The Athletic ranks 2024 UConn championship the best over last 40 years

[maxw]

They use factors like dominance of NCAA run, difficulty of NCAA Tournament path, overall win percentage, talent, etc.

It's a nice, long, enjoyable read for UConn fans

Here are UConn championship ranks according to them: 2024 (1st rank), 1999 (13), 2004 (25), 2023 (32), 2011 (35), 2014 (38).

Here's the link to the article (may need subscription):

Ranking 40 years of men’s NCAA Tournament champions, from 2024 UConn to 1985 Villanova

The best of the best separated themselves with their season-long dominance and emphatic victories in their six-game NCAA Tournament journey.

www.nytimes.com

Here's an excerpt:
The Huskies check every box you could ask for in a dominant team. They won the Big East regular season title by four games in a conference that featured a No. 2 seed (Marquette) and a No. 3 seed (Creighton). They also won the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. They went 37-3 overall, and against a respectable run of opponents in the Big Dance (i.e., no upstart Cinderellas), they won every game by 14 or more points. The Huskies accumulated the largest total margin of victory (plus-140 points in six NCAA Tournament games) for any of the 39 champions ranked in this exercise. In UConn’s final 13 games, only two opponents even came within single digits. That is dominance on full display.

UConn lost only once all season at full strength. One NBA lottery pick, Stephon Castle, missed the Huskies’ loss at Kansas, and fellow top-10 selection Donovan Clingan managed just 14 minutes before sitting out the remainder of a loss at Seton Hall.

From a talent perspective, UConn is right up there with any champion. Clingan, aka “Kling Cong,” is arguably one of the best college rim protectors ever, and Castle was an easy one-and-done NBA prospect. Point guard Tristen Newton, the Huskies’ third NBA Draft choice on the roster, was a consensus first-team All-American and a returning starter from the 2023 UConn title team. Forward Alex Karaban was also a key starter on that 2023 team, and shooting guard Cam Spencer posted the highest individual offensive rating in the country (per KenPom).

 

[upstater]

Interesting. A dominant run, no doubt. Not too sure what weighing the size of blowouts gets you, but they were definitely dominant.

Yet when I see the 2004 team at 25, I remember how incredibly dominant they were. I have never been so relaxed as a UConn fan as I was watching them dismantle teams.

I guess they were hurt by Emeka's 2 1st qtr fouls that made it into a game. When Emeka was in there, UConn abused Duke badly. Emeka was +14 on the floor that game.

And in the final, they totally demolished Georgia Tech before allowing tech to come back in garbage time.

 

[Luna]

Whenever we lose this year instead of going on the boneyard and look at all the negative.. I go on u-tube and watch games from last years tournament run

 

[HuskyHawk]

The gap between last year and the year before doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[boog204]

Interesting. A dominant run, no doubt. Not too sure what weighing the size of blowouts gets you, but they were definitely dominant.

Yet when I see the 2004 team at 25, I remember how incredibly dominant they were. I have never been so relaxed as a UConn fan as I was watching them dismantle teams.

I guess they were hurt by Emeka's 2 1st qtr fouls that made it into a game. When Emeka was in there, UConn abused Duke badly. Emeka was +14 on the floor that game.

And in the final, they totally demolished Georgia Tech before allowing tech to come back in garbage time.

I'm with you on 2004. Last year's team was incredible. But I'm not sure they beat 2004. And with all that being said, I still think 99 was our best overall team that was the most battle tested.

 

[Gurleyman]

The gap between last year and the year before doesn't make much sense to me.

I get it. They’re evaluating the whole season - so we were a 4 seed who finished fourth in our league and lost in the conference semis. Caught fire in the tourney, but had the 1 seed knocked out in our region and faced two 5 seeds in the FF.

I feel like 1999 needs more love, one of the two losses was missing two starters … but they did let teams hang around a lot.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The gap between last year and the year before doesn't make much sense to me.

There is definitely a gap, certainly not that large of a gap though.

 

[Waquoit]

Yet when I see the 2004 team at 25, I remember how incredibly dominant they were. I have never been so relaxed as a UConn fan as I was watching them dismantle teams.

I honestly was not relaxed when they were down 8 with 2:45 left in the semis. That game was a clunker and hurts them in exercises like this.

 

[RuffRuff]

The gap between last year and the year before doesn't make much sense to me.

