Same thing the Dukebag fans were crying after the game. Cemented themselves as the biggest A**holes of all time. As the OSU and MSU fans congratulated and celebrated with us Husky fans.Nine times out of ten
Do you actually watch games or just sabermetric everything to death? Both teams are all-time great teams but we were better. More battle tested, deeper, and we had the two guys who could create their own buckets in end of clock situations and were clutch. They had Avery and Carawell.That Duke team is the highest rated team in KenPom history ('97-98-present, so the last 21 years). It's also not even close. They were at 43 AdjEM, and the next closest team is at 37. The best team in the country for any given year is usually from 28-32, and UConn was 32 that year.
Anyone saying they were/are overrated is a clueless hack. Our team was very, very good. We'd be favored to win the national championship in a lot/most years. We wouldn't win more than 4/10 against that Duke team, though.
BUT we won the one that matters. We had a great team. I love watching that replay. And I'll have the memory forever. Cherish the upset, don't downplay the significance.
Seriously. The fact that Duke was so good is a big part of what made it so sweet.Way to downplay the first championship. Congrats.
Do you actually watch games or just sabermetric everything to death? Both teams are all-time great teams but we were better. More battle tested, deeper, and we had the two guys who could create their own buckets in end of clock situations and were clutch. They had Avery and Carawell.
That Duke team is the highest rated team in KenPom history ('97-98-present, so the last 21 years). It's also not even close. They were at 43 AdjEM, and the next closest team is at 37. The best team in the country for any given year is usually from 28-32, and UConn was 32 that year. Duke had the equivalent of Villanova's barrage offense from last year, and a BETTER defense than Virginia's from last year. Out of 7,350 team seasons overall in that timeframe, they had a top 3/7350 offense AND a top 3/7350 defense.
Anyone saying they were/are overrated is a clueless hack. Our team was very, very good. We'd be favored to win the national championship in a lot/most years. We wouldn't win more than 4/10 against that Duke team, though.
BUT we won the one that matters. We had a great team. I love watching that replay. And I'll have the memory forever. Cherish the upset, don't downplay the significance.
Yeah it did. It was needle and tractor time for the other guys.Sadly no Ricky Moore quotes! His opening offensive spurt set the tone and gaves us that early confidence.
Hat tip to LA Times Chris Dufresne. Great comment, too.The Alaskan Assassin shot out of his mind to keep it close. He's not doing that for 9 more games. And apparently Corey Maggette was the only guy Albie Mouring could take off the dribble.
I cut this out of the Tampa Tribune that day.
View attachment 41841
The Alaskan Assassin shot out of his mind to keep it close. He's not doing that for 9 more games. And apparently Corey Maggette was the only guy Albie Mouring could take off the dribble.
I cut this out of the Tampa Tribune that day.
View attachment 41841
The Alaskan Assassin shot out of his mind to keep it close. He's not doing that for 9 more games. And apparently Corey Maggette was the only guy Albie Mouring could take off the dribble.
I cut this out of the Tampa Tribune that day.
View attachment 41841
That Duke team is the highest rated team in KenPom history ('97-98-present, so the last 21 years). It's also not even close. They were at 43 AdjEM, and the next closest team is at 37. The best team in the country for any given year is usually from 28-32, and UConn was 32 that year. Duke had the equivalent of Villanova's barrage offense from last year, and a BETTER defense than Virginia's from last year. Out of 7,350 team seasons overall in that timeframe, they had a top 3/7350 offense AND a top 3/7350 defense.
Anyone saying they were/are overrated is a clueless hack. Our team was very, very good. We'd be favored to win the national championship in a lot/most years. We wouldn't win more than 4/10 against that Duke team, though.
BUT we won the one that matters. We had a great team. I love watching that replay. And I'll have the memory forever. Cherish the upset, don't downplay the significance.
I don't understand Maggette only getting 11 minutes. He was probably the only guy that we didn't have an answer for defensively.
