Is 1999 Duke the best basketball team ever? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Is 1999 Duke the best basketball team ever?

jibsey said:
We had a guy named Soulemane.
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And we had a Senior point guard, most helpful against a strong dook team in a must win game. He was fabulous on both ends, and was our leader that night (also tied for most boards with KFree, he had 8 DRebs!).

Now that I think about it, I didn't really see any on court leadership on the other side.

Also got to give our bench a shout out, the best in college bball that year and certainly the Tourney; Mouring, Wane, Jones and Saunders all contributed! Without our bench we lose, they win.
 
jleves said:
I have a memory that I'm pretty sure is accurate. UConn and Duke played three teams in common that year and UConn won all three by a greater margin (I don't think any of the three were any good). That stat was consistently ignored before the game and has been consistently forgotten since then but it should hold some weight in the discussion of who was the better team.
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Interesting but too much work. I prefer:

77-74
 
Kolumbo said:
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.
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How would one know that? In the future if you are replying to someone's post actually hit the reply button so people know what you're talking about.
 
Husky pride said:
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!!
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Was there, too. Duke fans were so obnoxious before the game. Nowhere to be found after the game.
 
jleves said:
I have a memory that I'm pretty sure is accurate. UConn and Duke played three teams in common that year and UConn won all three by a greater margin (I don't think any of the three were any good). That stat was consistently ignored before the game and has been consistently forgotten since then but it should hold some weight in the discussion of who was the better team.
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St. John's was one. We both beat them by 4...and then we slaughtered them in the BET in one of the best performances I've ever seen.

Another: Fairfield

UConn 102-67
Duke 98-66

Another: Michigan State

UConn 82-68
Duke 68-62
 
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I think my favorite quirk of that game Calhoun managing Voskuhl and Wane's fouls so closely that he was able to spot in Antric Klaiber, of all people, for a minute of game action, just his 74th minute of play all season... but then again I always enjoyed seeing walk-ons and back of the bench guys getting their few shots at glory.
 
jleves said:
I have a memory that I'm pretty sure is accurate. UConn and Duke played three teams in common that year and UConn won all three by a greater margin (I don't think any of the three were any good). That stat was consistently ignored before the game and has been consistently forgotten since then but it should hold some weight in the discussion of who was the better team.
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Michigan State and St. John's weren't any good that year?
 
jimva said:
Either Duke had better players and a worse coach and we had worse players and a better coach or we had better players and a better coach.
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jimva said:
Nope, but I should have used a comma instead of an and. Very pedantic of you to point it out. Thank you for the effort.
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Comma does nothing. Still just two. :)

Duke having better players necessarily means UConn has worse.
Duke having a worse coach necessarily means UConn has a better.
 
superjohn said:
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.
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Exactly. Duke lacked ball handlers and creators. Strictly a system team. We had it all.
 
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uconnfan68 said:
They did hang a banner... for 2nd.
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museum-display.jpg
 
Excalibur said:
Michigan State and St. John's weren't any good that year?
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Sorry as I said or implied, my memory of the teams was vague. No Idea how good either was that year, but they are certainly significant teams which only reinforces my argument.
 
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Ok, after 4 pages of this, i have to watch this game again! I actually have it on vhs tape somewhere, lol. The amazing thing about that team is I believe we beat every team in the top 10 of the final AP poll, amazing!
 
Guapo said:
Duke fans? Obnoxious? You don’t say...
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I was in Tampa for the '99 game sitting in the Michigan State section, just a couple of rows up from Magic.

It's the FF and all fan bases are a bit arrogant in settings like that. But the OSU and Duke fans were notably haughty and unfriendly. Even outside of the arena and around town.

I can't help but draw comparisons to the 18-1, second place Patriots. Both the Duke and Patriot fan bases were intolerable during their championship losses. And as a Giant and Husky die-hard, they were amongst the most enjoyable sporting days of my life. (Although any Husky championship is exhilarating).

I'll never forget walking around outside the arena after the game -- and having total strangers with UConn gear coming up and bear hugging me. It was uninhibited joy. Magical and an adrenaline high like nothing I have ever experienced.
 
QDOG5 said:
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.
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Lots of double teams that Brand and Duke never saw coming. Way too quick.
 
Duke, UNLV, Houston, Georgetown, Butler, UNC. There could be a case for teams that coulda'

But for best champions, 2018 Nova is pretty obvious. Talk about crushing opponents. If that's the measure how can you argue for a team that lost over a team that truly crushed its opponents?
 
Zissou said:
Duke, UNLV, Houston, Georgetown, Butler, UNC. There could be a case for teams that coulda'

But for best champions, 2018 Nova is pretty obvious. Talk about crushing opponents. If that's the measure how can you argue for a team that lost over a team that truly crushed its opponents?
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They lost 4 games. A very good team. Not close to the best all time. OT win in Big East championship isn’t crushing people. Got very lucky not to play any high seeds in the NCAA tournament, KU highest at #4.
 
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Every time I see this thread on the list, all I can think is:

44996
 
HuskyHawk said:
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.
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Ricky Moore shutting down the player he was guarding, no matter how good, was hardly a story. It happened close to 100% of the time he stepped onto the court his senior year.
 
businesslawyer said:
Ricky Moore shutting down the player he was guarding, no matter how good, was hardly a story. It happened close to 100% of the time he stepped onto the court his senior year.
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Sure. But Ricky facing off against one of his closest childhood friends, who lived a few houses away and was like his little brother, was the biggest story line leading up to the game. And when he started scoring on him early it became even bigger.
 
Zissou said:
Duke, UNLV, Houston, Georgetown, Butler, UNC. There could be a case for teams that coulda'

But for best champions, 2018 Nova is pretty obvious. Talk about crushing opponents. If that's the measure how can you argue for a team that lost over a team that truly crushed its opponents?
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2018 Villanova had one of the best offensives ever, but just a good defense. 99 Duke's offense was a half notch down but their defense was like 3 notches better. The best team of all time pretty much has to be great at both.

Adjusted for schedules and pace, '99 Duke outscored its opponents by 0.09 per possession more than '18 Villanova. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it was basically the difference between us and Houston last year when fully healthy in overall quality. Each game has about 70 possessions, so it works out to about a 6 point margin. Vegas would likely make Duke something like a 5.5 point favorite on a neutral court over Nova.
 
Kitaman said:
High Def not invented yet, I wonder how your VHS quality compares to this:

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Thank you sir. Glorious. I’ll plan a nice time to watch this today. This is probably the programs greatest moment.
 
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