name your top 10 huskies of all time

[Danzz]

Chris Smith and Wes B. should be on that list and possibly Tony Hanson.

 

[RWR15]

was having an argument about whether shabazz was better than Gordon. What do you think

Next to Rip, my all time favorite Huskies are Shabazz, Kemba and Boat based on heart, how hard they played and that they were able to put less talented teams on their backs and carry them to unexpected runs to the promised land. However, Gordon averaged 20 pts., 5 assts., 4rbs., and 21pts., 5rbs., 5assts. his soph. And jr. Years respectively in an era when the Big East was loaded with All Americans and top 25 teams. When Ben played and you tuned in to watch the Huskies play a mid level program, such as Houston or Temple, the game was a formality as the talent the Huskies had on floor guaranteed a W. They were beating teams by 40, and would have never have been run out of the gym by 40 to the likes of Louisville. Of the 4 NC's, 2004 was the only year that they not only won the tourney, but they were rwithout argument, after beating Duke, the best team in college basketball. Gordon went on to be the 3rd overall pick in the NBA draft, which proved to be no fluke as he was on the first team all rookie team, won the 6th man of the year award and finished his career with the Bulls 2nd all time in 3 pointers. I love Shabazz, even named my pet fish after him, but clearly Gentle Ben was the better basketball player.

 

[Joobie]

Can't do it~! I would need at least 3 different lists of players; one for heart & hustle, one for leadership & one for those who have given the most back to the program. Some of the same names would appear on all 3 lists, but not too many...

 

[Yankees32123]

Gotta be Bazz, Giffey, DeAndre, Adrien, Caron, KEA, Ray, Rip, Charlie V, and Ben G.

 

[RichZ]

Remember, you asked for favorites, not the best. These are the guys who I enjoyed watching the most over the last eon.

1. Emeka
2. Kemba
3. Bazz
4. Ricky
5. Ray
6. Caron
7. Rip
8. Thabeet
9. Toby Kimball
10. Jeff Adrien

Funny thing, I used to have a "Husky Hall of Fame" on my website. Last updated a year or so after the 2nd NC, I think. After I wrote this reply, I went looking for the old list, to see how much things have changed in a decade or so. There's only 4 players since then that have moved into my top 10. And Ben Gordon has inexplicably dropped all the way from fourth to somewhere outside my top ten.

Here's a link, if anyone's interested in checking it out.

And while I was wandering around the archives there, I found this, which I still can't disagree with. Not directly related to this post, but someone may find it interesting.

 

[Milo65]

Kemba, Rip, Ray, Donyell, Bazz, Ben, Okafor, Robinson, Dove, Khalid

 

[Mooch82]

Those that won championships.
KEA, Rip
EO, Ben
Kemba
Shabazz

Followed by Ray, Caron, Donyell, and Talik Brown, who was one hell of a tough point guard.

Taliek Brown won a championship, so if he's on your list, he should be in that section. But, he should be nowhere near this list.

I'm 32, so I'm not going to include the Toby Kimball's and Wes B.'s of the world as I never saw them play. My list, in no particular order.

Kemba
Bazz
Rip
Ray
Donyell
Emeka
Gordon
Caron
KEA

Last spot is extremely tough. Chris Smith? Honestly, I was too young when he was playing to really make an assessment on him. Sheffer? AJ Price? Johnnie Selvie? The last spot is hard, but these top 9 are no brainers for me.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Taliek Brown won a championship, so if he's on your list, he should be in that section. But, he should be nowhere near this list.

I'm 32, so I'm not going to include the Toby Kimball's and Wes B.'s of the world as I never saw them play. My list, in no particular order.

Kemba
Bazz
Rip
Ray
Donyell
Emeka
Gordon
Caron
KEA

Last spot is extremely tough. Chris Smith? Honestly, I was too young when he was playing to really make an assessment on him. Sheffer? AJ Price? Johnnie Selvie? The last spot is hard, but these top 9 are no brainers for me.

I turn 32 next month, and your list is nearly identical to mine, excepting that I did watch Smith and would put him in that 10th spot.

 

[Scottzer]

Can't argue on the carrying of the load, but I think Gentle Ben was more talented than Bazz. If Gordon were on a team that didn't have at least four other players who'd end up in the NBA, how many points do you think he would have scored? And he still ended up with a lot.

