Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="LStudfellow, post: 3488226, member: 5436"] First of all, let's just say I agree 100% with [USER=7018]@ToolzieFan[/USER] and the rest of you - definitely a fun read and makes for an interesting debate. That having been said - there is no way you can say the 2011 team was better than the 1999 team. The 1999 was substantially better AND more seasoned (a key point for anyone who knows college basketball). And this coming from a guy (me) who has always believed Kemba Walker should have been the Wooden Award winner that year over Jimmer "I suck at defense so I rarely play it" Fredette. Kemba is the only guy from the 2011 team who would have started on the 1999 team. You can argue Oriakhi, but in my mind Voskuhl was a better fit at center for that team than Oriakhi would have been, and frankly so was Kevin Freeman at PF. In fact, KFree had better numbers in 98-99 than Oriakhi did in 10-11. Many people tend to forget just how important Kevin Freeman was to that team. Then, compare the benches. The 98-99 team, with Mouring, Saunders, Wane and Jones was far superior to the 2011 bench of Coombs-McDaniel, Okwandu, Donnell Beverly and a freshman Tyler Olander. Furthermore, it is obvious that Ostrout forgets just how much things changed during that 12 years, as many more of the top guys were going to the pros earlier in 2011 than in 1999. As a result, it was signficantly harder to win 6 games and the National Title in 1999 than it was in 2011. And, there was no team in the 2011 tournament that we faced that came close to the Duke team that the 1999 team had to beat to win it all. Or, look at it second way: how do you think the 2011 team would have fared against that 1999 Duke team? As much as I hate to admit it, I think that Duke team would have beaten our 2011 team pretty easily. We had no way of stopping Elton Brand down low, or Trajan Langdon on the wing. Honestly, the real matchup I would love to see is our 1999 champs vs. our 2004 champs. Definitely our 2 best teams ever. Now THAT would be a TITANIC game... one for the ages. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach