It’s fun to compare

[UC0NN]

The greatest and best team to me means the entire seasons worth of work.

Any team that wins the tournament is obviously the hottest team, but not necessarily the best team.

Shoot 3-22 and the season is over in the 3 point era we have now. Oh wait, we win by 30.

 

[DblCrossbar]

UConn vs itself. (Our 5 other titles) they’re like my children. If I had 5. Who can pick a favorite. They’re all special in their own way.

Interesting to wonder how these head/head matchups might have played out if eras crossed:

Clingan vs Emeka?
Adama vs Oriahki?
Khalid vs Tristen?
Castle vs Ben?
Shabazz vs Taliek?
Castle vs Rip?
Jake vs Emeka?
Boone vs Alex?
Rashad vs Cam?
Kemba vs Tristen?

If you want to go deeper down this rabbit hole, you can include all teams that made it to the Final Four. Remember that in 2009 Jerome Dyson was injured and did not play in the tournament, and they still made it to the FF in Michigan State there without being at their best.

Clingan vs Thabeet
Andre vs Stanley Robinson
Karaban vs Dyson

etc.

 

[Siv]

How about the difference in 23/24 starters comparison:
Sanogo- Jackson- Hawkins
Vs
Clingan- Castle- Spencer

Sign me up to watch that three on three game.

 

[UC0NN]

Clingan best defensive big in the country. Adama the best offensive big along with Timme. That one is a wash.

Hawkins best pure shooter in the country. Cam great shooter too and does everything. Cam wins easy, he has too many ways to score or make plays.

Castle is better offensively and defensively than Jackson.

 

[caw]

Castle would have “trouble” defending the best perimeter scorers from 99, 04 and 23. 99 and 23 were both quick trigger shooters who ran laps to get open around screens. Castle is a great defender but UConn never faced a guard who could catch and shoot as quickly as Rip/Hawk and both were tall enough to get their shots off against Castle. Clingan wouldn’t be much of a factor trying to stop them either. Gordon is more containable but is also basically a taller, more athletic version of Sears. He would get his.

99 could also through out El Amin and Mouring to provide space if 24 played off Moore. Freeman was the type of PF to give Karaban fits and Jake was probably savy enough to bother Clingan.

23 would be interesting but I would take the depth in 23. That and I don’t think 24 could contain 23s explosiveness on offense. If Hawk and Joey and the others are hitting shots it over. If they are off, they lose.

04 would have some problems with starting Taliek. Love him but his shooting issues would be issues. That said, Alex would have problems against Boone and Charlie. And they were big enough to bother Clingan. That’s a tough one and would depend entirely on if Brown could force them to defend him seriously or not.

I think 11 and 14 would be out of luck against 24.

 

[JayKoz]

If you want to go deeper down this rabbit hole, you can include all teams that made it to the Final Four. Remember that in 2009 Jerome Dyson was injured and did not play in the tournament, and they still made it to the FF in Michigan State there without being at their best.

Clingan vs Thabeet
Andre vs Stanley Robinson
Karaban vs Dyson

etc.

Karaban vs. Dyson? Why would they be matched up?

 

[DblCrossbar]

Karaban vs. Dyson? Why would they be matched up?

That does seem kinda silly. Why did I type that? Let’s go with Dyson vs Hawkins.