nelsonmuntz
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I found this in a thread from a few years ago, and it made sense to revisit. There is no point in comparing UConn to other programs because we are so dominant, so let's match UConn up against UConn and see where UConn ends up. I only ranked the teams that made the Sweet 16. A case could be made for a few others (El-Amin's sprained ankle team in 2000, AJ Price getting hurt in 2008) and you can include them if you want.
My ranking of Calhoun/Ollie/Hurley era teams:
1) 2024 - Annihilated everything in its path, and had a pretty tough path in league play and in the NCAA Tournament. The greatest UConn team of all time.
2) 2004 - That team did look like 1990 UNLV at times. They could destroy teams when they were hitting on all cylinders.
3) 1999 - really good team with quality at every position and a couple of stars.
4) 2023 - Put them 4th because they got some upset help in the big Dance. I could be talked into nudging them down to 6th because 1995 and 2011 teams were pretty good.
5) 1995 - Ray, Doron, Donny, and Travis were tough to stop. Ollie was excellent at the point and Fair was effective off the bench when he wasn't in the doghouse. This should have been Calhoun's first championship.
6) 2011 - This team was young, but Kemba was the best player in the Tournament and there was enough complementary talent to make UConn Champion.
7) 2006 - Everyone hates on this team, but the talent was amazing. Marcus Williams was the best point guard we had prior to Kemba, and the front court was very good. This team had some chemistry issues, but I think the biggest problem was lack of a second ballhandler.
8) 2014 - no future NBA stars, but this team was strong at every position and had a solid bench. Napier was dominant when he needed to be.
9) 1994 - Donyell was excellent, but the supporting cast was not nearly as good as they would all be a year later.
10) 2009 - Good team. Price and Thabeet were good, not dominant. This was one of those supreme chemistry teams, especially after Dyson got hurt.
11) 1990 - Smith was an amazing college guard even if his game didn't translate to the next level, and this team played as well together as any UConn team, ever.
12) 1998 - very young team. Everyone could tell at the time that this team was a year away.
13) 1996 - This team was really good on paper and played well together, but when you boiled it down it was a 2 man offense that was susceptible to Allen having an off game.
14) 2003 - this team wasn't quite ready for prime time, but I will always believe that UConn would have made the Final Four if it had a better officiating crew for the game against Texas.
15) 2002 - As one-man-show as any UConn team in history, and we were still only a couple of bad calls against Okafor from making the Final Four.
16) 1991 - how did this team beat Shaq and Tyrone Hill in back to back games?
My ranking of Calhoun/Ollie/Hurley era teams:
1) 2024 - Annihilated everything in its path, and had a pretty tough path in league play and in the NCAA Tournament. The greatest UConn team of all time.
2) 2004 - That team did look like 1990 UNLV at times. They could destroy teams when they were hitting on all cylinders.
3) 1999 - really good team with quality at every position and a couple of stars.
4) 2023 - Put them 4th because they got some upset help in the big Dance. I could be talked into nudging them down to 6th because 1995 and 2011 teams were pretty good.
5) 1995 - Ray, Doron, Donny, and Travis were tough to stop. Ollie was excellent at the point and Fair was effective off the bench when he wasn't in the doghouse. This should have been Calhoun's first championship.
6) 2011 - This team was young, but Kemba was the best player in the Tournament and there was enough complementary talent to make UConn Champion.
7) 2006 - Everyone hates on this team, but the talent was amazing. Marcus Williams was the best point guard we had prior to Kemba, and the front court was very good. This team had some chemistry issues, but I think the biggest problem was lack of a second ballhandler.
8) 2014 - no future NBA stars, but this team was strong at every position and had a solid bench. Napier was dominant when he needed to be.
9) 1994 - Donyell was excellent, but the supporting cast was not nearly as good as they would all be a year later.
10) 2009 - Good team. Price and Thabeet were good, not dominant. This was one of those supreme chemistry teams, especially after Dyson got hurt.
11) 1990 - Smith was an amazing college guard even if his game didn't translate to the next level, and this team played as well together as any UConn team, ever.
12) 1998 - very young team. Everyone could tell at the time that this team was a year away.
13) 1996 - This team was really good on paper and played well together, but when you boiled it down it was a 2 man offense that was susceptible to Allen having an off game.
14) 2003 - this team wasn't quite ready for prime time, but I will always believe that UConn would have made the Final Four if it had a better officiating crew for the game against Texas.
15) 2002 - As one-man-show as any UConn team in history, and we were still only a couple of bad calls against Okafor from making the Final Four.
16) 1991 - how did this team beat Shaq and Tyrone Hill in back to back games?