It’s all about the criteria, as Biff said. If historical significance matters, then Lobo is a lock.
Personally, I’m curious about who the best four players are. I think Taurasi, Moore, and Stewie are givens, so the question is who’s #4. For me, the contenders are Lobo, Tina Charles, Sue Bird, Jen Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, and Moriah Jefferson. All of them were NPOY except Jefferson, who would have won it but for Stewie.
The stats for those three bigs (Lobo, Charles, and Wolters) are pretty close, as are the stats for those three point guards (Bird, Rizzotti, and MoJeff). As far as the eye test goes, my impression was that Tina Charles played at the highest level of the six, but only in her senior season. In that year, she was as good as her teammate Maya Moore, which really says it all.
However, this is about all four years, not just one. And in my opinion — which will probably be shouted down by everyone — Moriah Jefferson was the fourth best player in UConn history.
Believe me, I haven’t forgotten how good Sue Bird and Rebecca Lobo were. But I think Jefferson was even better. She was the best perimeter defender I’ve ever seen, a blur in transition, a great 3-point shooter, and a penetrator you couldn't stay in front of. And like every great point guard, she knew when to distribute and when to score. True, Bird was an even better 3-point shooter, as well as being perhaps the best player ever at running an offense. But MoJeff was no slouch in her own right at running an offense, and she was the better defender, had a much higher field goal percentage, and changed games by creating transition points for UConn via her speed. I’d give her the nod.
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