(SI) Looking Back on the Demoralizing 30-0 Run That Cemented UConn’s 2024 NCAA Title

[RuffRuff]

We did that to Illinois with maybe our C+ game. We shot terribly. Shot poorly against Purdue too - and beat the second best team in the nation by 15. And we probably would have been even better down the stretch had Castle not missed so much time and had his growth stunted. Clingan maybe a little bit too.

People point to the 2012 Anthony Davis Kentucky team as the most talented title team recently (although they lost the SEC title to Vandy). Davis was very raw offensively at that point (only had 3 or 4 games all year with 20 points) but certainly was a unicorn on defense and has proven to be an MVP level player at the next level. But looking at other weapons - Castle is already better than MKG ever was (Bradley Beal was right there to pair with Kemba, you Hornet idiots). Newton and Teague is no contest at point guard. Cam was a much more complete player than Doron Lamb. Cam was in some ways a unicorn on offense with his efficiency as both a shooter and playmaker at the two - you won’t find those numbers for very many other players. Karaban and Terrence Jones are maybe a wash.

I get the AD love might sway some people, but I take last years UConn team a million times out of a million.

There are some that use the KenPom argument, us being 1 in offense, but only 4 in defense. Yet they fail to recognize that the 4 in defense was in part due to our two best defenders either missing time or not being 100% for stretches. If anything we were just as good defensively as we were offensively in March. Had DC and SC been healthy all year, I'm honestly not sure we'd have lost more than the 1 game against Creighton where they caught fire with DC on the bench with two fouls. Between the talent level, the perfect roster construction and coaching, give me that Husky team every time. ESPN came out with an article ranking the best college basketball teams of the past 25 years after the 2023 NC, and our 1999 team was number one. As good and gritty as that 99 team was, I honestly think the 2024 team beats them 8 out of 10 if you look at talent and execution. Steph would have given Rip fits. 2024 was so much bigger and more skilled top to bottom. I honestly don't know how the 99 team would have scored with a small Khalid, Ricky, Free & Jake being relied on as scorers with Cling in the middle. I could easily see the 24 team pummeling 99 in a couple of those games, and 99 grinding out a couple of close wins. I'd like anyone that thinks otherwise to tell me exactly how the 99 team was beating 24 as they were very reliant on one dominant iso scorer we had an answer for. The era excuse only carries so much weight as overall talent, analytics and shooting have come so far since the 80s/90s.

2024 was a Picasso of a basketball team, and we're unlikely to see anything like it again for a long time. The doubters to 2024s dominance are relying more on prideful era takes than they are breaking it down player for player and recognizing the advancement of the game, and how well that Uconn team ran it. It was so good it felt like they were totally comfortable toying with you for a half, fully confident they could hit the gas after halftime. They were practically playing another sport altogether. Size-wise, they were constructed like an NBA team.

I've seen some of the Rupp lunies argue that their 1996 team was better, as they had the second highest margin of victory for a champion (by over 2 pts less than the 2024 Uconn team). That was a very good team and given lead by Pitino, may have posed stylistic challenges similar to StJ last year. If we locked them up in the halfcourt and executed the standard full shot clock offense to numb them into the coma like we did with most teams last year, I think we take best of 10 there. You just cannot underestimate what making a team defend for 30 seconds does to set tempo/pace. I've also heard all about the Nova teams, but we would have done exactly what we did to all three point shooting teams last year and left Cling back to protect the rim and let our large guards smother the three point line. They would have been forced to beat us with mid range jumpers. That 2024 team had an answer for everything defensively. The only kryponite it had was getting Cling in foul trouble, which Illinois tried. I'll hand it to Underwood as it was not a bad strategy and with the right refs, could have worked. It failed miserably that night.

 

[Vowelguy]

Plus it resulted in some of the greatest UConn fan footage ever:

I hope that someone put her on a Tshirt

 

[Rondogg]

Plus it resulted in some of the greatest UConn fan footage ever:

Not sure why I never realized she looks directly into the camera. Have seen this a million times.

 

[EnochRoot]

My dad was traveling or something during this game so he couldn’t watch and I was sending updates. These were subsequent texts:

“Everyone is playing like $**t except Clingan. He’s single handedly keeping them in this. 23-21 good guys.”

