Thoughts on Ray Allen/Bouknight

[Wavy]

I've had a few too many so I'm game! I'd argue Rip is our best ever... Our best player for three straight years including a final eight and natty and if I had to have one guy take a big shot, it would be him.

After that (I was too young for Corny T, Hanson, and only remember brief moments of Uncle Spliffy...)

Emeka - Champion and dominant player on both sides of the ball...
Kemba - Carried a team to a 'ship like few others have ever done and was the 6th man on another FF team...
Ray - Ridiculously graceful and effortless with three superb years - but no championship and his jr. tourney performance was pretty poor...
Ben G - I think he's actually underrated. At times, was utterly dominant and was the best scorer on a championship team.
Bazz - Bookended championships but a pretty perplexing sophomore year where he was doubted.
Donyell - Arguably the best individual year we've had, but his teams underachieved for three years.
Smitty - JCs first major recruit - great soph year w/ dream season but teams peaked too early and disappointed with him as PG in jr. and sr. year. Lasting memory is him being benched in his final game; a blowout vs. Ohio St.
Khalid - Arguably our most important recruit of the established UConn ever. His presence made us a champion.
Caron - Tremendous player who almost carried us to a FF.
Burrell - Super underrated guy for four years. Was essentially a "4" on the dream team and a "2" guard by the time he graduated. Best athlete ever?
Boat - Very good four-year career and a champion.
Doron - People forget just how good he was. The long outlet pass off a make was beyond beautiful.
Rudy - Overlooked two-year stint. We haven't had many first team AAs, and he was one of them.
AJP - Again, a very underrated player. Poor "freshmen" year but his injury against San Diego magnified his importance and his resilience is second-to-none.
Thabeet - Our highest draft pick ever and two pretty dominant years. It wasn't always pretty, but he was a force.
Jeff A - Have not had many double-double guys in our history and he was 13 and 9 for three straight years.

I feel like I'm forgetting someone?

Some worthy fellas:
Jerome Dyson - Insane volume scorer, little streaky but we could have gone so far if he didn't tear his meniscus in 2009

Marcus Williams- maybe the best passer Uconn has ever had, first round draft pick

Hilton Armstrong/Josh Boone- Twin Towers, both first round draft picks

 

[Sibeerian]

I've had a few too many so I'm game! I'd argue Rip is our best ever... Our best player for three straight years including a final eight and natty and if I had to have one guy take a big shot, it would be him.

After that (I was too young for Corny T, Hanson, and only remember brief moments of Uncle Spliffy...)

Emeka - Champion and dominant player on both sides of the ball...
Kemba - Carried a team to a 'ship like few others have ever done and was the 6th man on another FF team...
Ray - Ridiculously graceful and effortless with three superb years - but no championship and his jr. tourney performance was pretty poor...
Ben G - I think he's actually underrated. At times, was utterly dominant and was the best scorer on a championship team.
Bazz - Bookended championships but a pretty perplexing sophomore year where he was doubted.
Donyell - Arguably the best individual year we've had, but his teams underachieved for three years.
Smitty - JCs first major recruit - great soph year w/ dream season but teams peaked too early and disappointed with him as PG in jr. and sr. year. Lasting memory is him being benched in his final game; a blowout vs. Ohio St.
Khalid - Arguably our most important recruit of the established UConn ever. His presence made us a champion.
Caron - Tremendous player who almost carried us to a FF.
Burrell - Super underrated guy for four years. Was essentially a "4" on the dream team and a "2" guard by the time he graduated. Best athlete ever?
Boat - Very good four-year career and a champion.
Doron - People forget just how good he was. The long outlet pass off a make was beyond beautiful.
Rudy - Overlooked two-year stint. We haven't had many first team AAs, and he was one of them.
AJP - Again, a very underrated player. Poor "freshmen" year but his injury against San Diego magnified his importance and his resilience is second-to-none.
Thabeet - Our highest draft pick ever and two pretty dominant years. It wasn't always pretty, but he was a force.
Jeff A - Have not had many double-double guys in our history and he was 13 and 9 for three straight years.

I feel like I'm forgetting someone?

I wish we could have seen a second year from Nadav Henefeld. I wonder how he'd be remembered.

 

[ChrisSmithsPart]

I think Donny would've been my next guy, then KFree, and Ricky. The "issue" I have with KFree is that his senior year was just a huge disappointment. Whether the rumors are true that he was threatening to transfer if he didn't get to play the 3 are true or not, him playing that position hamstrung the team. I felt like JC was overly loyal to him in that regard and it hurt the team.

Tough call with Donnie but I still say 1999 is the difference KFree. As far as his senior year, those are always tricky times with players. He was a 4 year starter and was a big time recruit from one of the greatest team's in Jersey hs history, so he came there with NBA ambition. He played small ball 4 long enough to win a championship so if he wanted a chance to further his dream after that I can see why JC is loyal to him for all these years.

That year was a dissappointment but imo he was a huge part of picking up the pieces from all the other dissappointments since Laettner's shot.

 

[my2cents]

Why compare? Bouk is the most talented player we have had since Napier. Physically I think he is better than any guard we have had. Give him the "keys' to the car, and get outa the way.

 

[freescooter]

That really isn't true at all. You can maybe point to Ray and Rip playing a tougher schedule because they were in the Big East but they weren't any better than Bouknight as freshmen.

Did you guys SEE them play? I’m not talking about stats. I mean watch them on the court? Either one would have made Bouknight look like he belonged in the Yankee Conference and he is absolutely not that. He is potentially a very good player. Ray especially though was special even as a freshman.

 

[ChrisSmithsPart]

Did you guys SEE them play? I’m not talking about stats. I mean watch them on the court? Either one would have made Bouknight look like he belonged in the Yankee Conference and he is absolutely not that. He is potentially a very good player. Ray especially though was special even as a freshman.

Not just that but College basketball was at whlole other level back then. Great players stayed in school longer so the competition was much higher regardless of conference. You have some of the best players skipping college altogether today (LaMelo Ball) or playing a few games for 1 year like Zion & Wiseman. It's not a knock against today's player's it's just a fact.

 

[superjohn]

Did you guys SEE them play? I’m not talking about stats. I mean watch them on the court? Either one would have made Bouknight look like he belonged in the Yankee Conference and he is absolutely not that. He is potentially a very good player. Ray especially though was special even as a freshman.

Saw both of them play in person all the time their freshman year, this is a foolish exercise on your part.