Poll: Greatest Husky of All Time | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Poll: Greatest Husky of All Time

Who is the Greatest Husky of All Time?

  • Ray Allen

    Votes: 58 21.6%

  • Ben Gordon

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Rip Hamilton

    Votes: 14 5.2%

  • Donyell Marshall

    Votes: 3 1.1%

  • Shabazz Napier

    Votes: 31 11.6%

  • Emeka Okafor

    Votes: 16 6.0%

  • Chris Smith

    Votes: 3 1.1%

  • Kemba Walker

    Votes: 143 53.4%
  • Total voters
    268
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
huskyrob1 said:
Walt Dropo.....and it's not even close if going beyond basketball.
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Yeah, I knew that historical guys like Dropo, Hanson, Wes, Corny, Kimball and Quimby would get short shrift because of recency bias—few here saw any of them play, and none of them won a National Championship.

freescooter said:
I don’t know. Shabazz did the same thing 2 years later as a bracket filler 7 seed with a worse coach AND he was a significant piece of the Kemba team. If available though I would vote for Khalid. He took a program with a long and frustrating history of almost and refused to give in ever.
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Khalid was the toughest one for me to leave out. He is my favorite; but I think “greatest“ is different.
 
It's really tough to not choose Kemba but I give it to Emeka.

Ray was our best pro.
Kemba had the best individual season and is synonymous with March Madness.
Bazz won two championships.

But Emeka was the most dominant player we ever had, in part because he was so unbelievable on defense. I still believe he's the best defensive player college basketball has seen in the last 25 years. He could win games on the defensive end of the court alone but he'd still give you 18 points on the other end. He was a beast on the glass, unselfish, a great leader, and a tough dude.

He was the best player on the best team we ever had. He's the highest draft pick we've ever had for a reason. Of course, he was a stud off the court and in the classroom as well. It sucks his NBA career was cut short due to injuries.
 
8893 said:
Yeah, I knew that historical guys like Dropo, Hanson, Wes, Corny, Kimball and Quimby would get short shrift because of recency bias—few here saw any of them play, and none of them won a National Championship.


Khalid was the toughest one for me to leave out. He is my favorite; but I think “greatest“ is different.
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Did you listen to the replay of the game at Pitt with KEA doing live commentary? It was hysterical, especially when they asked him what he said when he jumped up on the scorers table after the game. The only part I can quote here is "... and your raggedy ass gym, too!"
 
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CL82 said:
Did you listen to the replay of the game at Pitt with KEA doing live commentary? It was hysterical, especially when they asked him what he said when he jumped up on the scorers table after the game. The only part I quote here is "... and your raggedy ass gym, too."
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No, I missed that. That's fantastic though.

I'm sure I've said this here before, but I remember the first time I saw him play at Gampel I instantly felt that he had what we had been missing. And I loved how he pushed Calhoun, too. I don't think Calhoun ever gave any player a wider berth. But I do remember him pulling Khalid down from that scorer's table with a disapproving look. Khalid didn't happen to mention what Calhoun said to him, did he?
 
8893 said:
No, I missed that. That's fantastic though.

I'm sure I've said this here before, but I remember the first time I saw him play at Gampel I instantly felt that he had what we had been missing. And I loved how he pushed Calhoun, too. I don't think Calhoun ever gave any player a wider berth. But I do remember him pulling Khalid down from that scorer's table with a disapproving look. Khalid didn't happen to mention what Calhoun said to him, did he?
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Nope. I think it is still posted on The UConn Blog. You should check it out.
 
JimHurley said:
Yup, nothing you said is wrong. To me Ray + Kemba are the only two real options. Maybe it's a generation thing.
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In my mind rip is ahead of Ray......comparing college credentials I don’t see rays case
 
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CL82 said:
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.
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I had to go with Bazz, because he was the only guy on that list with 2 NCs.
 
uconnfan68 said:
I had to go with Bazz, because he was the only guy on that list with 2 NCs.
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I don't know if that's the end all, but it's not nothing, that's for sure.
 
lol, no bazz was special for sure. he was obviously a huge part of the 2011 team. he had to deal with drummond nonsensical year and made it back to a final four as a leader
 
JimHurley said:
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.
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You ever see Ray or Rip or Oak ? or were you to young to understand.

