Put the 90, 99, 04 and 11 teams in a Final Four - best match ups and who wins

[OxyUCONNtin]

NM

 

[Palatine]

How about the only team to score 90 points every NCAA game.

Ray Allen
Kevin Ollie
Donny Marshall
Travis Knight
Brian Fair
Eric Hayward
Kirk King
Doron Sheffer
Uri Cohen-Mintz
Rudy Johnson
Ruslan Inyatkin
Justin Srb
Marcus Thomas
Nantambu Willingham
Greg Yeomans

 

[Rondogg]

95-96

 

[Adios]

Greg Yeomans

Used to know him as a floormate. Still have no idea how he made it onto the basketball team when he was playing golf for the school.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

The 2004 team: Taliek Brown (all-time Uconn assist leader) Ben Gordon (#3 overall pick) Rashad Anderson (all-time Uconn 3 point leader) Josh Boone (1st round pick) Emeka Okafor (#2 overall pick) Denham Brown (2nd round pick) Charlie Villanueva (lottery pick) Hilton Armstrong (lottery pick) And for good measure, another first round pick (Marcus Williams) failed off after first semester.

 

[wpq4elamin]

I don't really think there is a question... the 2004 team was the best uconn team ever... hands down- they had a guard and a big man who could both take over games in Gordon (see BET)and Okafor (see NCAA), a 4 (boone) who was a great rebounder and shot blocker, a damn good pure point guard (though much maligned), a great knock down three point shooter (rashad) and some "other" guys thrown in there for good measure who were pretty damn good pieces (Denham as a scorer, Charlie as another post body who had some decent games)

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

As difficult as it is to pick against Kemba in any form, it's '04 hands down. But I'd pay to see a Kemba-Khalid matchup.

 

[rw005]

I'd like to see a Calhoun battle too, Calhoun of 98-99 vs. 03-04. Now that would be amazing.

 

[wpq4elamin]

As difficult as it is to pick against Kemba in any form, it's '04 hands down. But I'd pay to see a Kemba-Khalid matchup.

what about a kemba-ricky moore matchup?!?! iverson once said he was the toughest defender he'd ever faced... now that would have been a great matchup

 

[mets1090]

04 and 99 meet in the finals. 04 wins. Okafor and Gordon is just too much, especially when you factor in guys like Taliek, Boone, Anderson etc.

 

[Waquoit]

I'm going with the 90 team in the upset. That press was incredible.

 

[BankShot]

Elite 8?
2004 Nat'l Champs
1999 Nat'l Champs
2011 Nat'l Champs
1990 Dream Season
2009 Final Four
2006 Elite 8
2002 Elite 8
1996 Elite 8

 

[Excalibur]

'99 and '04 make the finals, and I'm not sure that it's as "hands down" as many would make it. Did the '04 roster have better talent? Sure. But they didn't really click until the Big East tournament.

The frontcourt is a huge advantage for the '04 team, but if Voskuhl stays out of foul trouble he could contain Okafor offensively. Okafor would make both Voskuhl and Feeman non-factors, but the '99 team didn't rely on them to score except for Freeman in transition. '04 would own the boards with Okafor and Boone. Put Ricky Moore on Gordon, you can keep Gordon contained. Moore made some great guards complete non-factors. I'm pretty sure he could keep Ben from going off. Meanwhile, '04 has nobody to guard Rip. Depth is a big advantage for the 2004 team.

 

[bobbygt]

As good as 2004 was, who can bet against 1999???

The 2004 UConn team is like Duke 1999.

The 1999 team wins.

 

[Stinger92860]

NM

I think the 05-06 team wins....

 

[UChusky916]

No one has any faith in the '09 final 4 team?

Why is that the most forgotten final4 ever?! (ESPN forgot as well)

 

[Wolferowski]

I'm going with the 99 squad over the 04 squad. (A little bias, since 98/99 was my jr year)

I think the 98/99 Calhoun would double up on Okafor (like he did to Brand) and stick moore on Gordon to limit him.
Rip and company would be too much!!!!!!

 

[alexd]

Cool thread.

You know what’s amazing? Here we’re looking at particular UCONN teams of the past. If you took our Elite 8 teams since 1990, there are 9 of them to compare. That’s quite a job. If you took the Syracuse Elite 8 teams during the same time period, it would be a pretty easy task. There are 2 of them.

 

[60'sfan]

Interesting discussion. IMHO the '99 team would win because it was the best team. It was not the most talented but everyone knew their role and played it to perfection. I think the most talented team to win the NC was the '2004 team but the most talented players were on the 2006 team. Just as information, the 1999 team lost only two games while 2004 lost six times.

 

[Hoophound]

Interesting discussion. IMHO the '99 team would win because it was the best team. It was not the most talented but everyone knew their role and played it to perfection. I think the most talented team to win the NC was the '2004 team but the most talented players were on the 2006 team. Just as information, the 1999 team lost only two games while 2004 lost six times.