Almost an impossible question to answer. But under sodium pentothal I would say Shabazz as he carried so much of the load single-handedly. Yes Boat contributed lots but Napier carried so much on his own and lead the team physically and psychologically to the championship. Sad part is Boat did almost what Napier did but he had zero support players to close during most of season[/QUOTE

 

[Mooch82]

I turn 32 next month, and your list is nearly identical to mine, excepting that I did watch Smith and would put him in that 10th spot.

Beautiful! I did watch Smith as well, but was obviously pretty young so it's hard for me to remember exactly how I would compare him to some of these others. I'm comfortable putting him #10 on the list.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

We should make a list of our favorite 10 non-star Huskies.

Shad, Gavin Edwards, Niels, Denham, Taliek, Austrie, and Stanley Robinson come to mind. Then I have guys who I just loved regardless of their shortcomings like Chuck Okwandu, Wiggins, and Enosch, mostly because they made me laugh.

My non stars list include: Taliek, Niels, Rudy Johnson, Rahad Anderson, Charlie V. . Terry Coffey, Willie McCloud


Also how about your favorite short term(no term) Huskies: Phil Dixon, Sam Funches. Marcus Cox

 

[businesslawyer]

Look -- we had six who were national player of the year or first team All America candidates: Ray, Rip, Donyell, Shabazz, Kemba and Okafor. That's six. Personally, I don't think there is much of an argument that CAron is in the next 4. That's seven.

At that point, it becomes incredibly debatable and incredibly variable based on the criteria. I think it's hard to include anyone pre-Calhoun because they didn't play at the same competitive level, with the exception of Toby Kimball whose NBA career has to get him on the list. So the last three would come from Kimball, Cliff Robinson, KEA, Chris Smith, Sheffer, Donny Marshall, Ben Gordon, Josh Boone, Rudy Gay, A.J. Price, Thabeet and Jeff Adrien. Beyond that, you're not in the top ten. My last three -- Gordon, Gay and Smitty. But I can't believe people aren't considering Thabeet.

 

[SubbaBub]

Look -- we had six who were national player of the year or first team All America candidates: Ray, Rip, Donyell, Shabazz, Kemba and Okafor. That's six. Personally, I don't think there is much of an argument that CAron is in the next 4. That's seven.

At that point, it becomes incredibly debatable and incredibly variable based on the criteria. I think it's hard to include anyone pre-Calhoun because they didn't play at the same competitive level, with the exception of Toby Kimball whose NBA career has to get him on the list. So the last three would come from Kimball, Cliff Robinson, KEA, Chris Smith, Sheffer, Donny Marshall, Ben Gordon, Josh Boone, Rudy Gay, A.J. Price, Thabeet and Jeff Adrien. Beyond that, you're not in the top ten. My last three -- Gordon, Gay and Smitty. But I can't believe people aren't considering Thabeet.

Cliff, Gordon and Gay by a neck over Smith for the last spot.

As good as the other guys were, none were the alpha dog during their years at UConn and I say that believing Sheffer was the best non-title winning PG we've every had.

 

[Joobie]

Cliff, Gordon and Gay by a neck over Smith for the last spot.

As good as the other guys were, none were the alpha dog during their years at UConn and I say that believing Sheffer was the best non-title winning PG we've every had.

Better than Kevin Ollie? I gotta say, I am very surprised that HE isn't on this list.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Better than Kevin Ollie? I gotta say, I am very surprised that HE isn't on this list.

As a player? He was a solid PG, but nowhere near any sort of rational top-10 list.

 

[Joobie]

As a player? He was a solid PG, but nowhere near any sort of rational top-10 list.

I thought he was one of the guys, like Kemba & Bazz who made everyone else on the team better.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I thought he was one of the guys, like Kemba & Bazz who made everyone else on the team better.

I don't think he's even close to either of those guys. He definitely wasn't as good a player as Sheffer. Sheffer, Allen, and Knight all had their best seasons immediately after Ollie graduated, so I'd be hard-pressed to find the argument that he made them better.

 

[rip7774]

In There Own Stratosphere To Me:
1. Kemba (Started this latest, (apologies to KEA) new chapter of great scoring points
2. Bazz (GOAT to me with 2 NCs)
3. Ben Gordon (could do it all, remember Gentle Ben morphing into the guy carrying them in '04?)

