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Husky Superlatives

MyDorona

MyDorona

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Watching Adama do his thing out there tonight, it dawned on me that he might have the best motor of any Husky I've ever seen. The single defining play was at the end of the game, when he stole the inbounds off a Butler time out.. after abusing Bates for a couple consecutive possessions. It was simply a high-energy, demoralizing play when Butler had one last gasp.

And this got me thinking on a lazy Saturday night- since I don't think I've ever seen this list on the Yard- which modern-era Huskies (i.e., 1990-present) hold the following superlatives? These are my responses, off the top of my head:

Best motor: Adama

Best hops: Stanley Robinson

Best vision: Marcus Williams

Best stroke: Ray Allen

Best leader: Shabazz Napier

Best athlete: I am trying to fight recency bias, but it has to be Andre Jackson, right?

Toughest: Jeff Adrien

Strongest: Emeka Ofafor

Most Clutch: Kemba Walker

Best BBIQ: Doron Sheffer

Most confident: Christian Vital
 
MyDorona said:
Watching Adama do his thing out there tonight, it dawned on me that he might have the best motor of any Husky I've ever seen. The single defining play was at the end of the game, when he stole the inbounds off a Butler time out.. after abusing Bates for a couple consecutive possessions. It was simply a high-energy, demoralizing play when Butler had one last gasp.

And this got me thinking on a lazy Saturday night- since I don't think I've ever seen this list on the Yard- which modern-era Huskies (i.e., 1990-present) hold the following superlatives? These are my responses, off the top of my head:

Best motor: Adama

Best hops: Stanley Robinson

Best vision: Marcus Williams

Best stroke: Ray Allen

Best leader: Shabazz Napier

Best athlete: I am trying to fight recency bias, but it has to be Andre Jackson, right?

Toughest: Jeff Adrien

Strongest: Emeka Ofafor

Most Clutch: Kemba Walker

Best BBIQ: Doron Sheffer

Most confident: Christian Vital
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It helps that hes able to play 31 minutes while a 7foot beast comes in to score 4 pts, grab 8 rebounds and block a shot while changing or denying several others. Butlers big man had to play 37 minutes and you could see it in the end.
 
MyDorona said:
Watching Adama do his thing out there tonight, it dawned on me that he might have the best motor of any Husky I've ever seen. The single defining play was at the end of the game, when he stole the inbounds off a Butler time out.. after abusing Bates for a couple consecutive possessions. It was simply a high-energy, demoralizing play when Butler had one last gasp.

And this got me thinking on a lazy Saturday night- since I don't think I've ever seen this list on the Yard- which modern-era Huskies (i.e., 1990-present) hold the following superlatives? These are my responses, off the top of my head:

Best motor: Adama

Best hops: Stanley Robinson

Best vision: Marcus Williams

Best stroke: Ray Allen

Best leader: Shabazz Napier

Best athlete: I am trying to fight recency bias, but it has to be Andre Jackson, right?

Toughest: Jeff Adrien

Strongest: Emeka Ofafor

Most Clutch: Kemba Walker

Best BBIQ: Doron Sheffer

Most confident: Christian Vital
Expand ...
Stanley our best dunker and hops off of two feet. Jackson our best leaper off of one foot. Burrell our best athlete in terms of being awesome at all the major sports. He could've played baseball, football, and basketball at the best schools in the country and could've made the pros in 2 of them but in terms of just flat out running, jumping, and doing freakish stuff it's Jackson. I'm convinced he could've been a track and field Olympian if that's what he chose.

Yes, Adama's motor is ridiculous. Having Clingan to back him up as really helped with this.
 
.-.
superjohn said:
Burrell our best athlete in terms of being awesome at all the major sports. He could've played baseball, football, and basketball at the best schools in the country and could've made the pros in 2 of them but in terms of just flat out running, jumping, and doing freakish stuff it's Jackson.
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uconnfan68 said:
Burrell was much more polished than AJ, but not sure he’s more athletic. That’s a tough question.
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I can’t/won’t dispute Jackson’s athleticism - I think it’s a very fair comparison. I just leaned towards Scott.

