Poll: Greatest Husky of All Time

[8893]

Men's basketball players only considered.

I included all the #1 and #2 seeds from the brackets and listed them in alphabetical order. I was very close to adding Khalid as my personal favorite, but that would have been biased and opened the door to all the #3 seeds, which I don't think is realistic for the GOAT, no matter how you characterize it.

Obviously this is not just stats. Not just championships. Not just college and not just NBA. Not just on the court but off the court, too; i.e., who do you think is the greatest Husky of all-time? All things considered, who do you think is the single greatest representative of all the things you think it means to be a Husky?

You cannot change your vote.

You can only view the results after voting.

Poll will close in seven days.

 

[Palatine]

Meg Ryan.

 

[JimHurley]

Before I vote, is this based solely on their careers at UConn?

 

[8893]

Meg Ryan.

Men's basketball players only considered.

 

[8893]

Before I vote, is this based solely on their careers at UConn?

Obviously this is not just stats. Not just championships. Not just college and not just NBA. Not just on the court but off the court, too; i.e., who do you think is the greatest Husky of all-time? All things considered, who do you think is the single greatest representative of all the things you think it means to be a Husky?

 

[BlueMAB]

Early exit polls show a landslide.

 

[JimHurley]

Guess I should’ve read the whole thing haha. Thanks!

 

[Drumguy]

Guess I should’ve read the whole thing haha. Thanks!

I'm glad I did, changed my vote. It'd be interesting how the vote would change if you just considered college career. NBA career is a no brainer.

 

[JimHurley]

I'm glad I did, changed my vote. It'd be interesting how the vote would change if you just considered college career. NBA career is a no brainer.

Agreed, hence why I am a little surprised over the results so far.

 

[8893]

I'm glad I did, changed my vote. It'd be interesting how the vote would change if you just considered college career. NBA career is a no brainer.

Agreed, hence why I am a little surprised over the results so far.

I think it depends on how much you weight you give the NBA career. It was a consideration for me, but not as much as the college career or championship.

 

[JimHurley]

I think it depends on how much you weight you give the NBA career. It was a consideration for me, but not as much as the college career or championship.

I think for me it came down “Who’s the first name I think of when I think UConn basketball?” It was actually pretty easy for me. If it were only college career I would’ve chosen different but my choice IMO is the easy choice for “greatest” Husky.

 

[B1GEast]

What Kemba did makes him not only the greatest Husky, but one of the greatest college players ever. When you bring up March Madness, Kemba always pops up

 

[JimHurley]

What Kemba did makes him not only the greatest Husky, but one of the greatest college players ever. When yoy bring up March Madness, Kemba always pops up

In college, yes. But when you consider everything 8893 described, to me it’s Ray.

 

[Drumguy]

I think for me it came down “Who’s the first name I think of when I think UConn basketball?” It was actually pretty easy for me. If it were only college career I would’ve chosen different but my choice IMO is the easy choice for “greatest” Husky.

I wonder how much Ray's recent distancing hurts him on this poll. The way 8893 worded it "the single greatest representative of all the things you think it means to be a Husky?" made me shift my vote.

 

[CL82]

What Kemba did makes him not only the greatest Husky, but one of the greatest college players ever. When yoy bring up March Madness, Kemba always pops up

Those last 11 games were amazing. The five games in five days were legendary. Hard to pick anyone else. Maybe Bazz since he was there for that run and his own in his senior year.

 

[8893]

Those last 11 games were amazing. The five games in five days were legendary. Hard to pick anyone else. Maybe Bazz since he was there for that run and his own in his senior year.

That and the intangibles is why I have to go with Kemba.

I wonder how much Ray's recent distancing hurts him on this poll. The way 8893 worded it "the single greatest representative of all the things you think it means to be a Husky?" made me shift my vote.

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but the same "representative" considerations tipped in favor of Kemba for me. The championship matters. Putting the team on his back mattered. As @CL82 and @B1GEast note, the eleven game run and the five in five days mattered. And he really could not be better a ambassador for everything you would want the University to represent.

I have said this before and been pilloried for it, but I always had a perception of Ray as a little soft in college. Perhaps it was JC's game plan, but my image of him is always camped at the three point line, not driving and mixing it up like Kemba, Rip or Shabazz so often did. And, fair or not, the lack of a NC hurts him imo.

 

[BGesus4]

In college, yes. But when you consider everything 8893 described, to me it’s Ray.

