Most gratifying Husky Hoops Moment

[Huskyhoops25]

For me it was the game against Pitt at the Pete, when the Zoo was riding El Amin all night long - truly classless comments about his Muslim heritage. We were down by something like 10 pts with less than a couple of minutes left. After the most improbable comeback, Khalid jumps up on the scorer's table and woofs to the Zoo and he is barraged with plastic soda bottles. It was absolutely awesome!

 

[tcf15]

#4. That was like a big middle finger to everyone. Loved it.

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[UConnSwag11]

those aren't mine but i was just watching it about 10 minutes ago

 

[UConnSwag11]

For me it was the game against Pitt at the Pete, when the Zoo was riding El Amin all night long - truly classless comments about his Muslim heritage. We were down by something like 10 pts with less than a couple of minutes left. After the most improbable comeback, Khalid jumps up on the scorer's table and woofs to the Zoo and he is barraged with plastic soda bottles. It was absolutely awesome!

 

[Gurleyman]

If you leave out the titles, I'd take the BET win over Cuse in 1990. Beat Georgetown and Cuse back to back at the Garden (with a gimpy Sellers) where it wasn't just a case of us beating them at home.

All four titles had an element of satisfaction to them. Finally doing it, proving the first time wasn't a fluke, and then the 2011 and 2014 redemptions. Hard not to feel this years wasn't the most satisfying of all, since it's most recent and came on the heels of all those problems. But 1999 and beating Duke will always be my nomination for the greatest sporting event ever (perhaps allowing for the Miracle On Ice as a co-greatest, even though we had to beat Finland next).

 

[UConnSwag11]

For me I have a few... 2011 Big East Championship against Ville, i have never heard a place so loud ... VS Pitt 2011 Big East Championship I knew they were going to switch on that screen but when Kemba did that step back and i went in I said OH ! and then screamed and jumped like a high school at a justin timberlake concert...2009 @ Ville @ ND @ MU they just had so much anger and swag they dominated...2006 home vs Nova I believe, great game... 2011+2014 vs UK... 2004 and 1999 vs duke... many more

 

[Matrim55]

1. 77-74
2. This is what happens when you ban us
3. Nadav vs. G'Town
4. UConn 56, UK 55
5. The comeback vs. Duke in the '04 Final Four
6. Ray's Miracle
7. It's Late, It's Great, It's Tate
8. Bad Taste of UConn In Their Mouths
9. Khalid on the scorer's table
10. Cardiac Kemba

Gratifying is different than great, though obviously there's a lot of overlap. What sets Nos. 1-3 on the above list apart for me is the level of "duckk you, world!" involved in the result, and the amount of smug self-satisfaction and gratitude at being a UConn fan each brought me.

So something like Rip's shot vs. UW in 1998 is a great moment for us, but not huge on the "gratifying" scale. On the flip side, regular-season win over Pitt the following season can reach epic status based upon some of the extra-curriculars around the game.

 

[Matrim55]

If you leave out the titles, I'd take the BET win over Cuse in 1990. Beat Georgetown and Cuse back to back at the Garden (with a gimpy Sellers) where it wasn't just a case of us beating them at home.

Yup. That was the 'Zo Georgetown team, and Billy Owens for Syracuse. And we just suffocated them.

Remember all the cheapshots Georgetown took at Nadav? He just laughed and kept coming at them.

I loved that '90 team.

 

[NightDog]

This is my favorite! Thanks for posting it.

 

[willie99]

2014 EE vs MSU @ MSG in NYC

we owned the house

 

[Hoophound]

There are so many but I've watched the end of this year's title game like 200 times. Watching Warde Manuel jump up and horrify the guy sitting next to him and pump his fists as Boat snags the final rebound and heads up court is awesome. I like it because I feel like Warde is on board with getting us to the promised land when I see that. Many athletic directors sit stoically as their programs win titles. Warde wanted it bad.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

As the '99 title game came down to the wire, the people watching with me started to freak and panic with the tension. For some reason, I (believed that I) knew we were going to win- our guys had such an amazing p0ise and focus. To see them bring it home was just a perfect moment. 2014 was as remarkable as 2011, but somehow more a thing of beauty. The 2014 championship was the epitome of a team win, with each part contributing in just the right way.

 

[pepband99]

For me it was the game against Pitt at the Pete, when the Zoo was riding El Amin all night long - truly classless comments about his Muslim heritage. We were down by something like 10 pts with less than a couple of minutes left. After the most improbable comeback, Khalid jumps up on the scorer's table and woofs to the Zoo and he is barraged with plastic soda bottles. It was absolutely awesome!

...except it wasn't at the Pete. (Fitzgerald Field House)

 

[CTBasketball]

2008 at Indiana.

or

96' vs. Nova.