1A
4. Emeka (so dominant, such a great ambassador for us, but I love guards that can shoot)
5. Ray Ray (the shot in the BET with the legs out - he's the reason this Pennsylvania kid started pulling for the Huskies when I was at Penn State)

Best of the Rest
6. Khalid El Amin
7. Sticks
8. Hasheem (what an improvement over the years)
9. Rashad (Onions, the shot against Dook with a few mins left to get us close in the Final Four)

Misc.
10. Tony Robertson - I thought he could've been an all-time great had he laid off the weed!


To me, this program is all about my respect and admiration for JC.

Even today, his legacy lives through KO. I love our head coaches even more than the players listed above - what they stand for and what they have weaved into the kids that wear Husky uniforms - the lack of entitlement but work harder mentality, the mental toughness in the pressure-packed moments - so many of the things that have made us successful.

 

[Excalibur]

Is this a favorite players list? If so,

1) Rip
2) Shabazz
3) Caron
4) KEA
5) Kemba
6) Ray
7) Okafor
8) Chris Smith
9) Donyell
10) Donny

 

[businesslawyer]

I thought he was one of the guys, like Kemba & Bazz who made everyone else on the team better.

KO was a good point who made people around him better. But he's not anywhere near a list of the top ten UConn players.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Next to Rip, my all time favorite Huskies are Shabazz, Kemba and Boat based on heart, how hard they played and that they were able to put less talented teams on their backs and carry them to unexpected runs to the promised land. However, Gordon averaged 20 pts., 5 assts., 4rbs., and 21pts., 5rbs., 5assts. his soph. And jr. Years respectively in an era when the Big East was loaded with All Americans and top 25 teams. When Ben played and you tuned in to watch the Huskies play a mid level program, such as Houston or Temple, the game was a formality as the talent the Huskies had on floor guaranteed a W. They were beating teams by 40, and would have never have been run out of the gym by 40 to the likes of Louisville. Of the 4 NC's, 2004 was the only year that they not only won the tourney, but they were rwithout argument, after beating Duke, the best team in college basketball. Gordon went on to be the 3rd overall pick in the NBA draft, which proved to be no fluke as he was on the first team all rookie team, won the 6th man of the year award and finished his career with the Bulls 2nd all time in 3 pointers. I love Shabazz, even named my pet fish after him, but clearly Gentle Ben was the better basketball player.

Shabazz's numbers in his junior season are slightly better than Ben's sophomore season. Ben took more shots, but Shabazz was ever so slightly more efficient. In their final seasons, Ben definitely shot a bit better from 3, but elsewhere they were basically equal or Shabazz was slightly better.

I think people have a tendency to underrate just how good Shabazz was as a junior(which is understandable considering the ban). I think you're also underestimating how good Okafor was.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Shabazz's numbers in his junior season are slightly better than Ben's sophomore season. Ben took more shots, but Shabazz was ever so slightly more efficient. In their final seasons, Ben definitely shot a bit better from 3, but elsewhere they were basically equal or Shabazz was slightly better.

I think people have a tendency to underrate just how good Shabazz was as a junior(which is understandable considering the ban). I think you're also underestimating how good Okafor was.

Yeah, he's looking at someone else's stats. Gordon never average 20ppg in a season.

 

[RWR15]

Yeah, he's looking at someone else's stats. Gordon never average 20ppg in a season.

Unless there was another Benjamin Ashenafi Gordon from Mount Vernon, NY who played basketball at the University of Connecticut from 2001-04 I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the right guys stats. Sorry Bruce, he actually averaged 19.5 his soph. year and 20.5 as a jr. (I always learned in math class to round off numbers when you see a decimal point). Actually when I compared Bazzs' jr./sr. stats to Bens so./jr. numbers they are pretty similar across the board. Both averaged around 5 assts. a game (however Napier was the primary ball handler on his team) and around 5 board's a game ,impressive for 2 undersized gaurds (though I would imagine that the ball would be a lot more likely to bounce off the rim and directly into your hands with Brimah and Nolan standing around under the basket as opposed to Okafor and Boone crashing the boards) But my point wasn't to care their numbers. Just to point out that Ben was putting up those numbers and winning championships against much stiffer competition. I was a little surprised to see that people were arguing that Shabazz was the better player and the general lack of love I see for Ben as read this thread (because in my mind he's up there with Ray, Rip, Yell, Okafor...) I tend to think that Okafor overshadowed Gordon as he was NPOY when they think of 04'...in 2014 you heard a lot about Boat being Robin to Shabazzs' Batman. This was a different scenario. I always felt as though we had the big man in the country and the best backcourt player (with the possible exception of Jameer Nelson).

