Is 1999 Duke the best basketball team ever?

[billybud]

Hard to pass the 1972 UCLA team as the best ever...in a day without Pomeroy. Stats be damned, hard to beat UCLA as the best ever.

The 71-72 and 72-73 teams went 60-0.

The 72 UCLA National Champs did not lose a game and won by an average margin of 30 points.

Those two seasons were part of UCLA's 88 game winning streak.

 

[Kolumbo]

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.

True. But guys can be great college players and not great NBA players, or NBA players at all. Two different games.

I have to admit that Duke was super talented for the college level. Carrawell, Burgess, James. It was stacked. But of course UConn was the better team. Credit Calhoun. Blame K.

 

[youseethat]

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.

The 99-00 Cincy team you are referencing certainly looked the part of a Final Four team pre-KMart injury. Losing the national player of the year to injury in the conference tourney completely took the wind from their sails, as they dropped 2 of their last 3, including the conference tourney final and NCAA round of 32.

 

[QDOG5]

I've always thought the key to the title game was Jake staying out of foul trouble. He ended the first half with 1 and the game with 3. His stat line for the title game was modest but it is my opinion that the Huskies played their best ball when he was on the floor.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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!!!!

No, it was William Avery, his childhood friend. They grew up together, with Ricky a couple of years older. Avery was the more talented player, but was a sophomore. It was the most fascinating story line of the game. Ricky Moore, defensive specialist, starts the game by repeatedly roasting one of the top PGs in the country. He then held Avery in check on the other end (Avery shot 3-12, Ricky 6-10).

Rip and Langdon did most of the damage on the offensive end.

 

[superjohn]

True. But guys can be great college players and not great NBA players, or NBA players at all. Two different games.

I have to admit that Duke was super talented for the college level. Carrawell, Burgess, James. It was stacked. But of course UConn was the better team. Credit Calhoun. Blame K.

And high school is different than college. Burgess was arguably the top recruit in the country but did nothing in college.

 

[freescooter]

I think that Duke was as usual over rated so that resulted in us being relatively underrated. But we had a great team too. And pretty much dominated that game. I agree with superjohn that we win that matchup 6-7 times out of 10. We had the physical presence to control Brand and the quickness and speed on the perimeter. They might have had better front line players but they weren’t that much better that we couldn’t compete, our small forward was an All-American and we had the better backcourt and in the college game Give me the better backcourt and I’ll take my chances every time.

 

[superjohn]

I've always thought the key to the title game was Jake staying out of foul trouble. He ended the first half with 1 and the game with 3. His stat line for the title game was modest but it is my opinion that the Huskies played their best ball when he was on the floor.

That's how it always was with Jake. Not sure I've ever seen a player who was so much better than his stats.

 

[Madmannsucks]

In the immortal words of Kevin Freeman when asked about Duke's 6 HS All American's. "So what, they can only play 5 at a time".
Who remembers THAT ONE?

 

[Madmannsucks]

Couple other teams come to mind...Indiana Undefeated team and UNLV.

 

[QDOG5]

That's how it always was with Jake. Not sure I've ever seen a player who was so much better than his stats.

I must admit that I thought Brand would pump fake twice and Jake would be on the bench for the last 18 minutes of the first half. As usual, I was dead wrong. JC did a great job massaging Jake's minutes. He ended with 28 played.

 

[nomar]

“Despite not winning the National Title...”

God I love UConn so much.

We're the Cris Carter of college basketball programs. All we do is win titles.

 

[Kolumbo]

And high school is different than college. Burgess was arguably the top recruit in the country but did nothing in college.

That's K's m.o. Recruit McD's All-Americans and rest on their skillz

Is it your implication that Duke was not stacked?! I disagree.

Regarding Burgess, meh. He only played 2 years at Duke and had OK numbers on a team of all-stars. He was like the 7th best player because look who was in front of him.

 

[raf46]

The ACC sent only 3 teams to the NCAA's. Big East sent 5. While we played a tourny bound team every other game. Duke played much fewer. They fattened up on the weaker league.

 

[Hugo]

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.

Plus they were not a strong defensive team and had absolutely nobody who could defend RIP. Add in Ricky's first half scoring spree and there is no doubt which team was the better team and not just for this game.

 

[Kolumbo]

So many people watering down UConn's greatest win ever. I don't like it.

 

[superjohn]

So many people watering down UConn's greatest win ever. I don't like it.

UConn was better than them, it's not watering down anything.

 

[Dean Wormer]

I don’t know?
I mean, was the 2007 New England Patriots the best team ever?
And, more importantly....who gives a s’ht?

Signed,
Every NY Giants fan

 

[UConn Esq]

The ONLY argument 98-99 Duke can make is for the Greatest Team to NEVER Win a Championship. And even then they lose to 90-91 UNLV. Teams that didn't win aren't the greatest anythings except 'Greatest Losers' and people should never try to make this into an argument.

If anything these ratings only show you the flaws in the ratings methodology since clearly the ratings do not mimic history.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t know?
I mean, was the 2007 New England Patriots the best team ever?
And, more importantly....who gives a s’ht?

Signed,
Every NY Giants fan

'85 Bears.

 

[T-Squared]

Is this guy on crack?!?!

 

[upstater]

The ONLY argument 98-99 Duke can make is for the Greatest Team to NEVER Win a Championship. And even then they lose to 90-91 UNLV. Teams that didn't win aren't the greatest anythings except 'Greatest Losers' and people should never try to make this into an argument.

If anything these ratings only show you the flaws in the ratings methodology since clearly the ratings do not mimic history.

85 Georgetown or 83 Houston are certainly in the running.

 

[upstater]

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

Yes, but not standouts. Battier maybe more well known for defense, but 7 or 8 points a game isn't really going to give you notoriety.

 

[Husky pride]

The greatest runner up

I was fortunate to have been at that 1999 UConn championship game and every time, during the game, we spelled-out and chanted UCONN the arrogant Dukies finished it by yelling “Sucks”. At the end of the game, we all turned toward them and, as one, yelled “ Who sucks now!” What a game...what an unforgettable ending...what a delightful, fulfilling, total satisfaction!!

 

[Kolumbo]

UConn was better than them, it's not watering down anything.

I was commenting on the prior post where he said Duke was not a good defensive team. Brand was an absolute college beast, Battier was defensive player of the year, and the rest were all around great players. Wake up and smell the coffee Mrs. Bueller.