Bazz is not there he is the next tier below.
Gordon is on that level too.

It’s absolutely insane to put Bazz above Kemba.
 
Captbluefin said:
It’s absolutely insane to put Bazz above Kemba.
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I wouldn't do it, but it is definitely not insane. Bazz has the extra natty. He stuck with team during the ban and more importantly was a leader during the ban year and the championship year. And then there's this...

 
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8893 said:
Yeah, I knew that historical guys like Dropo, Hanson, Wes, Corny, Kimball and Quimby would get short shrift because of recency bias—few here saw any of them play, and none of them won a National Championship.


Khalid was the toughest one for me to leave out. He is my favorite; but I think “greatest“ is different.
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You can't compare any of them to Dropo, he graduated as UConn's all time leading scorer in basketball, was drafted by the Chicago Bears for his football exploits at UConn, but decided to play baseball in which he was the first ever Boston Red Sox player to be named AL Rookie of the Year in 1950, also an All star as a rookie, set the Boston Red Sox record for most home runs by a rookie with 34, and tied the AL record for consecutive hits with 16 in four games in 1952.

As an all around athlete, no one comes close.
 
I think a lot of people forget what Bazz went through in his sophomore and junior years. The void that Kemba left was massive and Bazz tried to step into it when he wasn’t ready to lead. He lost the locker room and it humbled him. He lost the greatest program architect of all time as a coach and had to anchor the 2013 huskies in a year they were banned from the post season. If I remember correctly the last game of that lost season everyone was injured. Bazz played his ass off on the road at a FLA directional school fought through pain. He gave this program everything he had. I surprised myself when I looked back, but Bazz had every bit of the intangibles that Kemba had.
 
OkaForPrez said:
I think a lot of people forget what Bazz went through in his sophomore and junior years. The void that Kemba left was massive and Bazz tried to step into it when he wasn’t ready to lead. He lost the locker room and it humbled him. He lost the greatest program architect of all time as a coach and had to anchor the 2013 huskies in a year they were banned from the post season. If I remember correctly the last game of that lost season everyone was injured. Bazz played his ass off on the road at a FLA directional school fought through pain. He gave this program everything he had. I surprised myself when I looked back, but Bazz had every bit of the intangibles that Kemba had.
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100% true. He played a pretty big role on the 2011 team. Then everything he went though his sophomore and junior seasons that you mentioned. He followed that up with a fantastic senior season, being the best player in the country and leading us to #4. He’s right up there with Kemba, Ray, and Mek for best all time.
 
Captbluefin said:
You ever see Ray or Rip or Oak ? or were you to young to understand.

Bazz is not there he is the next tier below.
Gordon is on that level too.

It’s absolutely insane to put Bazz above Kemba.
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Not Ray or Rip. Remember very little of Emeka. But I’m not arguing that Shabazz was a better player than those guys. He wasn’t. But he has more accolades and accomplishments than those guys.

2 National titles, 1st team all Big East, 1st team all AAC, 1st team All-American, Bob Cousy award winner, Final 4 MOP, carried us through the postseason ban. As far as impact on the program, it’s not insane to put Bazz ahead of anyone.
 
I love Bazz, but I look at it this way: if all these players were lined up in a gym (their peak college version), Bazz isn’t one of the first four taken. I think I would go Okafor but trying to pick between him, Ray, Rip, and Kemba is really tough.

Now that I’ve said that, I really want to see that pick up game!
 
JimHurley said:
Not Ray or Rip. Remember very little of Emeka. But I’m not arguing that Shabazz was a better player than those guys. He wasn’t. But he has more accolades and accomplishments than those guys.

2 National titles, 1st team all Big East, 1st team all AAC, 1st team All-American, Bob Cousy award winner, Final 4 MOP, carried us through the postseason ban. As far as impact on the program, it’s not insane to put Bazz ahead of anyone.
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For reference, I pulled this from Okafor’s Wikipedia page.
 