“Okay, everyone else is playing well now. 50-23 lol.”

Wife: "What's so funny down there?"

Me: "Nothing."

 

[Kolumbo]

Having been there in person, likely my number one UConn experience of all time. Between coronation of Storrs North, the venue, the decibal level, the cocky Illini fans, Larry David, the run, the lingering doubters, just don’t know if anything else can match. It felt like a prize fight where the clear best fighter said let’s stop around and hit the other guy with an uppercut he can’t recover from in the fifth round.

I know there is a lot of talk about how the talent levels aren’t what they used to be and that team would get beat by this or that team of 40 years ago, but on a relative level this felt like the most dominant team I have ever watched. It had a lot to do with having perfect pieces playing together, a high team IQ and two defensive unicorns. I’m convinced if that team wanted to beat teams by more and they had incentive to do so they could. Maybe I’m biased. I also think the athlete today is far superior to the 80s and 90s. Are you telling me a 1992 Duke team, widely considered one of those best of all time in the 3 year era, made up of Hurley, Laettner, Hill, Brian Davis, Thomas Hill and Antonio Lang had a major talent edge? Sure Grant Hill was amazing but it’s not like the rest of them made a mark in the NBA. Who on that team was going to take it to Clingan?

Not sure we’ll ever have that satisfying a season again, one to relish.

A 30-0 run at any level, I mean at ANY LEVEL, is ridiculous. This was an absolute woodshed moment revealing Big 10 softness. You didn't mention the great Bill Murray. I'm sure he was there.

 

[caw]

Didn't realize that run started and ended with a Diarra bucket.

Diarra was the third highest scorer during that run with 5.

Karaban had 10, Clingan had 9. Johnson, Newton and Spencer all had 2.

 

[QuickDraw]

My favorite stretch of basketball ever.

this one is pretty good too

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

this one is pretty good too

We are the most spoiled fanbase in the world.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I bet I've watched this run 30 or more times in the off-season -- full game, condensed game, highlights, or just a 30-0 video like the above.

Everyday I have a bad day I have watched it. Maybe not 30 but definitely north of 20. As a sports fan for 52 years I have never felt more joy that this 1 hour or so of pure dominance. While all I could think is their fans chanting “We want UConn”. I lived in Illinois and got to know the AAD at Illinois, through a mutual friend, so went to some of their games and was able to get tickets to any of the ND or DePaul games UConn played on the road.

They have a pretty engaged fan base. After the run he texted me congratulating me and saying he had never seen a better team than the UConn team that played that day.

 

[Tenspro2002]

There are some that use the KenPom argument, us being 1 in offense, but only 4 in defense. Yet they fail to recognize that the 4 in defense was in part due to our two best defenders either missing time or not being 100% for stretches. If anything we were just as good defensively as we were offensively in March. Had DC and SC been healthy all year, I'm honestly not sure we'd have lost more than the 1 game against Creighton where they caught fire with DC on the bench with two fouls. Between the talent level, the perfect roster construction and coaching, give me that Husky team every time. ESPN came out with an article ranking the best college basketball teams of the past 25 years after the 2023 NC, and our 1999 team was number one. As good and gritty as that 99 team was, I honestly think the 2024 team beats them 8 out of 10 if you look at talent and execution. Steph would have given Rip fits. 2024 was so much bigger and more skilled top to bottom. I honestly don't know how the 99 team would have scored with a small Khalid, Ricky, Free & Jake being relied on as scorers with Cling in the middle. I could easily see the 24 team pummeling 99 in a couple of those games, and 99 grinding out a couple of close wins. I'd like anyone that thinks otherwise to tell me exactly how the 99 team was beating 24 as they were very reliant on one dominant iso scorer we had an answer for. The era excuse only carries so much weight as overall talent, analytics and shooting have come so far since the 80s/90s.

2024 was a Picasso of a basketball team, and we're unlikely to see anything like it again for a long time. The doubters to 2024s dominance are relying more on prideful era takes than they are breaking it down player for player and recognizing the advancement of the game, and how well that Uconn team ran it. It was so good it felt like they were totally comfortable toying with you for a half, fully confident they could hit the gas after halftime. They were practically playing another sport altogether. Size-wise, they were constructed like an NBA team.

