Top 5 Huskies of All Time

[Huskybass]

Ray's official retirement got me thinking about the greatest Huskies of all time at the college level. My top 5 in no particular order:

Rip
Ray
Emeka
Kemba
Shabazz

Donyell and Caron deserve strong consideration as well. Thoughts?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Dylon
Dylon
Dylon
Dylon
Dylon

 

[Horatio]

Ray
Kemba
Shabazz
Rip
Caron




Selvie

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Born in the late 80s so I don't know much (anything) pre-Ray Allen.

Allen
Kemba
Hamilton
Bazz
Caron

 

[AntG168]

Kemba
Ray
Rip
Emeka
Bazz

 

[Danzz]

Allen
Kemba
Hamilton
Donyell
Smitty

 

[ucp990411]

Ray
Rip
Kemba
Shabazz
Emeka, Donyell tied.

Special mention to Phil and Johnny time.

 

[Phorcys]

The wonderful thing about being a fan of UConn basketball is that it is impossible to trim any list of this sort to just five players.

 

[djct1999]

The wonderful thing about being a fan of UConn basketball is that it is impossible to trim any list of this sort to just five players.

It really is.

 

[alfonse]

Kemba, Shabazz, Ray Ray, Rip City, Emeka

 

[raf46]

Ray's official retirement got me thinking about the greatest Huskies of all time at the college level. My top 5 in no particular order:

Rip
Ray
Emeka
Kemba
Shabazz

Donyell and Caron deserve strong consideration as well. Thoughts?

Khalid ElAmin has to be on the list.

 

[Husky25]

For as good as Kemba was in 2010-11, he was not consistent through out his 3 years. He came in as Ben Gordon 2.0 as a freshman, but had a definite regression as a sophomore. For that reason, I can't put him in the top 5.

Walter Ray
R. Hamilton
Napier
Okafor
Donyell Marshall

 

[Husky25]

Khalid ElAmin has to be on the list.

Next 5, with K. Walker, Butler, Gordon, and R. Gay/J. Lamb

 

[Huskybass]

Khalid ElAmin has to be on the list.

Not in the Top 5. The other 4 besides Ray were all MOP of the Final 4 and the best players on their respective National Championship teams. Who would KEA bump out?

 

[Huskybass]

Kemba, Shabazz, Ray Ray, Rip City, Emeka

You are correct, Sir. My same 5, but I certainly understand some of the other choices.

 

[KingOPancakes]

For as good as Kemba was in 2010-11, he was not consistent through out his 3 years.... For that reason, I can't put him in the top 5.

I get where you're coming from. I mentally set a very low bar going into 2010-11 because Kemba was a historically inconsistent player.

But he put a team of underclassmen on his back and strutted his way to a championship like he knew it was going to happen from day 1. Most fan bases will never see a player have a season like that so in my eyes Kemba will always be in the top 5.

 

[gtcam]

This is a hard list - I look at talent/leadership and then contribution

Talent/leadership - Ray, Bazz, Kemba, Rip, Emeka
Contribution - Smitty (opened recruiting), Wes B/Toby K (brought national attention), Corny T (1st real state star who stayed in state), KEA (we shocked the world!), Nadav (international pioneer)
Special - HCJC - for EVERYTHING

 

[Husky25]

I get where you're coming from. I mentally set a very low bar going into 2010-11 because Kemba was a historically inconsistent player.

But he put a team of underclassmen on his back and strutted his way to a championship like he knew it was going to happen from day 1. Most fan bases will never see a player have a season like that so in my eyes Kemba will always be in the top 5.

Did he? UConn went undefeated in Tournament play (Maui, Big East, and NCAA), but they were 9-9 in Big East play and limped into the postseason. 5 wins in 5 nights was out of necessity. IIRC, teams who did not have at least a first round bye rarely, if ever won, the Big East Tournament.

Besides, I didn't say he wasn't a close #6.

 

[superjohn]

Bazz, Kemba, Rip, Emeka and

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I get where you're coming from. I mentally set a very low bar going into 2010-11 because Kemba was a historically inconsistent player.

But he put a team of underclassmen on his back and strutted his way to a championship like he knew it was going to happen from day 1. Most fan bases will never see a player have a season like that so in my eyes Kemba will always be in the top 5.

I would agree and say that Kemba had the greatest single season of any Husky with the 2011 NC. It's also true that his first 2 seasons did not reach any level of consistency or greatness. Shabazz is helped by having had a Senior season to cap off a great junior season.

These things always come down to the definitions of whatever you are talking about. If we said it was players by position for single greatest season, who would we have?

PG: Kemba
SG: Ray
SF: Rip
PF: Donyell
C: Emeka

If you go best BBall IQ:
PG: Khalid (Shabazz close second)
SG: Rip
SF: Caron
PF: Nadav
C: Emeka

Toughest Player by position:
PG: Kemba
SG: Ricky Moore (although the PG position was sort of shared, when the game was on the line, Khalid had the ball)
SF: Caron Butler
PF: Kevin Freeman
C: Emeka/Jake

 

[JimHurley]

Agree with your five. Ray, Shabazz, Kemba, Rip, Emeka in that order. I can make the case for Shabazz #1 but I'll stick with Ray.

 

[Dove]

Posting first...then reading thread. And I don't know squat pre-1980:

Kemba
Ray
Donyell
The Dove
Rip

 

[champs99and04]

Why do so many have Ray over Donyell? Not saying I disagree, I'm just curious to hear the reasoning.

This is a tough thing to do because of how much the game has changed. If Shabazz played in Donyell's era, I think he's a very good player, but maybe not dominant. If Donyelll played in modern times, he's here two years max. Simply put Donyell is the better player but Shabazz is more decorated. Not really sure how you even argue something as open-ended as "best," but me, if we're focusing strictly on collegiate production, without the insertion of additional context, Shabazz has to be #1. He submitted two all-American caliber seasons, played an integral role in a championship his freshman year, and put together, in my opinion, the best NCAA tournament performance in UConn history, even better than Kemba. He was basically an impeccable prototype of what you want a college career to look like, both in terms of progression and 'clutch' factor (yes I do think clutch is a thing, even if it's overstated).

Rounding out the top five after that would be Kemba, Emeka, Rip, and Donyell, in that order. It feels stupid not having Ray in the top five but I think the other guys were more apt to impose their will on a game, on both ends (Ray might have been better overall than Rip, but Rip won a championship and delivered an epic performance against one of the best college teams of all-time).

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

You know we're awesome when dudes like Ben Gordon and Rudy Gay haven't even been mentioned.

 

[Dove]

Posting first...then reading thread. And I don't know squat pre-1980:

Kemba
Ray
Donyell
The Dove
Rip

Not in order...