Kemba had the greatest season a Husky ever had (and one of the best ever for a college player). It was the most impressive performance I've ever seen as a UConn fan.
But even when I thought it was just college, I wanted to say kemba but had to say ray, due to what he meant to establishing UConn as UConn.

Also, think Rip always gets unfairly overlooked a bit.

 

[CTBasketball]

Ambassador/face of the program right now? Ray has the edge probably because he’s older and has more noticeable NBA success. I think Kemba will outpace him within 5-10 years though.

 

[McLovin]

There is one guy on that list who is ALWAYS smiling. He also is an NBA all-star, NCAA tournament champion, Final Four MOP, and heavily involved in his local charities. Kemba has my vote to be the face of UConn any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

[JimHurley]

Kemba had the greatest season a Husky ever had (and one of the best ever for a college player). It was the most impressive performance I've ever seen as a UConn fan.
But even when I thought it was just college, I wanted to say kemba but had to say ray, due to what he meant to establishing UConn as UConn.

Also, think Rip always gets unfairly overlooked a bit.

All spot on. I’d say Ray is the best all-around player in UConn history (college and pro). Kemba had the single greatest season in UConn history. Shabazz had the most accomplished college career in UConn history.

 

[LStudfellow]

Just to verbalize up front what so many of us are probably thinking - it is really hard to choose between Kemba, Ray, Rip and Emeka in particular. Each one of those guys has meant so much to our program in their own way. Almost feels like I am slighting the others by picking one.

In fact, I like the "Mount Rushmore" approach much better, because it is easy to pick 4 or 5 guys rather than just one.

All that having been said - to me it has to be Kemba, because the 2010-2011 season would have been nothing without him... nothing. There is no one player who has put more on his back and carried a team, a program, an entire Nation (referring to Husky Nation, not the entire country) than he did. Only Danny Manning in 1988 with his "Danny and the Miracles" team comes close.

Now let's take a look at pro careers. Yes, Ray's pro career will end up being better than Kemba's. He was just voted #56 on the All-Time list. You can quibble whether he should be higher or lower, but either way it will end up most likely better than Kemba's career. It can be argued that Rip's career will also measure as better when put side-by-side to Kemba's when all is said and done.

But we should not underestimate what Kemba has done in his own career and what we will see once he retires. Through his tireless work ethic and desire to be the best he can be. He has been stuck in the wasteland that is Charlotte for his entire career until this year. Every year he got better and even lead that very average team to the playoffs a few years back, barely losing to a significantly better Miami Heat team in 7 games. He is a 4-time All-Star (the last 4 years in a row and counting), 3rd Team All-NBA last year, and a 2-Time Winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award (2017 & 2018). And of course he just received that 4-year max contract from the Celtics before this year and is a main reason they are 43-21 and 3rd in the conference. I hope there are some type of playoffs this year so we can see what Kemba can do as part of a serious contender for the first time in his NBA career.

It's close, but to me the greatest 11-game run in NCAA post-season tournament history in addition to his sustained all-star level play combined with his overall ambassadorship for our program and the game of basketball in general gives the slight nod to Kemba above all others.

 

[SubbaBub]

Ray is the best player. Kemba is the best Husky.

 

[JimHurley]

Ray is the best player. Kemba is the best Husky.

This right here. But I still think there's an argument for Shabazz as greatest Husky. I'd lean Kemba, but there's certainly an argument for Bazz.

 

[SubbaBub]

I think for me it came down “Who’s the first name I think of when I think UConn basketball?” It was actually pretty easy for me. If it were only college career I would’ve chosen different but my choice IMO is the easy choice for “greatest” Husky.

The answer to that is actually Calhoun but for a player it's Ray, but Kemba is the prototypical Husky, Calhoun himself said so.

Any trait you want to assign any of the former greats, you can assign to Kemba. Talent, charisma, leadership, toughness, heart, will to win, he is the glowing Space Jam basketball of what it means to be a UConn Husky.

 

[JimHurley]

The answer to that is actually Calhoun but for a player it's Ray, but Kemba is the prototypical Husky, Calhoun himself said so.

Any trait you want to assign any of the former greats, you can assign to Kemba. Talent, charisma, leadership, toughness, heart, will to win, he is the glowing Space Jam basketball of what it means to be a UConn Husky.

Yup, nothing you said is wrong. To me Ray + Kemba are the only two real options. Maybe it's a generation thing.