More improbable run 2011 or 2014

[Scoe]

I think we can all agree 2014 felt better given what we had to endure. Going into the season I say 2011 we weren't even rated in the top 64 and predicted to finish 9th in the BE yeah we finished 9th not the kind of 9th place people were thinking of. We were ranked going into 13-14 season no one gave us a shot against MSU, Florida or UK. Going into the 2011 tourney people were riding the Kemba magic after we beat Pitt. So as a whole definitely 2011 was more improbable, going into the NCAA 2014. I will admit I had no expectations going into 2010-11, 2013-14 my expectations were the sweet 16 and then go from there.

 

[Kembacity]

If you're talking about the entire run, I would have to vote on 2014 being the more improbable run. People (rightfully) doubted us getting out of the first round and we did that same survive and advance, have fun and stay loose motto as in 2011. There were many factors to both teams and the runs, you have the strength of the star (Kemba vs Shabazz), the strength of the rest of the team, and then the difficulty of the road to take down the title, and the general difference in the strength of the entire college basketball landscape in that year.


So, I think:
Kemba was the better individual player
the 2014 supporting cast was definitely better than the 2011 supporting cast
2011 we got a bit of a lucky path in that we didn't need to go through a gauntlet the way we did in 2014
in addition, the strength of the full field was much greater in 2014, just looking at the quality of players in the drafts after the years can display that.


Theres also the fact that the 2011 Huskies were on the radar after the 5 wins in 5 days, while in 2014 Shabazz's Huskies had a nice run, but couldn't beat Louisville at all.

I think both runs are very very similar in that both years no one would have called us as the champion at the start of the season, during the season, end of season, start of tournament at all, but I give this year's road to the ring the nod as the more improbable of the two

 

[Tenspro2002]

If you're talking about the entire season, then yes, 2011 for sure was more improbable.

In 2011 we had just come off a disappointing season, lost most of our starting lineup, and were replacing them with a recruiting class that consisted of more plans C and D than plan A. We had no idea what to expect -- an NCAAT appearance of any kind would have been nice.

In 2014 we were coming off a decent season where we would have been an NCAAT team if allowed, and were returning everyone. Pretty much this entire board expected us to make the second weekend and maybe challenge for a Final Four.


If you're talking about just the NCAAT, then 2014 is more improbable, if for no other reason than the fact that our seed was 4 slots lower than in 2011.

 

[intlzncster]

2014 was more improbably because they showed nothing during the year, and didn't even win a weak conference tournament. The 2011 team never lost in tournament play and played well throughout the year, despite struggling in a tough Big East conference.

2011 was more impactful given that we hadn't seen anything like that before. 2014 lost a bit of its shine, if you can say that, because 2011 happened so recently.

 

[Kembacity]

2014 was more improbably because they showed nothing during the year, and didn't even win a weak conference tournament. The 2011 team never lost in tournament play and played well throughout the year, despite struggling in a tough Big East conference.

2011 was more impactful given that we hadn't seen anything like that before. 2014 lost a bit of its shine, if you can say that, because 2011 happened so recently.

I agree fully with that, and after this year I cant help but feel we are so damn spoiled! Opposing teams have to hate our guts because we were already established as a "nu-blue blood" and you could argue there havent been improbable champions like both of our recent ones in quite a while. Like seriously who was the last winner who was as unexpected at the start of the tourney?

 

[intlzncster]

I agree fully with that, and after this year I cant help but feel we are so damn spoiled! Opposing teams have to hate our guts because we were already established as a "nu-blue blood" and you could argue there havent been improbable champions like both of our recent ones in quite a while. Like seriously who was the last winner who was as unexpected at the start of the tourney?

You aren't truly great if you aren't hated by a large group of fans.

Villanova 85? NC State 82? Actually, it was probably Syracuse, because the fact that they won ONE tournament game was amazing, never mind all of them.

 

[James]

I would say 2014. in 2011 we ran through the gauntlet BET and won it all. We were a storyline having stunned alot of critics. Although we played well vs cincy+memphis, we got trounced in the AAC tourney by ville (second time in the year) this year. I'm pretty sure everybody thought we weren't championship ready after that. All we wanted was the chance to play in MSG.