Yay to Ken Davis Boo to Jeff Jacobs.The Alaskan Assassin shot out of his mind to keep it close. He's not doing that for 9 more games. And apparently Corey Maggette was the only guy Albie Mouring could take off the dribble.
I cut this out of the Tampa Tribune that day.
View attachment 41841
Do you actually watch games or just sabermetric everything to death? Both teams are all-time great teams but we were better. More battle tested, deeper, and we had the two guys who could create their own buckets in end of clock situations and were clutch. They had Avery and Carawell.
Who gives a they won 33 games by double digits...I think they had one common opponent all year in St. John's. UConn beat them twice, once in a game where the final score was closer than the game actually was and the other UConn blew their doors off. Duke won by a point in overtime vs. the Johnnies.I watched the full game replay very recently and watched it live at the time.
They were 11 AdjEM better over the season than us. That's the difference between this year's UConn and Villanova. It isn't a small gap. UConn were 9.5 point underdogs in Vegas. And if they played again, even after UConn won, I know that Duke would still be favored considerably by the bookmakers. It's dumb to use one game's worth of observations to make a grand claim about a team's ability, and there are people arguing that not only was UConn better in that game (which I agree with), but further that Duke was overrated in general... when they're literally the best rated team of the last 20 years with huge margin ahead of the pack. They won 33 games by double digits that year! Many champions don't even win 33 games total (like both 2011 and 2014 UConn teams).
As to UConn being more battle-tested and more mentally tough... Duke went exactly as far as UConn did the previous season, but lost to the eventual champion by 2 points and missed a late deep 3 at the buzzer. They returned 5 of their top 6. Duke played 7 top 10 AP teams that year before the title game and beat all 7 with an average victory margin of over 10 points, and 5 of the 7 were on the road or neutral court. UConn played 4 top 10 games total, so Duke won more of them on neutral/road than UConn played total. It's great to come up with post hoc narratives because of how the one game played out, but it doesn't make them true. Duke was less mentally tough because Langdon's floater in the lane with 1 minute left rimmed out and then he traveled, but UConn is mentally tough despite El Amin airballing a floater with 30 seconds left and the team up 1? Unless the argument is that Duke was so good that they were inexperienced in close games, but I don't recommend making arguments that a team is overrated because they're too good.
Avery, Battier, and Maggette (three future top 15 first round picks) went 8/26 and UConn's bench went 7/9 from 2. Did UConn play great defense? Abso-freaking-lutely we did. But those Duke guys literally shot over 60% from 2 on the season combined and got plenty of open shots due to the aggressive doubling of Brand. They just didn't make them in this 1 game sample
You conveniently leave out the fact that Langdon shot out of his mind in this one game sample. He kept them in the game.IAvery, Battier, and Maggette (three future top 15 first round picks) went 8/26 and UConn's bench went 7/9 from 2. Did UConn play great defense? Abso-freaking-lutely we did. But those Duke guys literally shot over 60% from 2 on the season combined and got plenty of open shots due to the aggressive doubling of Brand. They just didn't make them in this 1 game sample
You conveniently leave out the fact that Langdon shot out of his mind in this one game sample. He kept them in the game.
Because the NC game is no different than all the blow outs they played that year.He was a 44% shooter from 3 for the year and 50% in the game. He was literally the best 3 point shooter in the country that season. It wasn't out of his mind, he was an All American having a moderately good game (made 1 extra shot than expected). Those guys missed 7 shots more than expected (maybe a couple less when adjusting for our defense relative to average).
The matchup is damn near even. I don't think that the talent differential of Duke was that great. They had the second, third, and fifth best players (Brand, Langdon and Avery), we had the first and fourth (Rip and KEA). Battier wasn't the player that he became as a Senior at that point, so he and Freeman were a push.
I don't understand Maggette only getting 11 minutes. He was probably the only guy that we didn't have an answer for defensively.