They're evaluating the full season as criteria, and that was a team that had some significant bumps mid season. The overall body of work really doesn't compare. BE reg, BE tourney, NCAA dominant.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I get it. They’re evaluating the whole season - so we were a 4 seed who finished fourth in our league and lost in the conference semis. Caught fire in the tourney, but had the 1 seed knocked out in our region and faced two 5 seeds in the FF.

I feel like 1999 needs more love, one of the two losses was missing two starters … but they did let teams hang around a lot.

They're evaluating the full season as criteria, and that was a team that had some significant bumps mid season. The overall body of work really doesn't compare. BE reg, BE tourney, NCAA dominant.

Eh, the 23 team was clearly the best team in college basketball all fall. Then they stumbled in league play. Even still that team should have been at least a 3 seed. The 4 seed was absolutely absurd. So it's a bit too low. 1999 should probably be higher too, higher than 2008 Kansas for example.

2004 has some of the same issues as 2023, they were so good, so obviously better than anyone that they forgot that they still had to give 100%. The talent in the Big East in 2004 was also very high.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The gap between last year and the year before doesn't make much sense to me.

They factor in the pessimism and negativity of each team's fan base.

 

[superjohn]

Interesting. A dominant run, no doubt. Not too sure what weighing the size of blowouts gets you, but they were definitely dominant.

Yet when I see the 2004 team at 25, I remember how incredibly dominant they were. I have never been so relaxed as a UConn fan as I was watching them dismantle teams.

I guess they were hurt by Emeka's 2 1st qtr fouls that made it into a game. When Emeka was in there, UConn abused Duke badly. Emeka was +14 on the floor that game.

And in the final, they totally demolished Georgia Tech before allowing tech to come back in garbage time.

The UConn team in 2004 was totally dominant at times like when they destroyed a really good Oklahoma and Cuse team but they also had some stinkers like when Georgia Tech blew them out to start the season at MSG and against Providence where they barely broke 50 points. We all knew they were the most talented team and the favorites to win it all before the season started but they still ended up with 6 losses before tournament play, didn't win the Big East regular season and were a 2 seed. They only beat 6 ranked teams the entire season, last year's team beat (basically destroyed) 11 ranked teams, won the Big East regular season by 4 games and they were the overall #1 seed. 2004 doesn't have nearly the resume of last year's UConn team which is no slight to them, last year was the best team of the modern era in college hoops. Last season was the definition of cruise control when it comes to watching your team. We never had to sweat anything.

 

[SoFla Steve]

Whenever we lose this year instead of going on the boneyard and look at all the negative.. I go on u-tube and watch games from last years tournament run

Just yesterday, I watched the Illinois game for about the 70th time (not an exaggeration).

Draftmatic! Where have you gone?!

 

[upstater]

The UConn team in 2004 was totally dominant at times like when they destroyed a really good Oklahoma and Cuse team but they also had some stinkers like when Georgia Tech blew them out to start the season at MSG and against Providence where they barely broke 50 points. We all knew they were the most talented team and the favorites to win it all before the season started but they still ended up with 6 losses before tournament play, didn't win the Big East regular season and were a 2 seed. They only beat 6 ranked teams the entire season, last year's team beat (basically destroyed) 11 ranked teams, won the Big East regular season by 4 games and they were the overall #1 seed. 2004 doesn't have nearly the resume of last year's UConn team which is no slight to them, last year was the best team of the modern era in college hoops. Last season was the definition of cruise control when it comes to watching your team. We never had to sweat anything.

I was actually at the Georgia Tech game at MSG.

I saw what went on. Emeka's bad back was a problem, against Utah too, which had a big guy. Emeka was the best player in college basketball, so removing him from a game, as well as removing him for 17 minutes of the F4 Semi, had really negative impacts.

When he was on the floor, they were +13/14, against Duke.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I'm with you on 2004. Last year's team was incredible. But I'm not sure they beat 2004. And with all that being said, I still think 99 was our best overall team that was the most battle tested.

'99 was a tough, tough team and '04 was scary when they were hitting on all cylinders but last year's squad was the best in the history of the program and an absolute freak show. When you think about the individual components, how they fit together, the chemistry and collective competitive mindset it was really a close to perfect college basketball team. In my mind they're in a class by themselves among UConn teams.

 

[superjohn]

I was actually at the Georgia Tech game at MSG.

I saw what went on. Emeka's bad back was a problem, against Utah too, which had a big guy. Emeka was the best player in college basketball, so removing him from a game, as well as removing him for 17 minutes of the F4 Semi, had really negative impacts.

