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

[champs99and04]

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 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.

Great post. The 99 team is an underrated one IMO, by hisorical standards. Not to say they'd knock off any of the UNLV, Duke, or Kentucky teams of the 90's, but I wouldn't bet against them. As you said, two losses all year, one without their best player. I think people under value that team because they really only had one notable NBA player, but they had a lot of really good college players.
You bring up a good point with the 2011 team, in that they were the only team to win in road envirements in the tournament. I would take it a step further, and say they really won four road games en route to the title. I was at the final four, and it must have been 90% Kentucky fans, 10% everybody else (I was a little disappointed UConn fans didn't travel better, but that has already been much discussed on this board). Obviously in the title game all the leftover Kentucky and VCU fans were rooting hard for Butler, as were most of the casual observers in the crowd. Really, the title game had all the makings of a cinderella story for the ages, but to quote another website, UConn pretty much took the glass slipper and smashed it over Butler's head. The resiliance of that team was amazing. The 09 team didn't have that level of resolve, and that was a team led by two of the great leaders in UConn history in AJ Price and Jeff Adrien. It is incredibly hard to whether the storm and regain the lead in the second half (as they did against SDSU and UA) when the home team can smell blood and the crowd is going crazy. Thankfully, Jeremy Lamb had some sort of ailment that didn't allow him to be nervous, and it didn't hurt to get a couple breaks along the way.

Briefly, I would just like to discuss the "Kemba factor". That kid was just not to be denied. It was almost like playing 6 on 5 at times with Kemba on the court. Hamilton, Emeka, and BG were special in their own right, but Kemba's true value cannot be measured by what you see in the box score. To understand how good he was, you'd literally have to go back and watch each game multiple times. As I've said on numerous occasions, the 11 Husky team is one of the more unlikely title winners in college basketball history. It's probably the one time watching a team cut down the nets where I've said, "wow, this team is not even close to meeting their potential". And it was true. People forget, that group really only played about 4o games together, right? Kemba was the only returning player of note to speak of before the season began. The rest of the crew (Roscoe, Lamb, Bazz, Giff, Olander) were either a bunch of unheralded freshman, talented, but unproven sophmores (Coombs, Alex), or forgotten veterans (Bev/Chuck). There was something special about that team. Even as they were making that run, I kept thinking, "There are about ten previous UConn teams that would beat this group by double digits". But they just kept winning, and most of us (even if you don't want to admit it) were completely shocked when they went on to win the BET, and NCAAT. The lesson: Don't bet against any team with Kemba Walker on it.

 

[rw005]

Found this very nice gem, that you can run simulations of teams.

here's 03-04 vs 98-99.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=3521130&nomenu=1

Shame it only goes back to 98-99.

but try it out:
http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/

 

[Palatine]

In 2004, Okafor's back was in and out. If his back is hurting, like it was in the early season Georgia Tech game, they have a tough time beating almost anyone on the list.

 

[SeattleHoop]

I know it's not the object of the thread, but how do you think THIS year's team would stack up against any of them!? Would like to hear some thoughts on that. Drummond vs. Okafor would be an amazing matchup imo. I think Okafor's experience would prevail but he would definitely have issues against that kind of size.

 

[Kitaman]

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

I'm with you on this. Smitty and Tate would be a load. Johnny Gwynn, Murray Williams and Lyman DePriest off the bench. Burrell against anyone would be a tough matchup. Nadav and Sellers. The best defensive team ever for UConn.

 

[Kitaman]

I know it's not the object of the thread, but how do you think THIS year's team would stack up against any of them!? Would like to hear some thoughts on that. Drummond vs. Okafor would be an amazing matchup imo. I think Okafor's experience would prevail but he would definitely have issues against that kind of size.

Too early and certainly no benchmarks (i.e. top competition) to make a reliable judgement. In addition we haven't even played a true away game yet.

 

[mauconnfan]

NM

UCONN

 

[guyergym]

Found this very nice gem, that you can run simulations of teams.

here's 03-04 vs 98-99.

http://www.whatifsports.com/ncaab/boxscore.asp?GameID=3521130&nomenu=1

Wow, the computer really predicted a brutal game for Ben Gordon.

I agree with a lot of people here: I'd have to give it to the 1999 team. That team never took a night off, losing once without two starters, and once by two points to a good Miami team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

+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.

+1 on the +1. The 99 Duke team was superb as well, considerably tougher than the GT team the 2004 team faced. I think Jake almost holds his own against Emeka, and Freeman can more than handle Charlie as a frosh or Ed Nelson. Rash Jones is another great athlete to help guard Ben, and matches up nicely size wise. I think Rip runs Rashad and Denham to exhaustion. In an epic battle of Coatesville, JC puts Tooles on Rip to slow him down, weakening the 2004 offense. KEA against Taliek is a mismatch for 99, although Taliek will post KEA a few times.

It would be a hell of a game.

 

[imno1]

Hard to say who would win but the 99 squad is the most accomplished team in UCONN history. My gut tells me they would find a way to pull it out against any of our other great teams.

 

[Scoe]

really tough to say I would have to give a slight edge to the 99 team top to bottom the 04 team is more talented but that 99 team fought tooth and nail not that the 04 team wasnt tough but the 99 team that was the first thing you thought of them was. Why dont we just get the 99 and 04 team together and play right now obviously we know who would win if they played today seeing that Ben, Mek, Charlie, are all in the league and the rest are playing overseas. Does anybody remember when they had one of the 49ers teams of the 80s vs the steelers teams of the 70s on ESPN.