+1. One or both of those losses were with injured players missing or severely hampered. 99 was a giant killer and imo the best UConn team of all time. I also think it was structured right for competing with the 04 team. We had a stopper to guard BG, 2-3 serviceable bigs to guard Mek and a true star in Rip to carry the team (like he did against Duke). It would be a great game but I go with Rip, Khalid and Ricky against almost anyone when push comes to shove. They were ruthless and you couldn't get in their heads. I think they rattle the 04 team and take em down in crunch time by 1-6 points.

 

[Gurleyman]

Put me in the 1999 camp. The 1999 team could put Ricky on Ben, but the 2004 team wouldn't have a good defensive matchup for Rip. The 1999 team was the best crunch time defensive team we ever had. Even the one game we lost that year to Miami, we shut Miami out for five minutes to come from behind and they broke a tie because Tim James caught an airball and drew a foul (then Khalid slipped at the other end). But props to Miami - they beat us fair and square, when nobody else could. Just have to tip your cap to them.

 

[Waquoit]

Interesting discussion. IMHO the '99 team would win because it was the best team. It was not the most talented but everyone knew their role and played it to perfection.

I think we were the best team and more talented and had the better game coach that year. They had the advantage at center but we had the better PG and SF. Freeman was better than Carrawell. Battier wasn't as that, that year. Maggette was a liability everytime he was on the floor. I swear he was the only guy Albie ever took off the dribble. The Alaskan Assassin had to shoot out of his mind to keep the game as close as it was. Here is my favorite post-game reaction from the late, great Suck.com.

 

[ASweet3781]

1999 in a heartbeat. They lost 2 games all year. One to Miami by 2. One to Syracuse without Rip and Jake. The team they beat in the finals received as much hype as any college team since the FAB 5/UNLV of that decade. They just ran a St. John's team that made the Elite 8 (and should have made the Final 4) off the their homecourt in the BE Final. They went out to Stanford and beat them short handed. They blew out Michigan State who made the Final 4 that year. They found ways to win games that looked lost (Khalid's jumper at Pitt, the rally from double digit 2nd half deficit at St. John's.) They had the talent, the toughness, and the consistency. They broke the Elite 8 curse and gutted out a game where everything was going wrong against Gonzaga and got Calhoun his first Final 4. They were the best team.

2004 most talented team. They had some ups and downs in the regular season especially with Okafor's back injury but Emeka, Ben, Boone, Taliek, Denham, with Rashad, Hilton, and Charlie V coming off the bench? Ridiculous. Besides Duke, no opponent they faced in the NCAA's belonged on the same court as them.

2011 is next because they won the championship and had Kemba. They went out and won 2 games on the road to make the Final 4, something every previous UConn team failed to do in the NCAA's when they played in hostile environments.

Next comes the 2009 team because they made the Final 4. I place stock it how you do in the NCAA's when it counts. Several of the 5 Elite 8 teams we had and 4 Sweet 16's could have made the Final 4 and didn't so they deserve the credit for making it.

Next comes the Elite 8 teams. 1995 the best hands down. As Palatine said they scored over 90 points in every NCAA game. If they were in any other region they'd have made the Finals against UCLA. 1990 should have made the Final 4 and had the best press in UConn history. 2006 is next. Probably the only year we should have won for sure and didn't. But they never came together. And had the worst loss in UConn history. 2002 and 1998 were about the same. Both young teams that went from NIT to Elite 8 and were a year away. They were both eliminated by the best teams in the country that year. Maryland won it all, UNC with Carter should have but didn't.

Sweet 16 1996 and 1994 both very strong. Both should have made the Final 4 but were upset by SEC teams. 1996 wouldn't have counted anyways so who cares. 2003 really peaked in the NCAA's. If they had been on a neutral court they very likely beat Texas. 1991 accomplished a lot making it that far.

 

[Gurleyman]

1999 in a heartbeat. They lost 1 game all year. To Miami by 2.

Fixed for you.

And don't forget to give props to Miami. They beat us fair and square. It would have been nice to go undefeated, but that loss toughened us up a little for the stretch run. Sometimes you just have to salute the other guys for a job well done, and lick your wounds.

(Alas, only maybe five people on here will even understand this post - but at least it's funny to those five)

 

[champs99and04]

In a best of seven format, the 04 squad probably wins in six games. But in a one and done, all the marbles on the line format, the 99 team would be my pick. Duke was considered one of the best teams of all-time heading into that game and they pretty much got out-played from start to finish. Ricky Moore was such a weapon. He could literally take away the other teams best perimeter player (in this case, ben gordon). Emeka would be a lot to handle, but if the 99 team could contain Brand, they could probably contain Emeka as well.

The 04 team was insanely talented, probably one of the top three most talented teams in the last ten years. But the 99 team had experience on their side, and they were not to be denied.