Path to the Draft: UCONN #3

[UConn Esq]

Top Five NBA Draftees Since 1989:

1. Ray Allen (1996)
2. Richard Hamilton (1999)
3. Clifford Robinson (1989)
4. Rudy Gay (2006)
5. Caron Butler (2002)

Sixth man: Ben Gordon (2005)

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/tag/_/name/path-to-the-draft-2013

This is a great point:
Why they could be ranked lower: I don't think they could. No. 4 Kentucky and No. 5 Duke both have similar dynamics at work -- lots of products, plenty of solid pro careers, and their fair share of busts, too -- but neither group has a player with a career like Allen's. (Grant Hill comes closest, but those devastating injuries make it harder to put him on the mountaintop.) So, no. UConn might have an argument to move up; it's much harder to justify the opposite direction.

 

[upstater]

BS!

The knocks against UConn sounds like reaching:

For example: If you think a lengthy list of players that comprises its fair share of duds is more impressive than a handful draftees, a significant number of which are bonafide Hall of Famers, then your rankings might look a little bit different than ours. In this case, you might see UConn's combination of Allen (an elite all-timer) alongside this collection of top players and think there's no way the Huskies could rank behind the next two teams on the list. Or maybe you take the opposite view — that the Thabeets and Dysons and El-Amins of the world prove that UConn's pro bonafides are overrated. Our essential goal has been to balance those two concerns, which is why No. 3 feels about right to me.

Maybe because they mentioned Dyson and El-Amin. They could have easily made the case with just Thabeet, Armstrong and Boone. But for every Boone, there was a Voskuhl who played for half a dozen years or more.

 

[iam76]

okafor averaging basically a double double his whole career isn't on list?

 

[UConn Esq]

Looking at the players ESPN didn't use.. I would say our "bench" could be pretty close to a top 10 in and of itself.

1. Kemba Walker
2. Emeka Okafor
3. Donyell Marshall
4. Kevin Ollie
5. Andre Drummond
6th Man: Charlie Villenueva

 

[DOZE860]

Yea, that and the fact that he said that Bazz was the clearest NBA prospect we have... Um, i would have to argue Daniels as the best pro prospect right now..

 

[aceboon]

why in the world would Brennan use El-Amin and Dyson as examples of our overrated pros?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

why in the world would Brennan use El-Amin and Dyson as examples of our overrated pros?

No kidding. You have Armstrong, Boone, and Williams to throw in the category with Thabeet and he chose those guys? El-Amin and Dyson are no different than 90% of the second round picks who never make it. Might as well have picked Denham Brown and Stanley Robinson.

 

[Penfield]

No kidding. You have Armstrong, Boone, and Williams to throw in the category with Thabeet and he chose those guys? El-Amin and Dyson are no different than 90% of the second round picks who never make it. Might as well have picked Denham Brown and Stanley Robinson.

Dyson didnt even get drafted. If anything the fact that Dyson and Adrien were able to play their way up from the D-League to the NBA after going undrafted should be bonus points for us.

 

[UConn Dan]

I don't think Brennan did his homework...

 

[bobbygt]

I have no problem with UNC being ahead of Uconn, but Georgetown?

They have a pretty good top 6 in Iverson, Mourning, Mutombo, Hibbert, Green, and Monroe, but that is really all they have.

Othello Harrington was decent, but look at the rest of their list:
Ruben BB (2 yrs), Don Reid (7 yrs), Charles Smith (6 yrs), Dajuan Summers (3 yrs and counting), Mike Sweetney (3 yrs), Jahidi White (6 yrs), Jerome Williams (8 yrs).

We're talking about 14 total players in 24 years.

You could give the edge to Georgetown for their top 6, but top 10 is all Uconn, and the total class puts Uconn way ahead of Georgetown.

 

[IMind]

Donyell gets a lot of crap because he didn't quite live up to his draft position (and his talent)... but it's not really deserved.. he had a pretty good career overall when everythings said and done. When you're seventh or eighth best pro had a 15 year career while averaging 11pts/7rbs that's pretty darn good.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't understand Brennan's argument. Is he suggesting our NBA contributions would be more impressive if guys like Khalid, Hilton, Thabeet had never gone to the NBA at all, rather than getting there and underachieving?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I don't understand Brennan's argument. Is he suggesting our NBA contributions would be more impressive if guys like Khalid, Hilton, Thabeet had never gone to the NBA at all, rather than getting there and underachieving?

His argument is that the quantity of NBA players was a big reason why we're third on the list. But the quality of NBA players is a big reason why we're not first or second.

 

[UCDaveD]

I have no problem with UNC being ahead of Uconn, but Georgetown?

They have a pretty good top 6 in Iverson, Mourning, Mutombo, Hibbert, Green, and Monroe, but that is really all they have.

Othello Harrington was decent, but look at the rest of their list:
Ruben BB (2 yrs), Don Reid (7 yrs), Charles Smith (6 yrs), Dajuan Summers (3 yrs and counting), Mike Sweetney (3 yrs), Jahidi White (6 yrs), Jerome Williams (8 yrs).

We're talking about 14 total players in 24 years.

You could give the edge to Georgetown for their top 6, but top 10 is all Uconn, and the total class puts Uconn way ahead of Georgetown.

Don't forget Ewing.

 

[aceboon]

Don't forget Ewing.

'89 on, Ewing isn't factored into this list, if it was UConn would be lower.

 

[UCDaveD]

'89 on, Ewing isn't factored into this list, if it was UConn would be lower.

Ah, gotcha. My fault.

 

[CTBasketball]

Dyson played in the NBA for like 15 games. He nearly averaged double digits.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

His argument is that the quantity of NBA players was a big reason why we're third on the list. But the quality of NBA players is a big reason why we're not first or second.

The crux of his argument is in the number of Hall of Famers specifically. He says we have only one guy who is guaranteed to be a member, Ray Allen. Georgetown will have more in the Hall, question is, how many will they have? How will this change in the near and distant future?

 

[Steve85]

The crux of his argument is in the number of Hall of Famers specifically. He says we have only one guy who is guaranteed to be a member, Ray Allen. Georgetown will have more in the Hall, question is, how many will they have? How will this change in the near and distant future?

well Iverson is a clear HOF player but Mourning is borderline. I would say no to Zo. Mutumbo? great defender but not HOF-worthy.

so IMHO, HOF-caliber at end of day: UCONN 1 GTown 1.

 

[Waquoit]

'89 on, Ewing isn't factored into this list, if it was UConn would be lower.

How do you figure?

 

[huskies20]

What this really showed is that we had the best one coach at getting tallent to the NBA.

 

[BoatShow]

My biggest issue is that he cited Khalid and Dyson. Like, why?

 

[Marat]

This was really a toss up to put UConn #3 instead of #2.

It'll be interesting to see how the recent/new crop of UConn players perform in the NBA. Who will be the next star?

 

[OkaForPrez]

This was really a toss up to put UConn #3 instead of #2.

It'll be interesting to see how the recent/new crop of UConn players perform in the NBA. Who will be the next star?

Drummond will Eclipse Kemba IMO. And I named my dog Kemba.

 

[Gurleyman]

I thought it would be a toss up with UNC for No. 1, but you never know what the writers are looking for. I did forget a couple Georgetown players as a mulled this over - Jaren Jackson (who had a role in a title off the bench with the Spurs) and Jerome Williams, who was a pretty good rebounder/role player.