Is 1999 Duke the best basketball team ever?

[Guapo]

 

[uconnfan68]

They did hang a banner... for 2nd.

 

[AuRevoirAAC]

 

[uconndogs]

Ask Ricky Moore.

 

[Guapo]

“Despite not winning the National Title...”

God I love UConn so much.

 

[alexd]

 

[Kitaman]

Only if Jim Calhoun was their Coach.

He would have beat 99 UConn with that cast of players (who btw were all very good college players).

The difference maker:

 

[gampelcrazies]

The greatest runner up

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Who could have beaten such a juggernaut?

 

[Hoophound]

It’s a foolish argument. We were better and were it not for injuries, good chance we finish undefeated. That’s the big thing that separated us on paper, we had key injuries resulting in two losses. The media doesn’t realize that.

 

[auror]

'99 Duke was the most dominant team in their season of any team of the last 25 years.

That much is not debatable. The box scores exist. They demolished teams that year.

'99 UConn was one of the best defensive teams of all time, though. Irresistible force meets immovable object in a 1 game series. Best memory ever.

 

[Thirty Three]

UConn was ranked #1 more weeks than Duke was, UConn controlled the game, and UConn won the national championship. But that Duke team was the greatest basketball team ever... ok.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

They had holes that JC exploited.
The big guy was a stud but he was not really that big I question his matchup with some of the other great big men before him I suspect they would dominant him .
They had a good but not great PG
whose penetration was key to their offense. Langdon was a great shooter but a mediocre creator,
All these weakness JC exploited
I think some of the Wooden teams were almost impossible to defend.
and would handle that team easily.
I saw that Duke team play a very good Temple team in NJ in the elite 8. The Owls hung with them and I knew we were much better so I couldn’t understand why they were such a big favorite.
I never considered our win an upset.
I think it way more of us being underrated by the media for some reason. Apparently they ignored our record in typical media hysteria.
In 10 games it would have 50-50 or 60-40 either way.

 

[InKembaITrust]

The 2011 - 2012 Kentucky team was pretty nasty too.

 

[Kolumbo]

Duke was a great collection of talent. UConn was the better team.

 

[Travelman6]

They crushed teams all year but Fresno st, of all teams, did a decent job keeping up with them in a 93-82 loss. St. Johns lost by 4 as well and cincy was the only other team to beat them. I will always wonder about that cincy team as their star, Martin was injured. That was a final four team prior to injuries in my mind.

 

[Guapo]

Duke was a great collection of talent. UConn was the better team.

UConn had the better coach too.

 

[businesslawyer]

Stupid concept, asking a computer to tell you who was the greatest. A computer defines greatest as who, playing their average game on a neutral court, would be expected to win the greatest percentage of time. Whoop de do. Who cares.

The only thing that matters is who got it done when push comes to shove. That's what makes a team in any sport great. Not "being expected to win the next time."

 

[CL82]

Who could have beaten such a juggernaut?

... and if someone could have, would it have shocked the world?

 

[HuskyHawk]

No.

 

[upstater]

Duke was a great collection of talent. UConn was the better team.

Agree.

They did have more talent.

But, compared to other teams, this was not a super-talented team. Brand, Battier, Avery, Maggette, Langdon, etc.

Only Brand had a standout NBA career.

 

[caw]

As previously mentioned, Duke destroyed teams, really ran up scores that year. UConn won games by a closer margin.

That said, from my understanding SRS just takes into account how dominant a team appears to be not necessarily how good they are. There are so many of factors not accounted, such as style of play, coaching philosophy, injuries, when bench is cleared, etc.

For example, I imagine UVA would score relatively poorly, bc they historically rarely win games by a large margin. But as they say, a 10 point win by UVA feels like a 20-30 point win.

 

[caw]

Agree.

They did have more talent.

But, compared to other teams, this was not a super-talented team. Brand, Battier, Avery, Maggette, Langdon, etc.

Only Brand had a standout NBA career.

Maggette was decent in the NBA. Battier was also very welll respected.

 

[uconndogs]

Ricky Moore opened up that game blowing by his man twice and laying in at the rim. I assume it was Langdon who was hopelessly trying to stay with him.

UCONN was more physically talented and JC exploited that.............and probably the least talented player of the starting 10 was my favorite Husky of all time. Nobody played with the heart Kevin Freeman did.

Shocked the world baby!!!!

 

[superjohn]

We had the two best guys on the court where you could put the ball in their hands in the last 2 minutes of games, clear out and they'll get you a bucket. Duke didn't really have anyone who could kill you off the dribble. We had the bodies and the coach to limit Brand. We beat them 6 or 7 times out of 10.