It's one of those games you wish could be played just to see how great the teams and individual players really were.
JI: Counting down the top 10 UConn teams
- Thread starter HuskyNan
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2013
- Messages
- 6,991
- Reaction Score
- 17,688
Don't think so. -- just having fun with this - don';t get me wrong it's just an opinion and I love them all.
First off I think MoJeff is the greatest perimeter defender in the history of UCONN. You can put her on any pg or sg. While One could say Sue Bird was "better" but no one can realistically say Bird would come close to "torching" her. She was the 2nd best player behind Stewie in wcbb. One year she should've gotten the FF MVP. She gets an incredible bad wrap from people like Cuomo and Wolters (don't get me wrong I love them both); It's kind of odd- when we have these discussions regarding super players such as Jefferson (and Tuck) as comparison vs other all-time greats Stewart gets a knock for being GOAT because of her teammates. Then when the rest of the players are brought up vs 01-02 for example of where Bird had super teammates-- Jefferson (and Tuck) seem to be flawed than one might otherwise think. Anyhow Jefferson wasn't a "very good basketball player." She was "a great basketball player" in her jr and sr years.
Anyhow in basketball one player is huge. Comparing player to player is ofc one way but another is to consider who is the dominant player - especially in their prime. While 01-02 had a loaded starting 5 - 15-16 UCONN had what I felt the greatest wcbb player I ever saw. One could argue DT -- but this was sophomore DT. Not prime DT. Her stats were better than any other year but she wasn't. As for defense -Stewie takes many of the cheap baskets away. Offensively she is just too long for UCONN's best defender Tamika. And way too versatile for Jones. And she still was too big and too long for Swin. Stewie's total package at both ends of the floor is extremely freakish.
The 15-16 team would be able to play off of Stewart in a similar manner Notre Dame played off of Ruth Reilly. That ND team wasn't better player for player vs UCONN but they were able to play off of Ruth. Stewarts combination of very long arms and athleticism while in her prime is too much to handle for 01-02. Her strength is their weakness.
Last edited:
You should make this a thread. Who wins and why? BTW, in this game, Stewie gets in foul trouble because of the offensive rebounding and put backs and speed running the court in transition by the three forwards. Kia Nurse as a sophomore has to defend DT as a sophomore. As you point out, DT had a solid sophomore year. 15 ppg, 50% from the field, and 44% from the 3 zone. As great as Mo was, Bird controlled a game from the point without equal. She is still doing it. I just hope that she and D will still be in their primes for next year's Olympics. It will be the Last Hurrah for the greatest backcourt in the history of women's basketball.Don't think so. -- just having fun with this - don';t get me wrong it's just an opinion and I love them all.
First off I think MoJeff is the greatest perimeter defender in the history of UCONN. You can put her on any pg or sg. While One could say Sue Bird was "better" but no one can realistically say Bird would come close to "torching" her. She was the 2nd best player behind Stewie in wcbb. One year she should've gotten the FF MVP. She gets an incredible bad wrap from people like Cuomo and Wolters (don't get me wrong I love them both); It's kind of odd- when we have these discussions regarding super players such as Jefferson (and Tuck) as comparison vs other all-time greats Stewart gets a knock for being GOAT because of her teammates. Then when the rest of the players are brought up vs 01-02 for example of where Bird had super teammates-- Jefferson (and Tuck) seem to be flawed than one might otherwise think. Anyhow Jefferson wasn't a "very good basketball player." She was "a great basketball player" in her jr and sr years.
Anyhow in basketball one player is huge. Comparing player to player is ofc one way but another is to consider who is the dominant player - especially in their prime. While 01-02 had a loaded starting 5 - 15-16 UCONN had what I felt the greatest wcbb player I ever saw. One could argue DT -- but this was sophomore DT. Not prime DT. Her stats were better than any other year but she wasn't. As for defense -Stewie takes many of the cheap baskets away. Offensively she is just too long for UCONN's best defender Tamika. And way too versatile for Jones. And she still was too big and too long for Swin. Stewie's total package at both ends of the floor is extremely freakish.
The 15-16 team would be able to play off of Stewart in a similar manner Notre Dame played off of Ruth Reilly. That ND team wasn't better player for player vs UCONN but they were able to play off of Ruth. Stewarts combination of very long arms and athleticism while in her prime is too much to handle for 01-02. Her strength is their weakness.
I just watched the 2002 Old Dominion game under the thread "This Date in UCONN History...". I think the first half of that game shows how good that team was. The passing was just unreal and it wasn't' just D and Sue, it was the 3 interior players too. I didn't realize that Swin led the Big East in both scoring and rebounding that year. She had a poor Regionals though, and didn't even make the All Regionals team but came back and was the FF MOP. I would take any of those 3 inside players, Williams, Cash or Jones for next year's team and we win the NC. They were all just strong, smart, disciplined and unselfish.