When he was on the floor, they were +13/14, against Duke.

I was there too, a few of us drove in from CT and we met up with our buddies living in Manahttan who got us seats right behind the hoop. The UConn team sat right next to us before the game.

We were pretty shocked Georgia Tech ran us off the court that night but we kept saying on the car ride home we're going to win it all...

Fast forward to March and my brother got a block of tickets for the East regional thinking UConn would be playing in the Meadowlands. He gave them all to me to sell. So we went down there sold some and watched St. Joe's beat Wake and Okie State beat Pitt in the sweet 16. Sold all the tickets to my buddies and we went back down a couple days later to watch Okie State beat St. Joe's. We were following the UConn Bama game on the radio and we were doing UConn chants before and after the St. Joe's game, annoying everyone around us.

It was nice to get our revenge against Georgia Tech. That game was over right away but Calhoun called the dogs off so early it ended up a 9 point win instead of a 30 point win.

 

[Excalibur]

'99 was a tough, tough team and '04 was scary when they were hitting on all cylinders but last year's squad was the best in the history of the program and an absolute freak show. When you think about the individual components, how they fit together, the chemistry and collective competitive mindset it was really a close to perfect college basketball team. In my mind they're in a class by themselves among UConn teams.

For a good part of last year I would have considered the '23 team's ceiling to be higher given how they rolled over everyone when playing well, even if 24 was a better and more consistent squad overall. Looking back it is so clear that we upgraded over each of the departing players from 23.

Castle was an upgrade over Jackson
Clingan was an upgrade over Sanogo
Spencer was an upgrade over Hawkins

The only downgrade was the backup center position (Clingan to Johnson). It's hard to imagine losing 2 NBA regulars and a fringe NBA player who was a dominant college big, and getting better across the board.

 

[gtcam]

Love all the UConn championship teams but 2024 was amazing beyond words in what they did in the NCAA tournament. None of the teams they faced had a chance even if the score got somewhat (under 10 pts) close.

 

[boog204]

'99 was a tough, tough team and '04 was scary when they were hitting on all cylinders but last year's squad was the best in the history of the program and an absolute freak show. When you think about the individual components, how they fit together, the chemistry and collective competitive mindset it was really a close to perfect college basketball team. In my mind they're in a class by themselves among UConn teams.

I guess I'm just looking at it across the board. Last year's team was our most dominant performance-wise. Just destroyed people. But I think the quality of opponents was not nearly as good as, say, what the 99 team had to face. For example, I think the 99 Duke team was a monster and would crush Purdue 10 times out of 10.

 

[superjohn]

For a good part of last year I would have considered the '23 team's ceiling to be higher given how they rolled over everyone when playing well, even if 24 was a better and more consistent squad overall. Looking back it is so clear that we upgraded over each of the departing players from 23.

Castle was an upgrade over Jackson
Clingan was an upgrade over Sanogo
Spencer was an upgrade over Hawkins

The only downgrade was the backup center position (Clingan to Johnson). It's hard to imagine losing 2 NBA regulars and a fringe NBA player who was a dominant college big, and getting better across the board.

Yep and Karaban improved a little, Tristen improved a bunch.

 

[Kemba15]

I have rewatched the 2H of UConn-Bama last year a few times because it was the only "close" game. I believe it was tied 56-56! And UConn still won by 14 lol. Just amazing. Bama and St. John's (BET) gave us the best games in tourney play.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yep and Karaban improved a little, Tristen improved a bunch.

I would say the combination of Sanogo/Clingan was better than Clingan/Johnson last year.

Tristen was better. Alex slightly better. Cam wasn't "better" than Hawkins really but was a better fit for running our offense. His passing and ability to screen were huge.

 

[Excalibur]

I would say the combination of Sanogo/Clingan was better than Clingan/Johnson last year.

Tristen was better. Alex slightly better. Cam wasn't "better" than Hawkins really but was a better fit for running our offense. His passing and ability to screen were huge.

You could make the argument about the center combo.

Cam was a more complete player at the college level.

 

[aburks41]

"In the final 13 games, only 2 opponents came within single digits." Insane.

I was always so nervous last year for our games. This sounds weird but as a fan it's almost like I felt the pressure of witnessing the greatest team of all time and I was just terrified that they wouldn't finish the job. I wonder if the players knew they were making history as the season went on...

 

[aceboon]

The Athletic posted a good read on this year's team