This was posted earlier this week in a thread.




I watched Burrell in high school, college and w/ the Bulls and there always seemed to be a WTF moment like this.
 
huskymedic said:
I can’t/won’t dispute Jackson’s athleticism - I think it’s a very fair comparison. I just leaned towards Scott.

This was posted earlier this week in a thread.




I watched Burrell in high school, college and w/ the Bulls and there always seemed to be a WTF moment like this.
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If there was a game in almost any sport, I’m picking Scott. Not sure about a decathlon though.
 
superjohn said:
Stanley our best dunker and hops off of two feet. Jackson our best leaper off of one foot. Burrell our best athlete in terms of being awesome at all the major sports. He could've played baseball, football, and basketball at the best schools in the country and could've made the pros in 2 of them but in terms of just flat out running, jumping, and doing freakish stuff it's Jackson. I'm convinced he could've been a track and field Olympian if that's what he chose.

Yes, Adama's motor is ridiculous. Having Clingan to back him up as really helped with this.
Expand ...
I wonder how many people realize that Burrell was a 1st round pick as a pitcher out of HS and was recruited by Norte Dame to play QB. He was just off the charts.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I wonder how many people realize that Burrell was a 1st round pick as a pitcher out of HS and was recruited by Norte Dame to play QB. He was just off the charts.
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Burrell was the only player ever to be drafted first round in two of the major sports until Kyler Murray came around in 2019.
 
.-.
superjohn said:
Burrell was the only player ever to be drafted first round in two of the major sports until Kyler Murray came around in 2019.
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And he was just two, not 3.
 
HuskyHawk said:
I wonder how many people realize that Burrell was a 1st round pick as a pitcher out of HS and was recruited by Norte Dame to play QB. He was just off the charts.
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I certainly considered Burrell and he would probably be my 1(b) to Jackson’s 1(a). Two more I considered were Ray Allen (part of athleticism is how effortless you make the difficult look, and people forget what a tremendous athlete he was before he became a shooter) and Jerome Dyson (the latter being a sneaky freak at 6’3”)
 
superjohn said:
Burrell was the only player ever to be drafted first round in two of the major sports until Kyler Murray came around in 2019.
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That's very impressive but others have actually played in two of the major sports and did so at a very high level.

Skill wise Burrell takes it. Raw athleticism, Jackson seems like he's still got tons of potential.
 
.-.
MyDorona said:
Most confident: Christian Vital
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WingU-Conn said:
Chris Smith
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I gotta go with KEA here. For someone his size, he was fearless going to the hoop.

MyDorona said:
Watching Adama do his thing out there tonight, it dawned on me that he might have the best motor of any Husky I've ever seen.

Best motor: Adama
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You might have a case for this year's Sanogo, who's only 12 games into the season. But I'd have to consider the whole body of work, in which case I wouldn't consider Adama here. And even this year, AJax can make a solid argument for best motor. He's just active all the time. I don't really know who I'd pick here from past 30 years, there are many choices. But just going off very recent memory for a 12 game span, compare CV's last dozen games in '19-'20 to Adama's first dozen of '22-'23. CV didn't have the supporting cast Adama has, and had to play >32 minutes/game, yet their game value is pretty much identical.

That's not a knock on Adama, who's been spectacular this year. But we've had a lot of spectacular players over the years, and hustle and grit has always been UConn's calling card since JC came on board.
 
Andre being the most athletic is sorta controversial until he actually utilizes said athleticism. Never seen a more timid 45+ inch vertical jumper.
 
Stroke - Wes Bialosuknia - the Poughkeepsie Popper. I'm a Poughkeepsie native and he still a legend in the area.

Smoothest - Rip Hamilton. He was the master of the mid-range jumper.
 
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CardiacAndre7 said:
Andre being the most athletic is sorta controversial until he actually utilizes said athleticism. Never seen a more timid 45+ inch vertical jumper.
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wish he had tried the dunk when he had clear path to hoop, but secondary help from Butler's Bates made him alter his shot,
 
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