 

[jleves]

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)

I got it and was thinking it all the way through the thread.

 

[businesslawyer]

The 99 team brought it, night in and night out. The 04 team at its best might, might, have been slightly better than the '99 team at its best, but the 99 team played its best game almost every time out, and the 04 team didn't.

In a one and done tournament, who knows who is better on one particular night.

 

[uconNYC]

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian and say that the 1994-95 team would emerge victorious. I don't necessarily buy that a team that won a championship is automatically better than one that did not. Had Arizona made one of those three pointer at the end, last years team would have basically been a footnote (Other than the Big East Tournament run)

 

[Husky999]

This isn't even close.. The 98-99 team should have gone undefeated. They lost 2 games.... both without there entire starting 5. I believe in the Cuse game they were missing at least Rip and Jake and maybe someone else. In the Miami game on senior night they were missing a starter too... don't remember who it was.. I was a freshman at the time an went to every home game and the final 4. But to run an entire year and only lose 2 games is absolutely unreal.... Especially when your 2 losses were without significant players. The 04 team I believe lost 6 games.... they did not bring it every night like the 99 team and would have gotten knocked off on any given night.

 

[wpq4elamin]

you could always throw the 2009 team in there with a healthy dyson for argument's sake... if any of the other teams had played that team the first week of the tourney, they would have had no answer for sticks..... he was absolutely unstoppable at the beginning of that tourney and no team we ever had would have had an answer for him when he actually decided he wanted to play... the closest we have to stopping someone like him at peak performance would probably have to be roscoe... or maybe a donny marshall/scotty burrell who could have been physical with him... you would have had AJ, Dyson (and Austrie) (Kemba off the bench) along with Adrien and Thabeet down low with Stanley on the wing... but, they never quite put everything together (or didn't get the chance to with the Dyson injury, and actually played really well w/o him eventually) and didn't win an NC

just throwing something silly out there; still think 03-04 is the best, depsite my love for 98-99

 

[Scoe]

I think the 04 lost some games on purpose during the season to pace themselves for the tournament not saying they intentionally lost games but they turned it up a notch at the right time peaked at the right time is what I mean, the 06 team peaked early.

 

[freescooter]

I'm with those who think the 99 team would win it. The 2004 team was better, deeper and more talented, but that 1999 team was one tough bunch. In a close game, I think they out will the 2004 team. Noty sure how teams that got eliminated in the Elite 8 even get into the discussion, and while last year's team was great fun, I sort of think that they were assisted by the overall lack of any really dominant teams last season. There were no 1999 UCONNs or Dukes last year. No 2004 UCONNs either.

 

[Waquoit]

I'm with those who think the 99 team would win it.

I agree. Rip was better than Ben.

 

[freescooter]

I agree. Rip was better than Ben.

and whoever said you couldn't get into their heads was right on. In many ways I think they were the most mentally tough team I've ever seen. to me the game that showed just how tough they were came when they went out to play Stanford, who was ranked 3 or 4 in the country at the time. Hamilton had an ankle sprain and was unable to play. they blew Stanford out of their own building. UCONN had lost a few nights earlier for the first time without RIP and Voskul. Voskul was back but limited. Everyone picked Stanford. My memory was UCON. N never trailed. Certainly they didn't trail by more tha a hoop or two in the very early goings, and as I said, they pretty much blew Stanford out.
That, of all the teams, was the one that most reflected Calhoun's personality in my opinion. The Final against Duke was a classic, too. there were so many times when the underdog could have quit/folded or whatever term you want to use. They never did. That team, more than any other reflected Calhoun's philosophy that you impose your will on your opponents to beat them.

 

[gibhunter]

The 95-96 team that lost to UCLA was probably the best offensive team UConn has ever had, but defensively they were very poor. On the other hand last year's champs offensively were limited, but defensively (since BET cause it took the frosh a while to learn) that was probably the best team we ever had and that includes the 99 squad. The 2004 champs were in their groove. If Okafor stays out of foul trouble, the Pitt and Duke games aren't even close.

 

[60'sfan]

As I said earlier, the '99 squad was the best Uconn team ever. They won more games and had a higher winning pct. (34-2 .944) than any Uconn team in history. They started the season at 19-0 and barring injuries and a tough loss to Miami could have run the table. I checked the stats to see which team had the highest winning margin in Uconn history. The '99 team was 5th best. Who had the highest ever? It was the '65 team with Wes Bialosuknia and Toby Kimball. That team, although they did not play as tough a schedule in the old Yankee conference was a great team. Their two regular season losses were without Kimball who was injured. They lost to a very good St. Joseph's team in the NCAA's. I have often wondered how good they would have been if Bill Holowaty hadn't gotten injured.

 

[freescooter]

The 95-96 team that lost to UCLA was probably the best offensive team UConn has ever had, but defensively they were very poor. On the other hand last year's champs offensively were limited, but defensively (since BET cause it took the frosh a while to learn) that was probably the best team we ever had and that includes the 99 squad. The 2004 champs were in their groove. If Okafor stays out of foul trouble, the Pitt and Duke games aren't even close.

I think they were a very good team, but I'd rank them 3rd behind 99, and 2004. Last year was good defensively, but I think youo're forgetting just how good the 1999 team was on defense.