The year we didn't....2009

[Ewekon]

20009.... More or less universally agreed on The Yard that losing Dyson poisoned out legitimate chances....
That team was 31-5. Following is a list of significant contributors:

AJ Price
Jerome Dyson
Stanley Robinson
Gavin Edwards
Hasheem Thabeet
Kenba Walker*
Jeff Adrien
Donnel Beverly
Craig Austria
Chuck Okwandu*. ... A bit
* 2011 champs

How do you think this year's squad fares in a mythical matchup,?

My post. I go first I guess.

Sobering (hate that) thought. I'm not going position by position. Adama would have to step up huge time.

Just an example of FF caliber teams. Maybe next year. My 3 cents?

-10 2009.

Lay the points.

Gonna be a real fun year. We outperform. Not yet '09 caliber.

 

[UCDaveD]

Not yet ‘09 caliber? So not the #2 ranked preseason team? Ya think?

 

[Ratso]

they had no business losing in the semi s

 

[Tenspro2002]

True road game in the Final Four and not enough guards was the difference.

The last "vintage UConn" team. They went into top-5 and eventual-overall-#1-seed Louisville and beat them by 20.

That team would beat any other UConn team from the last 12 years by at least 10.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

no Dyson = no dice.
that guy had backbone. u see what a fantastic, winning career, he's had since then?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Jerome's career high, against the number one team.


no Dyson, no dice. 'nuff said.

 

[TheChamps990411]

True road game in the Final Four and not enough guards was the difference.

The last "vintage UConn" team. They went into top-5 and eventual-overall-#1-seed Louisville and beat them by 20.

That team would beat any other UConn team from the last 12 years by at least 10.

Makes you wonder if Dyson doesnt get hurt and they cut down the nets if we`d be debating 09 v 04 which being the best Uconn team of all time. That game against Louisville was that team running on all cylinders.

 

[ASweet3781]

they had no business losing in the semi s

It's especially annoying because Michigan State got their butts kicked by UNC. That game was over 10 minutes in. No one was beating UNC with the way Lawson was playing but it would have been closer with us.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Always bothered me how Pittsburgh kinda owned us in 09…..

 

[Pmurph678]

Unbelievable Defensive team.

 

[nomar]

Makes you wonder if Dyson doesnt get hurt and they cut down the nets if we`d be debating 09 v 04 which being the best Uconn team of all time. That game against Louisville was that team running on all cylinders.

I don't think I've ever watched that Louisville game since (I should), but in my mind that's the game where Louisville players were so scared of Thabeet blocking their shots that they just stopped going into the paint.

He was a beast against every team not named Pitt.

 

[upstater]

I really thought Stanley was going to carry us all the way back in the final. Announcers were talking about the game being over at the 8 minute mark, but we were almost within one score before a miss with a minute left.

 

[UCDaveD]

Always bothered me how Pittsburgh kinda owned us in 09…..

DeJuan Blair was basically allowed to suplex Thabeet at will.

 

[Excalibur]

no Dyson = no dice.
that guy had backbone. u see what a fantastic, winning career, he's had since then?

That may be the worst charge call in the history of bad charge calls.

 

[superjohn]

Makes you wonder if Dyson doesnt get hurt and they cut down the nets if we`d be debating 09 v 04 which being the best Uconn team of all time. That game against Louisville was that team running on all cylinders.

'04 all day, the '09 team was so good because they overwhelmed teams with their frontcourt. No way were they doing that against the '04 squad, also Okafor and Gordon were significantly better than anyone on the '09 team.

 

[Jbirdp5]

DeJuan Blair was basically allowed to suplex Thabeet at will.

I think that’s part of what bothered me. We were a physical team and they basically dominated us in that sense when we played them.

 

[TheChamps990411]

'04 all day, the '09 team was so good because they overwhelmed teams with their frontcourt. No way were they doing that against the '04 squad, also Okafor and Gordon were significantly better than anyone on the '09 team.

I agree.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It's especially annoying because Michigan State got their butts kicked by UNC. That game was over 10 minutes in. No one was beating UNC with the way Lawson was playing but it would have been closer with us.

I think we beat UNC even without Dyson had we gotten past MSU. Thabeet was a nightmare matchup for Hansborough.

 

[TheChamps990411]

That may be the worst charge call in the history of bad charge calls.

If its not i cant imagine what would be because that was an utterly horrendous call to the point i question if there might have been some payoffs before the game.

 

[Lefty2one]

I don't like to go against the good guys but even with Dyson I don't think we were beating UNC. '09 UNC was the last truly great college team IMO. College hoops kind of turned to crap after that season and has not recovered. That loss to MSU still stings though; we would have beaten them handily with Dyson.

One of my favorite regular season games was when we went into Freedom Hall as the #1 team in the country and stomped a Top 5 Louisville team. Earl Clark and Terrance Williams were always overrated to me. That was a satisfying night.

 

[Ewekon]

Jerome's career high, against the number one team.


no Dyson, no dice. 'nuff said.

Was at that one. Fun, fun day.

 

[Ewekon]

Jerome's career high, against the number one team.


no Dyson, no dice. 'nuff said.

Sticks ☹️

 

[bendm]

did we suddenly become a preseason final 4 favorite and i didn't hear about it?

 

[olehead]

I don't think I've ever watched that Louisville game since (I should), but in my mind that's the game where Louisville players were so scared of Thabeet blocking their shots that they just stopped going into the paint.

He was a beast against every team not named Pitt.

Adrien bullied Louisville the entire game and then went into his NFL Ken Norton Jr. boxing routine against the stanchion. Crowd hated it. I went nuts. Dominant performance over the #5 team in the country at that time.

 

[olehead]

By the way that loss did not cause the sort of pain that the GWU loss caused. I view this loss in the same way I view the 02 Maryland loss. We went down to two really good, not great, but really good teams who had playmakers who stepped up. I can justify those losses, GWU was not that type of loss.

 

[JohnFSilver]

The 2009 team lived up to billing. Dyson getting hurt affected the chances, but i think UNC was really hitting on all cylinders. Michigan State? Give credit to a great game by the Spartans. Literally, you can't be crushed by a Final Four loss. George Mason is by far the worst loss. Crushing loss that boggle the mind.

 

[RedDog]

I went to the 2009 Final Four. Of course Michigan State dominated the crowd. But UConn did not have good representation there. I’d say the Huskies had the least number of fans compared to the other three schools.