 

[tykurez]

Different ways to look at this depending on where we were in the season:

Pre-Season (2011)
2011 - The team just came off a hugely disappointing season where they were bounced in the NIT. They lost three starters (Edwards, Robinson, Dyson) and had a seemingly reluctant leader in Kemba coming back.

End of Regular Season (Edge to 2011)
2011 - The team was struggling to win against some inferior opponents and suffered a heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame at home. Most probably forget at this point that they lost 7 of their last 11 games heading into the BET.
2014 - The team was struggling to win against some inferior opponents* and suffered a huge blowout to Louisville in it's last game. I think most hoped the team would regroup and do some damage in the AAC tournament. *the biggest difference between 2011 and 2014 was that the 2014 squad was finding ways to win ... taking 10 of 13 finishing out the regular season.

End of Conference Championship (2014)
2014 - Did anyone expect them to beat Louisville? Maybe third time was the charm? It wasn't as deflating as the first two losses, but it still didn't feel good. At this point in 2011, most knew something special was brewing.

Start of NCAA (2014)
2014 - The draw didn't look great, other than the fact that they had a chance to play in MSG again. St Joe's was a scary first rounder before the ball tipped off, Nova as a 2-seed was nice, but they were also in the bracket with dark horse favorites Iowa St and semi-favorite Mich St.

 

[Husky25]

More improbable before the season? IMO, definitely 2011. I thought the 2014 team was a Final 4 contender, before I back off that prediction as I saw UConn get out rebounded time and again in the Non-conference schedule. I still thought they were a Sweet 16 team. Remember, this is a team that went 20-10 in the Big East in 2013 with nothing to play for and lost no significant court pieces going into 2013-14.

I had zero expectations going into the 2010-11 season. Between the way Dyson and Robinson finished 2010 (gave up, IMO. No heart), and the sanctions just handed down, I thought the game was starting to pass Calhoun by. He couldn't motivate anymore. UConn was also bringing on 7 new faces and Walker did not have a great season in 2010. He got his points and stats, but he seemed to continually miss shots in key situations. There was certainly no indication that he was about to blow up in 2011. My confidence in the program didn't start to comeback until they came home from Hawaii.

Going Into the post season, I had no expectations of a far run for either team. The 2011 team was coming off a 4-7 stretch going into Madison Square Garden and the 2014 team just took a 33 point broom handle where you don't want a broom handle to go...EVER!!!! That lose demoralized me for a half week. I can't even imagine how tough it was for the team to move on.

Going into the respective NCAA Tournaments, I thought the 2011 team would potentially bow out early. No team had ever won 5 games in 5 nights. I didn't think they would have the legs to get through the Sweet 16. The 2014 team drew a terrible seed, but got into the bracket with Nova. The Big East was overrated all year, so I was confident they were going to NYC, beyond that was iffy. As it turned out, they had a hard time even getting to play Nova.

Back to the answer of the original question...2011 was the more improbable run. On the other hand, 2014 seemed sweeter.

 

[boog204]

2014 was more improbable for me as I thought we were pretty lackluster most of the year. We were embarrassed by Louisville and had a few WTF games where we either just squeaked by or took an L. Even though we made a run in the AAC tourney, I thought there was little chance of us getting past the first weekend. St. Joes comes and we were outclassed for the majority of that game and I was already lamenting that Bazz and NG would be ending their careers on such a shi!!y note.

2011 we had moments where we looked very good. The Maui tourney, the BET, and the first weekend we looked like a legit contender. I think we were a 3 seed, correct? It was an amazing run, improbable, but that team showed signs all year. I didn't think the 2014 did.

 

[Inyatkin]