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huskyrob1 said:
You can't compare any of them to Dropo, he graduated as UConn's all time leading scorer in basketball, was drafted by the Chicago Bears for his football exploits at UConn, but decided to play baseball in which he was the first ever Boston Red Sox player to be named AL Rookie of the Year in 1950, also an All star as a rookie, set the Boston Red Sox record for most home runs by a rookie with 34, and tied the AL record for consecutive hits with 16 in four games in 1952.

As an all around athlete, no one comes close.
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I think Scott Burrell comes close... but different times.
 
8893 said:
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.
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I'm glad you laid it all out, because those are the types of things that weigh on my decision in this type of situation.

There's multiple ways you can go, obviously.

I think based on everything, all things equal, I have to say Kemba. He encompasses EVERYTHING. Ray is missing some major things in the form of championship or even a F4. Plus he didn't have that personality, leadership, pizzazz if you will. Kemba is who anyone over the last 10 years thinks of first when talking UConn (not diehards like us, but general fans).

Shabazz and Rip are the 2 most overlooked in this type of question, but that's just how it goes.

I think Ray Allen is the best player to ever lace em up for UConn. I think Shabazz and Rip had the best overall careers. But Kemba embodies it all.

Shabazz will always be a mount rushmore guy for me (my son's nickname is Baz) but I feel like he's hurt by Kemba in this regard ... Kemba was the main reason for his first chip and probably takes away some of the glory of his spectacular run since it just happened in a more dramatic way 3 years earlier.
 
lavuuk153 said:
For reference, I pulled this from Okafor’s Wikipedia page.
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Here is Wikipedia for Shabazz:
Career highlights and awards
2× NCAA champion (2011, 2014)
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2014)
Consensus first-team All-American (2014)
Bob Cousy Award (2014)
AAC Player of the Year (2014)
First-team All-AAC (2014)
First-team All-Big East (2013)

Damn impressive.
 
fatlucy said:
No way Bazz, whom I love, is better than Mek.
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"better" depends on how you view it. Better overall player? You're probably right, but that's not the question. Best overall player is Ray, Emeka, Rip, Donyell in that order. But they aren't the greatest Husky (all IMO of course).

In a "greatest Husky ever" discussion, EXACTLY as it is laid out here, Bazz is at least on par with Emeka. He's got 2 rings, signature moments, a conference player of the year trophy, big time numbers ...
 
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lavuuk153 said:
I love Bazz, but I look at it this way: if all these players were lined up in a gym (their peak college version), Bazz isn’t one of the first four taken. I think I would go Okafor but trying to pick between him, Ray, Rip, and Kemba is really tough.

Now that I’ve said that, I really want to see that pick up game!
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That’s fair, but we’re talking greatest Husky not best. Greatness is determined by the legacy you left behind. Being the best is simply being the best. My argument is Shabazz’s UConn legacy is as great as any. He was far from the best player in UConn history, but his legacy is up there.
 
Mr. French said:
"better" depends on how you view it. Better overall player? You're probably right, but that's not the question. Best overall player is Ray, Emeka, Rip, Donyell in that order. But they aren't the greatest Husky (all IMO of course).

In a "greatest Husky ever" discussion, EXACTLY as it is laid out here, Bazz is at least on par with Emeka. He's got 2 rings, signature moments, a conference player of the year trophy, big time numbers ...
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You posted this one second before I did! We’re talking greatest, not best. I’d never argue Shabazz is the best Husky. That’s easily Kemba, Ray, Rip, and Okafor. I might put Ben, Caron, and Donyell over Shabazz too if we’re talking best. But greatest? The only ones that compete with Bazz are Kemba and Mek.
 
JimHurley said:
That’s fair, but we’re talking greatest Husky not best. Greatness is determined by the legacy you left behind. Being the best is simply being the best. My argument is Shabazz’s UConn legacy is as great as any. He was far from the best player in UConn history, but his legacy is up there.
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Shabazz was certainly one of the best UConn ever had on defense. Wish I had $20 for every time I saw Shabazz pick an opposing guards pocket.
 
uconnfan68 said:
I think Scott Burrell comes close... but different times.
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If Burrell had starred at UConn playing for Randy Edsall or Skip Holtz or whoever, and was a Major league All star, I'd say ok.

That being said, as a great all around athlete, Burrell comes closer than anyone else I can think of.
 
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