I've seen some of the Rupp lunies argue that their 1996 team was better, as they had the second highest margin of victory for a champion (by over 2 pts less than the 2024 Uconn team). That was a very good team and given lead by Pitino, may have posed stylistic challenges similar to StJ last year. If we locked them up in the halfcourt and executed the standard full shot clock offense to numb them into the coma like we did with most teams last year, I think we take best of 10 there. You just cannot underestimate what making a team defend for 30 seconds does to set tempo/pace. I've also heard all about the Nova teams, but we would have done exactly what we did to all three point shooting teams last year and left Cling back to protect the rim and let our large guards smother the three point line. They would have been forced to beat us with mid range jumpers. That 2024 team had an answer for everything defensively. The only kryponite it had was getting Cling in foul trouble, which Illinois tried. I'll hand it to Underwood as it was not a bad strategy and with the right refs, could have worked. It failed miserably that night.

Last year's starting lineup basically had no weaknesses as individuals and fit together perfectly as a team. We'll never see it again.

Seriously, how would you try to exploit them? Force Castle to shoot 3s? Bama tried that. Maybe try to get favorable individual matchups against Spencer or Karaban? Really hard to do consistently in reality. Play zone to neutralize our motion offense? Any of 3 guys would destroy them from the foul line.

We had size at every position except arguably the 4. Everyone was a good rebounder for their position. Everyone was either a stout individual defender (Castle, Clingan, Newton) or a team-defense savant (Spencer, Karaban). Everyone could score at multiple levels -- Newton as a shooter, in the mid-range, and at the rim; Spencer as a shooter and a crafty mid-range game; Castle could score in the mid-range or at the rim; Karaban could shoot or cut; Clingan could post-up or rim-run.

We lost one game at full strength, and that required the opponent to shoot 50% from 3 on high volume and outscore us by 33 beyond the arc.

 

[RichZ]

30-0 run was made possible by the arrogance of their team, their offensive strategy (pun intended) and lack of in-game adjustments, and their fans. And yet the Illini players were still talking smack after being embarrassed.

I hope that someone put her on a Tshirt

If she was getting royalties every time that clip or a still from it is posted, she'd be rich.

 

[Palatine]

The thing I remember the most about that run was the interview with the Illinois coach at halftime. He said (something like)....

"Clingan can block a million shots. We're not going to change the way we play."

 

[UofCT]

Like I said before, the most exciting 2-minutes in sports!

Try watching this video but only focus on Luke and Toms reactions from the bench. Very enjoyable.

 

[huskyjawz]

this one is pretty good too

Thanks, that one never gets old.

 

[CL82]

Best cheer in college basketball, in my humble and entirely unbiased opinion.

 

[jostar1]

We are the most spoiled fanbase in the world.

“For the many arrogant fans out there that don’t think this is one of the best New England basketball games — Connecticut has been very fortunate to have some incredible teams and incredible coaches, and this fan base is incredibly spoiled,” Cooley said toward the end of his eight minutes in front of the cameras and microphones. “Appreciate winning. Appreciate that. There's a reason why them dudes are in the Hall of Fame, on the men’s and women’s side. Don't get arrogant with it. Appreciate it and try to get the next one".

 

[CL82]

A 30-0 run at any level, I mean at ANY LEVEL, is ridiculous. This was an absolute woodshed moment revealing Big 10 softness. You didn't mention the great Bill Murray. I'm sure he was there.

I always think of the pregame comment by their coach that UConn was "nothing that they haven't seen before." Unless his team has had multiple 30-0 beatdowns during a game, he may have been mistaken.

 

[HooperScooper]

The thing I remember the most about that run was the interview with the Illinois coach at halftime. He said (something like)....

"Clingan can block a million shots. We're not going to change the way we play."

Great strategist that Brad Underwood.

“We’re going to keep going at [Donovan Clingan]," Underwood told NCAA correspondent Andy Katz. "If he blocks a hundred, he blocks a hundred. We’re not backing down. We’re going to do what we do.”

 

[SoFla Steve]

FWIW, my 2nd favorite memory of the 2023-24 season was the last regular season game at Providence. The Friars got a big 15-2 early lead and then we went on a 33-5 first half run to rout them.

Highlights:

Diarra at the 1st half buzzer!!!!!!

BTW - What happened to Draftmatic . . . again.