If you're talking before the season, it's 2011 hands down. We were not even an afterthought nationally. In 2014 we were ranked preseason.
If it's going into the NCAA tournament, it's got to be 2014 that was more unexpected, because 2011 we went into the NCAAs on such a high note.
If you're talking about after the first three games of conference play but before we'd finished off the nonconference schedule, that's probably a tie.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I thought going into 2011 we would be very good. Based strictly on Kemba
We certainly got out of the gate fast, winning Maui.
The big east losses were somewhat of an anomaly as teams were allowed to have their way with Kemba and our kids couldn't 't handle the phyical play in a good Big East. We looked like a different team in OCP . That team did loose confidence at the end of the regular season ,along with me.
I loved the DePaul draw in the Big East tourney as a needed confidence rebuilder
I thought they would make a run in the BET winning 2 maybe 3 games ,which would have given us confidence for the NCAA. I thought with different rules and a good draw we could make a run.Winning 11 in a row was improbable if not impossible.
2014
Most on the board with few exceptions predicted a strong showing in 2014,with everyone back ,plus Nolan showing great improvement at the end of 2013.
Omar's failure to come back from surgery should have doomed us.
Nolan progressed slower,plus Brimah and Zkromah were big suprised. Giffey was a horse.
The thing that changed most was Ryan Boatright,reining in his game plus showing us a defensive presence ,we would have never believed . Our guard literally destroyed our opponents. If it wasn't for fouls Kentucky would have been a blowout.
2014 was more astounding from a team growth aspect.

 

[PradaMane]

I have to go with 2011. While I know this is all subjective, I see Kemba's performance in 2011 as the greatest in my lifetime (22 yrs old). Their has NEVER been a player transition from okay to big time like kemba did in 2011. We came in with many underclassmen and somehow got the job done, His 40 point outings in mauwi was freakish, game saving 3 vs. Texas unreal, then you got the step back move he put on jar jar binks from pittsburgh... Just plain filthy. We rode that momentum into the championship and took it. that happened the year after getting previously bounced from the NIT.

2014 was great, but it wasn't as magical and dramatic as 2011 in my honest opinion. We had well rounded upperclassmen leadership, also the prior year we did pretty good even though we were banned from the tournament.

2011>2014

 

[I Bleed Blue]

Different ways to look at this depending on where we were in the season:

Pre-Season (2011)
2011 - The team just came off a hugely disappointing season where they were bounced in the NIT. They lost three starters (Edwards, Robinson, Dyson) and had a seemingly reluctant leader in Kemba coming back.

End of Regular Season (Edge to 2011)
2011 - The team was struggling to win against some inferior opponents and suffered a heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame at home. Most probably forget at this point that they lost 7 of their last 11 games heading into the BET.
2014 - The team was struggling to win against some inferior opponents* and suffered a huge blowout to Louisville in it's last game. I think most hoped the team would regroup and do some damage in the AAC tournament. *the biggest difference between 2011 and 2014 was that the 2014 squad was finding ways to win ... taking 10 of 13 finishing out the regular season.

End of Conference Championship (2014)
2014 - Did anyone expect them to beat Louisville? Maybe third time was the charm? It wasn't as deflating as the first two losses, but it still didn't feel good. At this point in 2011, most knew something special was brewing.

Start of NCAA (2014)
2014 - The draw didn't look great, other than the fact that they had a chance to play in MSG again. St Joe's was a scary first rounder before the ball tipped off, Nova as a 2-seed was nice, but they were also in the bracket with dark horse favorites Iowa St and semi-favorite Mich St.

Ditto.

 

[pj]

After the Maui win I was confident all season in 2011. You could see the talent was there, it was only a matter of whether the freshmen could mature fast enough. They did.

In 2014 I was confident preseason, but mediocre performances soon dissipated that, and after the Texas massacre and the 3 Louisville blowouts I wasn't at all confident. It seemed like they were perennially overwhelmed inside, and there would be no way to fix that with Brimah able to play only limited minutes and Noland and Daniels so slender, no other depth inside. My confidence only started to grow in the tourney but it wasn't until we polished off Michigan State in MSG, keeping their big men out of the paint, that I started to believe we could win the whole thing.

 

[Scoe]

I did have my frustrations with the 2014 team but I never lost faith. I still had confidence that Shabazz could pull off a Kemba, and I knew we were a completely different team when DD was on his game notice how we lost momentum when Daniels picked up his 2nd foul against UK. It didn't hurt when I drank out of my 2011 Uconn national champions cup .

