In what years was it title or bust for Uconn

[Scoe]

I would definitely say 04 and 06. Im not so sure about the 94-96 teams I would say it was more FF or bust, without the FF history on our side, 99 I would say FF or bust for sure, 09 we were the only team that would have had a shot against UNC you could say it was title or bust if we had a healthy Dyson. I would say in some ways 09 was title or bust, 04 and 06 are the 2 that stand out as title or bust given the talent preseason expectations and all, and FF history on our side.

 

[Skies17]

Every year

 

[Scoe]

Every year

Thats the right answer if your a Uconn fan just saying in terms of general fans and the media's opinion.

 

[Horatio]

1999 , 2006

 

[Robertelamin]

99. 04, 06?

 

[UConNation]

2006 - I did a quick search online but couldn't find the exact quote, but I believe right before the tourney, Jay Williams said something along the lines of "If UConn doesn't win the whole thing it'll be the biggest waste of talent in recent CBB history."

Not saying that was UConn's best team ever, but hard to argue that it wasn't one of the best when you looked at the 2006 NBA draft results.

 

[tykurez]

2004 was weird ... they were #1 for 5 weeks out of the year (11 games). Lost to Carolina on the road mid-season, had an inexplicable loss to Providence at home and then stumbled a bit on the back end of the schedule (I seem to remember a couple nagging injuries) before winning the BET and entering the tournament ranked #7 (2-seed).

But in hindsight, the way they dismantled the field (with the exception of that Duke game) was astounding. You could put '04 up against
'95, '99 and '06 as the best team in UConn's history but I don't think they were "title or bust" entering the tournament.

 

[8893]

2004 was weird ... they were #1 for 5 weeks out of the year (11 games). Lost to Carolina on the road mid-season, had an inexplicable loss to Providence at home and then stumbled a bit on the back end of the schedule (I seem to remember a couple nagging injuries) before winning the BET and entering the tournament ranked #7 (2-seed).

But in hindsight, the way they dismantled the field (with the exception of that Duke game) was astounding. You could put '04 up against
'95, '99 and '06 as the best team in UConn's history but I don't think they were "title or bust" entering the tournament.

Emeka's back acted up in the BET and Ben was not a model of consistency until he stepped it up during the BET.

Great team, but you're right, not a "title or bust" team entering the NCAA.

 

[gampelcrazies]

2005-2006, 2008-2009, 2011-2012

 

[tzznandrew]

But in hindsight, the way they dismantled the field (with the exception of that Duke game) was astounding. You could put '04 up against

What's interesting about that game, too, is that they were crushing Duke until the second foul on Okafor. Duke can whine all they want about the reffing (and it sucked, and it hurt them in the end), but it was 11-2 in the blink of an eye (even with Okafor on the bench for a few minutes) and then Duke got a rhythm with Okafor gone.

I have no doubt we crush them with reasonable refs.

 

[businesslawyer]

Saying "championship or bust" in college basketball has been nonsense since the UCLA dynasty ended and the tournament has expanded. In the 30 years that we've been relevant nationally, how often is it that the best team in the country wins the tournament? One and done isn't the NBA. Any time you don't view reaching the Final Four as where it turns into gravy, you'd put more pressure on yourself.

But if what you are asking is what years did we go into the season not just thinking that if things broke right we could get into the Final Four but we were going to be as good as anyone in the country, the answer is '99. That was the year we returned everyone from a young team that won the Big East and lost in the Eastern Regional to UNC in Carolina. In '04, we thought we could be really good but no one knew how good Josh Boone would be as a true freshman, nor that Ben Gordon would play himself up into the position of a #3 draft choice. In '09, while that was a very good team, at no point during the season were we screaming that we were better than everyone else. Oh, they had their moments, like at Louisville, but the fact that Pitt manhandled them repeatedly made it less than a clear favorite. In '06, that was a good team, a really, really good team, but it did not run through the season the way '04 did, and the team, with tons of talent, was flawed in that it only had one ball handler In the rotation which everyone knew was going to be a bigger issue in the post-season than the regular season.

So you can't ever enter into a college basketball season saying title or bust, but the one year I expected to be the best team in the country from day one and never really let go of that was the '99 team.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Entering the season, I think 1996, 1999, 2004, 2006, and to a lesser extent, 2009.

 

[tykurez]

What's interesting about that game, too, is that they were crushing Duke until the second foul on Okafor. Duke can whine all they want about the reffing (and it sucked, and it hurt them in the end), but it was 11-2 in the blink of an eye (even with Okafor on the bench for a few minutes) and then Duke got a rhythm with Okafor gone.

I have no doubt we crush them with reasonable refs.

I'll have to re-watch the full game some time and not just the last 8 minutes. The only thing that could stop that team was getting Okafor on the bench ... unfortunately for Duke they couldn't do it long enough.

 

[tzznandrew]

Saying "championship or bust" in college basketball has been nonsense since the UCLA dynasty ended and the tournament has expanded. In the 30 years that we've been relevant nationally, how often is it that the best team in the country wins the tournament? One and done isn't the NBA. Any time you don't view reaching the Final Four as where it turns into gravy, you'd put more pressure on yourself.

But if what you are asking is what years did we go into the season not just thinking that if things broke right we could get into the Final Four but we were going to be as good as anyone in the country, the answer is '99. That was the year we returned everyone from a young team that won the Big East and lost in the Eastern Regional to UNC in Carolina. In '04, we thought we could be really good but no one knew how good Josh Boone would be as a true freshman, nor that Ben Gordon would play himself up into the position of a #3 draft choice. In '09, while that was a very good team, at no point during the season were we screaming that we were better than everyone else. Oh, they had their moments, like at Louisville, but the fact that Pitt manhandled them repeatedly made it less than a clear favorite. In '06, that was a good team, a really, really good team, but it did not run through the season the way '04 did, and the team, with tons of talent, was flawed in that it only had one ball handler In the rotation which everyone knew was going to be a bigger issue in the post-season than the regular season.