 

[mauconnfan]

89-90 Cuse and GTown @ HCC

 

[mbt0512]

Others responses above have already covered my top couple of moments, but another not far down the list which has not yet been mentioned was the HCKO debut in which an unranked and undersized Husky group took out a perennial power in one of the more unique environments these players had ever competed in.. the jubilant bunch surrounding Ollie in the post-game interview seemed like something special at the time, and lo and behold, it sure proved to be a launching point for the incredible eighteen month period which followed

 

[RichZ]

Gratifying Moment. That's a tough criteria. It's not the most important or most exciting. The one that brought the most satisfaction. And it's not an event -- it's a specific point in time. I'm having trouble deciding between Ricky forcing the travel on Langdon in 99 and Emeka being the only center left standing late in the game in 04. In both cases, JC outcoached the pompous ass K. I don't think JC felt smug satisfaction, but I sure did. The other moment in the running was the victory over Izzo in Germany. It showed us and the world that the Huskies were still a factor -- maybe even a bigger factor than before.

 

[Bonehead]

1988 - The year we won the NIT with Cliff - what a run that year!
This started it all!

Got food poisoning after one of the home games during the tourney - LA Tech I think.

 

[Matrim55]

1988 - The year we won the NIT with Cliff - what a run that year!
This started it all!

I think that was more "stunned amazement" than gratitude for me - though I was only 11 or 12 and didn't really get the full context.

Others responses above have already covered my top couple of moments, but another not far down the list which has not yet been mentioned was the HCKO debut ...

GREAT point. I think that might sneak into the top 10 for me.

By the way: I can't believe how close "This Is What Happens When You Ban Us" is to "77-74." I honestly felt, in '99, that nothing UConn basketball ever does will be in the same ballpark as beating a heavily favored Duke team for our first national title.

But beating UK and The Squid after what our program has been through over the past three years? And after most of the country writing us off following realignment?

Oh god, was this spring amazing.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I think that was more "stunned amazement" than gratitude for me - though I was only 11 or 12 and didn't really get the full context.


GREAT point. I think that might sneak into the top 10 for me.

By the way: I can't believe how close "This Is What Happens When You Ban Us" is to "77-74." I honestly felt, in '99, that nothing UConn basketball ever does will be in the same ballpark as beating a heavily favored Duke team for our first national title.

But beating UK and The Squid after what our program has been through over the past three years? And after most of the country writing us off following realignment?

Oh god, was this spring amazing.

The time since the championship until now has been "Basketball Nirvana." At times, such as when watching a replay after some time has passed, there is a sense of pure joy and intense amazement at what transpired. The Huskies pretty much controlled the last 5 games of the tournament (with some ups and downs here and there) in a manner that was shocking and just about perfect). The odds of having a 2011 season followed by our 2014 season would have to be astronomically unlikely..........and all the more sweet!

 

[August_West]

While nothing tops the elation of the 99 winning of the Duke invitational. I think from a pure satisfaction point this year takes the cake for me. We were left for dead in a crap conference, with a new coach, coming off an unfair ban. Winning this year was the ultimate you to everyone who ever tried to F us. The absolute icing on that cake is the Bazz "This is what happens when you ban us" comment on the national podium after the game. It stuck a thumb in the eye of Emmert and the ridiculous NCAA governing body. The win served notice that if people didn't know before, they know now : UConn is bigger than the NCAA, conference affiliation, pathetic "Brand driven" schools like eXCuse, and really anything else out there. You can play conference musical chairs, you can get more TV revenue, you can apply double standards to us and let other schools skate by (tar holes cough cough) it's all OK, we dont care, we will just take your championship trophy every couple years or so, thank you very much.

Bazz stuck his middle finger up at the world as a proxy for Husky Nation. I will always love him for that.

 

[Kitaman]

Beating a number one team is always special. Something magical about this game and deserves a spot if not an honorable mention.

 

[Matrim55]

While nothing tops the elation of the 99 winning of the Duke invitational. I think from a pure satisfaction point this year takes the cake for me. We were left for dead in a crap conference, with a new coach, coming off an unfair ban. Winning this year was the ultimate you to everyone who ever tried to F us. The absolute icing on that cake is the Bazz "This is what happens when you ban us" comment on the national podium after the game. It stuck a thumb in the eye of Emmert and the ridiculous NCAA governing body. The win served notice that if people didn't know before, they know now : UConn is bigger than the NCAA, conference affiliation, pathetic "Brand driven" schools like eXCuse, and really anything else out there. You can play conference musical chairs, you can get more TV revenue, you can apply double standards to us and let other schools skate by (tar holes cough cough) it's all OK, we dont care, we will just take your championship trophy every couple years or so, thank you very much.

Bazz stuck his middle finger up at the world as a proxy for Husky Nation. I will always love him for that.

This post sums up perfectly why Bazz is my favorite Husky of all-time. Never thought anyone would top Caron for me, but he did it.

 

[patrick]

For me the most GRATIFYING moment was:

Everybody thought we were going into the abyss BUT we went into MSG and not only beat Mich st. We owned NYC!

Then a week later we claimed #4
to me that's PRICELESS! !



A lot of gratifying moments in UCONN basketball history but that one really said you to all the haters! ! !


I'm tearing up just thinking about it!