over 11 assists per night between Colorado’s top two guards. Not to detract from Boat and Khalid, but they just don’t match up. In his best season, the NC year of ‘99, Khalid only averaged 3.9 assists. Boat played great this year, but only averaged 3.4 assists. NYC’s ball handling guards, 7.3 assists to Colorado’s 11 is no comparison. But, then if we consider Colorado’s small forward, Nadav Henefeld, who dished out 108 assists during the Dream Season, the passing & penetrating game is obviously in Colorado’s favor.
Outside Shooting: This isn’t even close. Ben is the best on the court. Ben hit 104 threes in ’04, on his way to leading the stacked NC team with 18.5 pts per game. Let's compare to NYC. Caron hit 30 threes in ’02. Fair is seen as a 3 specialist, but he hit just 58 his senior season. But, Ben isn’t alone on team Colorado, 5 of Colorado’s players hit the three pointer over 30%. NYC has the same stat, but Colorado’s best is better than NYC’s best. And, NYC has barely the inside presence that Colorado has. Colorado’s players can play inside and outside. Donyell for instance hit 41 3’s in ’94. Two of Colorado’s other forwards Burrell and Henefeld also can shoot over 30%. NYC is stacked with guards. But, Khalid and Boat are average 3 pt shooters for guards .376 & .338. But, nothing like Ben’s .433! Brian Fair had a sweet stroke in his career, but let’s put this in perspective. He hit half as many his best season as Ben. Why? Maybe it’s because Fair started just one game. And, Austrie wasn’t a regular starter either, even as a senior!
Is NYC a smarter coach than Jim Calhoun? NYC actually drafted 2 non starters as guards when we have the full history of all UConn legends to choose from, especially great guards. Riddle me this, how are Fair and Austrie even in consideration for an all-time UConn team roster chosen from the best players of the last 113 years if they couldn’t regularly crack the starting 5 in their senior seasons? It could appear that NYC is stacked with 4 guards, but gentlemen, only 2 of them were everyday UConn starters.
Full court & Guard D: Colorado is full of versatile athletes. So have fun against our press facing Scott Burrell and Nadav Henefeld. Remember that press they had in 89-90? That was the best ever. Team Colorado owns that press now bitches. Damn it, Nadav could be the single best full court defender in UConn history. From his single season, Nadav still holds the single season steals mark with a whopping 138 for a 3.7 per game average. Guess who’s number two alltime? That’s right, Scott Burrell with 3.6. Also on Team Colorado. Do not assume that NYC’s guards will easily handle this pressure. Boat has a pension at times to get out of control; and even Khalid averaged almost 3 TO’s a game in ’99. This legendary fullcourt press from ’00 will be a problem; and especially more effective when Austrie and Fair come in. Finally, let’s not forget how awesome KO was on defense. He will be in Khalid’s grill all game.
IN THE PAINT: COLORADO CRUSHES
Donyell: Just wanted to mention that Donyell Marshall averaged 25 pts / 8.9 boards / 3.3 blocks in ‘94. Our first AA. Our First BE Player or the year. Our First BE Defensive player of the year. UConn’s first lottery pick. NYC has no player even close to this type of domination. Nobody can stop him.
Rebounding: NYC will get crushed. Donyell will lead the team, like he did in 94 with 8.9 a game. King can pound in the paint, before he was suspended in ’97 was averaging over 7 a game. Colorado’s bench guy is a better rebounder than anyone on the entire NYC roster. Scotty got 6 per as a senior and “Freshman” Nadav got 5.6 per game. Colorado clearly is in control here. Donny’s 5.8 compared to Donyell’s 8.9? Hilton’s 6.6 boards for NYC is comparable to Colorado’s 2 small forwards: Nadav and Scotty.
NYC will not score in the paint: NYC does not have the ability to score in the paint vs Donyell / Amida / King. Just not going to happen! No UConn forward has ever blocked as many shots as Donyell Marshall did in ’94 with 3.3. But, Amida actually is as a good a shot blocker per minute as Emeka was in his best season. Emeka averaged 4.7 blocks in 02-03 in 33 minutes a game. Brimah averaged 2.3 blocks in 16.2 minutes. Colorado has the best shot blocking forward and center tandem in the league. BTW, when we bring in ‘97 version on Kirk King off the bench, he averages over 2 blocks a game, plus he is going to get real physical on you when we go “short” when Amida gets in foul trouble.
Leadership: Colorado has Kevin Ollie & nobody else does. Have heard what Kevin Durant said about KO’s leadership skills or maybe Lebron or Iverson? KO is a natural born leader.