So you can't ever enter into a college basketball season saying title or bust, but the one year I expected to be the best team in the country from day one and never really let go of that was the '99 team.

This.

I was in the midst of writing a much less good version of this. Thanks for making that unnecessary.

 

[tzznandrew]

I'll have to re-watch the full game some time and not just the last 8 minutes. The only thing that could stop that team was getting Okafor on the bench ... unfortunately for Duke they couldn't do it long enough.

I wouldn't. It's a bad game for both teams until the end because the refs controlled it.

But when both of our starting teams were on the court and not in foul trouble we looked lightyears better than them. Now, that Duke team was slightly younger than our team (both led by senior points, but Gordon/Okafor were more experienced than Williams/Reddick) so maybe it was just shell shock. I don't really think so.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

2005-2006, 2008-2009, 2011-2012

Man, WTF happened in 2011-12. That year was so inexcusable with the talent we had, geez.
It's one thing if we had a good year and lost in the Elite 8 or whatever but that team never even had it close to putting it together...

 

[bobbygt]

I didn't think it was possible to achieve 'championship or bust' until the team actually won the NC before, which is why I wouldn't include 1999. I think that year was Final Four/Championship Game or bust.

For me, I think it's just 2004 and 2006.

I remember quite vividly after the Syracuse/Kansas final and they had Vitale in the booth and asked him who was the favorite to win the following year and he picked Uconn, so there was definitely some media talk about the 2004 team. I know we didn't know yet how good Boone was going to be or that Rashad was going to be such a lethal weapon, but I remember being really high on Marcus White and that team almost got to the Elite Eight against a good Texas team.

I think 2006 is really the only year though- mainly because that had some lottery picks, had players who had 'been there', but mostly because it was so close to 2004- the expectations were so high that anything else was going to taste like Colon Blow.

 

[businesslawyer]

The '06 team was really good. Winning Maui with a freshman Craig Austrie playing point was a great achievement. And they had a really, really good year in as strong a Big EAst as we had seen up to then. But the team was flawed. It didn't really have the single go to guy that we had when we won our four championships, nor did it have a second starting guard who could also play the point as we had the years we won the championship. But that didn't mean the way the season ended wasn't incredibly painful.

 

[HawkHusky]

2018.

 

[Dogdeacon]

This.

I was in the midst of writing a much less good version of this. Thanks for making that unnecessary.

Well personally I did the 2004 final four ticket lottery right after the 2003 tourney, fully expecting UConn to be there and made non-cancellable hotel reservations summer of 03 - I think a lot of UConn fans did that so there certainly was an expectancy mostly because of Emeka, but Ben was a star too (had Rashad, Taliek etc..) and most thought had we not run into Texas in Texas we'd have made the final four in 2003 (and we coulda/shoulda won that game, isn't that when Marcus White short-armed a putback layup?) .

 

[tzznandrew]

Well personally I did the 2004 final four ticket lottery right after the 2003 tourney, fully expecting UConn to be there and made non-cancellable hotel reservations summer of 03 - I think a lot of UConn fans did that so there certainly was an expectancy mostly because of Emeka, but Ben was a star too (had Rashad, Taliek etc..) and most thought had we not run into Texas in Texas we'd have made the final four in 2003 (and we coulda/shoulda won that game, isn't that when Marcus White short-armed a putback layup?) .

I'm with bizlaw that it's Final Four and then gravy of sorts. Sort of like Giffey said, "we're here, might as well win it."

That 2004 team needed to make the Final Four. If they lost there I'd be upset, but wouldn't view the season as a disaster like we (sort of) do with 2006. If that team made the Final Four and lost to Florida we'd be upset, but wouldn't look back at it with the same frustration.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Man, WTF happened in 2011-12. That year was so inexcusable with the talent we had, geez.
It's one thing if we had a good year and lost in the Elite 8 or whatever but that team never even had it close to putting it together...

I honestly thought pre-season that we were going to repeat.

 

[tzznandrew]

I honestly thought pre-season that we were going to repeat.

Kemba was gone, but the emergence of Lamb and Napier, the success of Roscoe and Oriakhi, Boatright and Daniels coming in...all this made me feel good.

And then Drummond committed. I thought we were clearly going to the Final Four.

 

[SubbaBub]

add 94-95 and 95-96 to that list. But 05-06 is the first among equals.

 

[maineuconnfan]

Honestly there was a couple years in my mind. The first for sure was 98-99. I remember all of the hype about duke. I couldn't understand it. I think I watched more college basketball games that year than any in my life. I was a bum living on my moms couch. But I did not see one team that year as good as UConn. They were number 1 for almost as many weeks as Duke. I was about as confident as could be about that team. In 2004, I felt the same way for the most part. They had some lapses at times that season, but I felt they were the best team. I remember Calhoun Saying something like "If they don't win it would be a disappointment" Two years that were interesting to me were the 95-96 and 08-09 teams. Both had injuries that really hurt their chances. People forget how dominant that 95-96 team was all year long. I think Ricky Moore's injury in the NCAA tournament was a crucial blow. I also think with Dyson in 2009, they at least beat Michigan. Of course in 2012, that was a pretty disappointing season. After seeing them in the battle of atlantis tournament in the early season, I had a feeling it was not going to go as planned, but I felt before the season started, we could have a repeat on our hands. In 2006, I felt the lack of guard depth would be a factor and it proved to be true....So I guess the only two years I really felt certain was 1999 and 2004. However I had never been more certain than in 1999. That team was tough.