Kevin Freeman: The Glue That Holds UConn Together

[Gurleyman]

You are right. His senior year, at least from a defensive perspective, was legendary. But before that, not so much. Even his junior year was often maligned as he was so hesitant with the ball. He was always a good defensive player (him vs. AI was special), but I don't remember his defense being so obviously superior until his senior year. My only point in bringing this up is that Ricky has gone down as legendary in a lot of UConn fans minds despite how criticized he was. It's similar to what Taliek and to a lesser extent AJ went through and hopefully Omar will earn the same reconciliation of sorts.

He took a leap. Elijah Allen got a good chunk of his 43 on him, and Shammond Williams had a good day in the Elite Eight. I think JC mentioned in his book that he heard Ricky giving a speech to kids and told them that he blamed himself entirely for the UNC loss and used that as motivation every day.

We were successful his junior year, so he wasn't maligned as much as a sophomore when we struggled to the NIT, but he didn't reach exalted status probably until he killed Cleaves early his senior year - and started doing that every night and we were paying attention. Then the "head of the dragon" and "elephant in your head" quotes started circulating.

 

[RichZ]

...He was always a good defensive player (him vs. AI was special), but I don't remember his defense being so obviously superior until his senior year. My only point in bringing this up is that Ricky has gone down as legendary in a lot of UConn fans minds despite how criticized he was...

The fact that he was criticized doesn't mean he wasn't great. He was criticized for being injured ("Rickety") and he was criticized for not being a drive and dish point guard.

Mostly he was criticized by the same kind of short sighted posters we still see on the yard.

 

[boog204]

The fact that he was criticized doesn't mean he wasn't great. He was criticized for being injured ("Rickety") and he was criticized for not being a drive and dish point guard.

Mostly he was criticized by the same kind of short sighted posters we still see on the yard.

Gotta disagree with you there. We were not a great team with Ricky as the primary PG (96-97). Yes, he had a bunch of kids with him, but that was a piss-poor offensive team with him leading the charge. We were actually at our best when Rip was the primary ballhandler. The Ricky Shuffle was the nickname given to him b/c they had outlawed the 5 second closely guarded rule and Ricky was prone to just dribbling back and forth. His poor play forced us to recruit a point guard (KEA) and there is no way we win it all w/ Ricky as the point. Also, if he wasn't a drive and dish PG, then what exactly was he then? He wasn't a shooter by any means.

 

[60'sfan]

The fact that he was criticized doesn't mean he wasn't great. He was criticized for being injured ("Rickety") and he was criticized for not being a drive and dish point guard.

Mostly he was criticized by the same kind of short sighted posters we still see on the yard.

If my memory is correct, in 1996 in the championship game against Georgetown, Uconn was struggling big time. Ray Allen had missed 14 straight shots and Uconn trailed by 11 late in the game. Ricky Moore brought the team back as Uconn scored 12 in row the last being a shaky short jumper by Ray Allen to give Uconn the lead. It was the famous Allen (Ray) vs. Allen (Iverson) game. Uconn won and Ray got all the accolades but it was Ricky who was the unsung hero.