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Bazz
DT
Ray
Mek
B. Turner
Stef Dolson
Maya the Magnificent
Uncle Cliffy
TuffJuice
Kemba

A Husky is a Husky to me.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Unless there was another Benjamin Ashenafi Gordon from Mount Vernon, NY who played basketball at the University of Connecticut from 2001-04 I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the right guys stats. Sorry Bruce, he actually averaged 19.5 his soph. year and 20.5 as a jr. (I always learned in math class to round off numbers when you see a decimal point). Actually when I compared Bazzs' jr./sr. stats to Bens so./jr. numbers they are pretty similar across the board. Both averaged around 5 assts. a game (however Napier was the primary ball handler on his team) and around 5 board's a game ,impressive for 2 undersized gaurds (though I would imagine that the ball would be a lot more likely to bounce off the rim and directly into your hands with Brimah and Nolan standing around under the basket as opposed to Okafor and Boone crashing the boards) But my point wasn't to care their numbers. Just to point out that Ben was putting up those numbers and winning championships against much stiffer competition. I was a little surprised to see that people were arguing that Shabazz was the better player and the general lack of love I see for Ben as read this thread (because in my mind he's up there with Ray, Rip, Yell, Okafor...) I tend to think that Okafor overshadowed Gordon as he was NPOY when they think of 04'...in 2014 you heard a lot about Boat being Robin to Shabazzs' Batman. This was a different scenario. I always felt as though we had the big man in the country and the best backcourt player (with the possible exception of Jameer Nelson).

He averaged 18.5 as a junior. Not sure where you're getting your numbers. http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/ben-gordon-1.html

 

[David 76]

The thread says "Top ten Huskies" not pros not favorites as far as I can tell.
Ray
Donyell
Bazz
Kemba
Emeka
Chris
Rip
Ben
Wes
Toby

Easy for me to leave Dove, AD, and Rudy out as short timers but it is very hard to leave Caron off this list, Also very hard to leave KEA and Uncle Cliffy off. I think the youngsters leave the team's leading scorer off. Kind of crazy. I think Wes & Toby showed they could compete in any era.

Very surprised at a few of the names that showed up on some of these lists. Some good players and great teammates. But no comparison in my book. Taliek, Tony, Jeff, Charlie V (as a husky) even one of my favorite Huskies, Donny can't knock anyone off this list. Caron, KEA, & Cliff are arguable

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Taliek Brown won a championship, so if he's on your list, he should be in that section. But, he should be nowhere near this list.

I'm 32, so I'm not going to include the Toby Kimball's and Wes B.'s of the world as I never saw them play. My list, in no particular order.

Kemba
Bazz
Rip
Ray
Donyell
Emeka
Gordon
Caron
KEA

Last spot is extremely tough. Chris Smith? Honestly, I was too young when he was playing to really make an assessment on him. Sheffer? AJ Price? Johnnie Selvie? The last spot is hard, but these top 9 are no brainers for me.

I agree with your top 9 above and would put the last spot between Hasheem, AJ, and Chris Smith, with the winner going to .............................................Chris Smith. But what got me to post is your inclusion of Johnnie Selvie and no emoticon with a wink or anything. You are kidding, right?

 

[RichZ]

The thread says "Top ten Huskies" not pros not favorites as far as I can tell.

Actually, it says "your top 10 huskies of all time'" which implies favorites.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I'm a huge Rudy supporter, and he's at least one of the 5 best UConn NBA players, but you could make the argument very easily that Jeremy Lamb was a better at UConn than he was. Somehow Jeremy never gets any consideration in these types of threads.

 

[champs99and04]

I'm a huge Rudy supporter, and he's at least one of the 5 best UConn NBA players, but you could make the argument very easily that Jeremy Lamb was a better at UConn than he was. Somehow Jeremy never gets any consideration in these types of threads.

Yeah, I don't see any argument for Rudy being in the top ten.