HuskyHawk
The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
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I've often seen this sentiment put forth. So I wanted to look into it. I decided to look at our best teams. Those that won more than 25 games. I'm excluding walk ons and players who played under 7 minutes a game. 12 seasons in total.
1989-90: Chris Smith, Tate George, John Gwynn. (Pikiel gets 4.3 mins). Three guards. Smith 17.2, Nadav 11.6, Tate 11.5. Gwynn 10.5 was 6th in minutes.
1993-94: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Fair, Ollie. Four guards. Donyell dominated the scoring at 25 pg. Allen and Donny Marshall both about 12.5. Then Sheffer at 12.
1994-95: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Fair, Ollie. Four guards. Allen dominated the scoring at 21 pg. Donny Marshall next at 15.8. Sheffer 11. Ollie, Fair and Travis Knight 9+
1995-96: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Ricky Moore, Rash Jones, Four Guards. Ray scores 23.4. Sheffer 16. Kirk King next at 9.9.
1997-98: KEA, Moore, Hardnett, Jones, EJ Harrison. Four Guards. Hamilton dominates scoring at 21.5. KEA 16 and Freeman is 10.3.
1998-99: KEA, Moore, Mouring, Jones, EJ Harrison. Five Guards (Harrison 8.1 mpg). Hamilton dominates scoring at 21.5. KEA 13.8 and Freeman 12.2.
2001-02: Ben Gordon, Tony Robinson, Taliek Brown. Three Guards. Caron Butler leads at 20.3. Gordon 12.6. Selvie is 11.4 and TRob 11.3
2003-04: Ben Gordon, Rashad Anderson, Taliek Brown, Marcus Williams. Four Guards. Gordon leads at 18.5. Okafor 17.6. Anderson 11.2. Boone, Hilton, CV lots of minutes
2005-06: Anderson, Williams, Austrie, Garrison. Four Guards. Rudy leads at 15.2, Anderson 12.8, Williams 12.3, Brown 10.7 and Boone 10.3. Hilton just under 10.
2008-09: AJ Price, Dyson, Kemba Walker, Austrie. Four Guards. Price 14.7, Adrien 13.6, Thabeet 13.6, Dyson 13.2. Kemba and Stanley both around 9.
2010-11: Kemba Walker, Lamb, Napier, Beverly. Four Guards. Kemba 23.5, Lamb 11.1, Oriakhi 9.6, Napier 7.8
2013-14: Napier, Boatright, Kromah, Omar Calhoun, T Samuel. Five Guards. Napier 18. Deandre Daniels 13.1. Boat 12.1. Niels 8.4.
So, what to make of this. At no point did UConn play more than four guards really significant minutes (double figures). In several seasons only 3 guards saw significant minutes. The guards that did play a lot were critical scorers. Of those 12 seasons, 7 times our leading scorer was a guard (one of those is Ben barely ahead of Okafor). There is quite a bit of balance of reliance on forwards or centers and guards. I see only a few seasons where guards really dominated (89-90, 95-96. 10-11). In almost all of these seasons we had a big averaging double figures. We had multiple bigs averaging a lot of minutes in most of them.
Since 1989, we've had 32 guys chosen in the 1st or 2nd round of the draft. 11 played guard. 7 were centers. 14 were forwards at UConn. I don't think UConn has been "Guard U".
1989-90: Chris Smith, Tate George, John Gwynn. (Pikiel gets 4.3 mins). Three guards. Smith 17.2, Nadav 11.6, Tate 11.5. Gwynn 10.5 was 6th in minutes.
1993-94: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Fair, Ollie. Four guards. Donyell dominated the scoring at 25 pg. Allen and Donny Marshall both about 12.5. Then Sheffer at 12.
1994-95: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Fair, Ollie. Four guards. Allen dominated the scoring at 21 pg. Donny Marshall next at 15.8. Sheffer 11. Ollie, Fair and Travis Knight 9+
1995-96: Ray Allen, Sheffer, Ricky Moore, Rash Jones, Four Guards. Ray scores 23.4. Sheffer 16. Kirk King next at 9.9.
1997-98: KEA, Moore, Hardnett, Jones, EJ Harrison. Four Guards. Hamilton dominates scoring at 21.5. KEA 16 and Freeman is 10.3.
1998-99: KEA, Moore, Mouring, Jones, EJ Harrison. Five Guards (Harrison 8.1 mpg). Hamilton dominates scoring at 21.5. KEA 13.8 and Freeman 12.2.
2001-02: Ben Gordon, Tony Robinson, Taliek Brown. Three Guards. Caron Butler leads at 20.3. Gordon 12.6. Selvie is 11.4 and TRob 11.3
2003-04: Ben Gordon, Rashad Anderson, Taliek Brown, Marcus Williams. Four Guards. Gordon leads at 18.5. Okafor 17.6. Anderson 11.2. Boone, Hilton, CV lots of minutes
2005-06: Anderson, Williams, Austrie, Garrison. Four Guards. Rudy leads at 15.2, Anderson 12.8, Williams 12.3, Brown 10.7 and Boone 10.3. Hilton just under 10.
2008-09: AJ Price, Dyson, Kemba Walker, Austrie. Four Guards. Price 14.7, Adrien 13.6, Thabeet 13.6, Dyson 13.2. Kemba and Stanley both around 9.
2010-11: Kemba Walker, Lamb, Napier, Beverly. Four Guards. Kemba 23.5, Lamb 11.1, Oriakhi 9.6, Napier 7.8
2013-14: Napier, Boatright, Kromah, Omar Calhoun, T Samuel. Five Guards. Napier 18. Deandre Daniels 13.1. Boat 12.1. Niels 8.4.
So, what to make of this. At no point did UConn play more than four guards really significant minutes (double figures). In several seasons only 3 guards saw significant minutes. The guards that did play a lot were critical scorers. Of those 12 seasons, 7 times our leading scorer was a guard (one of those is Ben barely ahead of Okafor). There is quite a bit of balance of reliance on forwards or centers and guards. I see only a few seasons where guards really dominated (89-90, 95-96. 10-11). In almost all of these seasons we had a big averaging double figures. We had multiple bigs averaging a lot of minutes in most of them.
Since 1989, we've had 32 guys chosen in the 1st or 2nd round of the draft. 11 played guard. 7 were centers. 14 were forwards at UConn. I don't think UConn has been "Guard U".