 

[freescooter]

I say 2014. We had the best college player in the country in 2011 and when you have the best player its like you always have a puncher's chance. I thought 2011 was sort of like to Danny Manning's title at Kansas. Kansas had the best player that year and arguably the best coach in Brown, even though they had a sort of "eh" season, he seemed to make every key play when they needed it. Plus we had the best coach. That combination always gives you a shot. I didn't think we'd win but we had the tools for a deep run. 2014 was much more surprising, even shocking. Napier was a good player but nobody was calling him the best point guard in the country. Ollie was untested in the tournament. Our inside game was barely adequate. We were a 7 seed which meant the road would be tough and there wouldn't be any easy games. Heck we barely survived St Joe's. man for man pretty much every player was inferior to the comparable player on the 2011 team. But that team played defense like I haven't seen it played since Georgetown of the mid-80s. In some ways in the tournament they were a throwback, becasue nobody plays that way for every minute of every game now. I agree that after the Michigan State game I started to think it was a real possibility. I had to listen to that one sitting on the Jersey turnpike. John Thompson (the elder) was a great analyst by the way. He pointed out that UConn was the toughest team left in the tourney and was imposing its will on Michigan State unlike any team he had seen in many years.

 

[UChusky916]

If you're talking before the season, it's 2011 hands down. We were not even an afterthought nationally. In 2014 we were ranked preseason.
If it's going into the NCAA tournament, it's got to be 2014 that was more unexpected, because 2011 we went into the NCAAs on such a high note.
If you're talking about after the first three games of conference play but before we'd finished off the nonconference schedule, that's probably a tie.

This. All depends on your definition of RUN... what timeframe does 'run' constitute?

If you define 'run' as expectations from pre-season compared to end of season... 2011 was more improbable.
If you define 'run' as expectations from beginning of NCAA tourney to end of season... it's without question 2014.

2014 team had to beat the trendy pick to win it all (MSU), the overwhelming favorite to win it all(UF), and the overall most potentially-talented team (UK). So that was sweet.
2011 didn't beat as many impressive teams in the tourney, but won 5 games in 5 days prior to the NCAA, against arguably tougher opponents, so that was sweet too.

Honestly, they're both fricking awesome. The 2011 and 2014 teams had amazing toughness and resolve, the best PG (and overall player) on the floor, and an incredible ability to play towards their strengths and mask their weaknesses.

We should be so lucky to be having this discussion. Just one run is enough for some schools' basketball histories. We got two improbable runs, along with 2 other championships. We're spoiled, and I love it.

 

[bobbygt]

I'd go with 2014.

After the BET run, you knew the 2011 team was special. Plus, they played so many games against really good teams, ala old school Uconn, so they were battle tested.

For 2014, after they lost to Louisville for the 3x, I was thinking that they would lose as soon as they played an 'elite' team.

 

[Horatio]

Both 2011 and 2014 championships were the bookends that saved the program . They are equal and show the love and dedication of players and coaches that refused to let the program die. It was true love for a school, coach and program. It was pure, special and unique. The perfect script. Given the circumstances ( Tourny ban, defections, coaching change) we'll never see anything like that again. It's not just the banners and the trophies , its the epic
Story. Calhoun had to go through his individual battle, Boat had to go through his individual battle, Shabazz and KO had battles. K Freeman and Hobbs came
Back home and Deandre finally delivered. Please , give me the " Story" and the
Marginal , 2-3 star kids that wanna play for Uconn and keep the nonsense.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I thought we were going to lose to Michigan State, and then also to Florida. Once the NCAAs started, I never thought anyone was going to beat the 2011 team.

 

[Gringo]

Napier was a good player but nobody was calling him the best point guard in the country.

Napier won the Bob Cousy award given to the best point guard in the country.

 

[Inyatkin]

Napier won the Bob Cousy award given to the best point guard in the country.

You and your technicalities.

 

[nomar]

As others have pointed out, it depends on what's meant by run.

I don't think anything can beat the run we had from the end of the 2011 regular season, when we looked absolutely shot and needed to concern ourselves about beating DePaul, to beating Butler. (Well, the last part was easy.)

However, after the 2011 BET, I probably thought we had a better shot of winning 6 in a row than I thought we did this year after the AACT.

There's no right answer though. Both years were crazy, improbable runs, explainable only through hindsight and due to having the best PG in college basketball.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Going into the 2011 NCAA tourney Vegas had us as the 2nd or 3rd favorite to win it all. After going 5-5 in the BET I felt we were going to win the whole thing. This year I was hoping for sweet 16