Huskies who blossomed as upperclassmen

[CONN78SEJ]

Jim Calhoun brings UConn to the dance in his 4th season
Dan Hurley brings UConn to the dance in his 3rd season
Geno brings UConn to the dance in his 5th season

Geno did it in his 4th season not his 5th, was hired May 1985 by John Toner over coffee at a Dunkin Donuts, and got his first NCAA invite in 1989, and went to his first Final Four just two years later in 1991. They came oh so close that year, lost to #1 Virginia by 4 points.

 

[Waquoit]

They came oh so close that year, lost to #1 Virginia by 4 points.

They got jobbed.

 

[bobbygt]

I'll throw in Thabeet. Not quite the same trajectory as Hilton and Edwards, who are both great choices, since those two didn't play much early on.

While Thabeet played a lot as a freshman, I never thought he's develop into an All American two years later.

 

[DRBackup]

Donny Marshall is the best case. From 9 mpg and 2 ppg as a freshman to 30 mpg and 16 ppg as a senior. On a really good team, at that. There was only one team "better" that year, they just ran into them in the elite 8

 

[UCan3]

Kemba was the biggest I watched.

Sophomore Kemba was a fun, decent, and sloppy player.

Junior Kemba put up one of the greatest college seasons ever.

I remember Kemba as a Freshman having decent games but nothing too unusual but then either at end of freshman season or beginning of soph, where I remembering thinking what is going on here….

He dumped like 30+ on another team and I was like - okay this kid is doing something I haven’t seen before at UConn and he kept just getting better and better and better…

 

[Kolumbo]

Geno did it in his 4th season not his 5th, was hired May 1985 by John Toner over coffee at a Dunkin Donuts, and got his first NCAA invite in 1989, and went to his first Final Four just two years later in 1991. They came oh so close that year, lost to #1 Virginia by 4 points.

My mistake. For some reason basketball reference didn't show the 1989 tourney result but did show them as an 8 seed

85-86 12-15
86-87 14-13
87-88 17-11
88-89 24-6 8 seed
89-90 25-6 NCAA 2nd Round
90-91 29-5 NCAA Final 4

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