Top 5 UConn Point Guards | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Top 5 UConn Point Guards

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Pure talent not being supported by cast.

Kemba
Earl
Bazz
KEA
Smitty

Guys, just watching Earl play, take away everything else, I'm not sure there was a better player to suit up for UConn. It's ashamed what could have been.

Don't Forget the "Earl of Storrs!"

Edit: He dominate Smitty in the Field House. Was there on the court. Earl came back after all that stuff.
 
dante said:
It seems like since 1999 all our starting PG have won a championship or going to the final four or am I wrong? khalid, taliek marcus, a.j, kemba, shabazz and now ryan thats just crazy if your PG how do you not want to come to connecticut.
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Marcus Williams is your odd man out. He was in Storrs for the '04 title.
 
It's wonderful to have such a selection of Top 5 PGs at UConn.
In my era... you can go with Earl Kelly, Tate George, Chris Smith, Kevin Ollie, Doron Sheffer, Ricky Moore, Khalid El-Amin, Taliek Brown, Marcus Williams, AJ Price, Kemba Walker, Shabazz Napier... hopefully Ryan Boatright & Jalen Adams. Maybe Tremont Waters???

George set the scene & put us on the national map when we were thought as nobodies. If only his steal didn't fall out of bounds!
El-Amin was an unquestioned leader, a spokesman for UConn & lead us to our first National Championship (with Rip).
Marcus Williams was the smoothest passer we've ever seen.
Kemba & Shabazz just had that "it" factor that could not be teached. They were the most determined PGs we've seen. It's a wash with me... they just "willed" us to wins. Hard to argue with either.

That said, all of the others not mentioned were extremely valuable & great players. I think we are spoiled.
 
uchusky32 said:
Pure talent not being supported by cast. Kemba Earl Bazz KEA Smitty Guys, just watching Earl play, take away everything else, I'm not sure there was a better player to suit up for UConn. It's ashamed what could have been. Don't Forget the "Earl of Storrs!" Edit: He dominate Smitty in the Field House. Was there on the court. Earl came back after all that stuff.
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He was older than Smitty and he was very strong. Wasn't a fair matchup at that point.

Earl Kelly was a great player. If he had a coach like JC or KO to keep him on the straight and narrow he might have been an NBA All Star. He was so good and you know he didn't even work at it. I saw him live a handful of times as a kid and he was always the best player in the court. His supporting cast, not so much.
 
UcannUconn said:
Bout right. I'd probably put Taliek at #5 though.
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Chris Sm
David 76 said:
Or like listing Chris Smith as one of our top point guards.
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Smith was really more of a SG until his senior year when he played PG. I'd rate him easily in the top 5. He had fewer flaws than Taliek for sure.
Sheffer would be my #5 and Kelley, Westin and Foster would make my top 10.
 
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Joey was great at the FT line, but I don't Joey or the other guys pre-Earl could have played at the level of any of the more recent guys. It was a whole different level of competition back then.

Danz, wouldn't Ollie have been the PG in Chris's senior year?
 
David 76 said:
Joey was great at the FT line, but I don't Joey or the other guys pre-Earl could have played at the level of any of the more recent guys. It was a whole different level of competition back then.

Danz, wouldn't Ollie have been the PG in Chris's senior year?
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I don't think so on Ollie. I remember JC saying he was going to play Smith at PG because he would more difficult to defend.
 
comparing players from different eras is an art form

guys i saw alot of like bill Corley, Kimball, wes, staak, bobby boyd,jimmy foster for one year, tony hanson; these guys could play in any conf anytime: you rookie 'yarders don't know Jackson because you simply were not there

mainly because these guys had weak supporting casts they get no respect in yard and their schedules had no showcase opponents -can you say yank conf

the modern era since 88 is very skewed because of elevation in support performers
 
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David 76 said:
Joey was great at the FT line, but I don't Joey or the other guys pre-Earl could have played at the level of any of the more recent guys. It was a whole different level of competition back then.

Danz, wouldn't Ollie have been the PG in Chris's senior year?
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Totally disagree David. Whelton was a very good PG, obviously not as athletic as the guy we see now but plenty "quick", had a string in his handle and may have been the 2nd best passer of all we mention minus Marcus Williams. He threw a great one handed pass off the dribble , no look and just good passing to places for people to score which is a huge part of a PG as we know. Streaky but good shooter who was money when left open....his cerebral game could have certainly withstood the hand of time. Easily Top 15, maybe Top 10 and Jimmy Foster would be Top 10 and Earl Kelley Top 5 if we go back.
 
Hoophound said:
He was older than Smitty and he was very strong. Wasn't a fair matchup at that point.

Earl Kelly was a great player. If he had a coach like JC or KO to keep him on the straight and narrow he might have been an NBA All Star. He was so good and you know he didn't even work at it. I saw him live a handful of times as a kid and he was always the best player in the court. His supporting cast, not so much.
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he dominated Tate as well. He was always the best player on the floor. He If he had a coach who pushed him, wow. If all that stuff didn't happen he would have been the 3rd pick of the Spurs instead of Johnny Dawkins.
 
chapwilvaug72 said:
comparing players from different eras is an art form

guys i saw alot of like bill Corley, Kimball, wes, staak, bobby boyd,jimmy foster for one year, tony hanson; these guys could play in any conf anytime: you rookie 'yarders don't know Jackson because you simply were not there

mainly because these guys had weak supporting casts they get no respect in yard and their schedules had no showcase opponents -can you say yank conf

the modern era since 88 is very skewed because of elevation in support performers
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Did this account get hacked? These are almost complete sentences.
 
huskiesnyc said:
1) Shabazz -never thought I'd put anyone ahead of Kemba, but he was a huge part of 2 ships
2) Kemba - no problem with him at #1
3) El-Amin - balls
4) Chris Smith - all time leading scorer in school history
5) Marcus Williams - I think he was the most talented and pure PG we ever had and his pro career would've been a lot different if the Celtics didn't take Rondo 1 spot in front of him.
6) AJ Price -I just watched the end of that 2009 Elite 8 game against Mizzou and it made me think about how underrated A.J. Price is with a lot of us. Maybe he's too high on my list but he belongs in the conversation when mentioning elite PG's here. He's also having a nice NBA career although again under the radar.

Honorable mentions:
Doron Sheffer, Taliek Brown and of course KO deserve some love too.
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To be fair, I thought dyson was playing and would have played alot better that season until he got injured.
I kinda think that him getting injured and putting price in the floor general role kinda helped mature Price and improve his play dramatically. Price did have some Iffy decisions sometimes though, I can still remember watching games sometimes and think to myself "what? why did he think that was a good idea".

I would have

1.A) Kemba (sorry bazz but I just gotta)
1.B) Bazz (was close but I think Kemba takes it by a slim margin)
3) El-Amin
4) Marcus Williams

Most likely, I'll have to think on 5 and maybe edit the list later after thought about it a little more.
 
It was a tough call between Kemba and Bazz, but the reason I went with Bazz number 1 is because he stayed his junior season despite us having a postseason ban and coaching change. That kind of loyalty is unheard of with an All-American type talent like him. UConn weathered the biggest transitional period in program history thanks to him, and now we're back on top. That 20-10 team two years ago was so gutsy.
 
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I was there when Whelton played and I loved him. Hard to compare eras, but do you think Whelton would have gotten much PT in 2014?
Maybe that would be a good litmus test. Who of these folks would have taken Boat's PG minutes last year. If not, you can't be top 5 because Boat isn't (yet)
Quite the record our PGs have. Everyone has had to drop either Price or Williams, or Sheffer from their list! That is amazing.

Anyway Mau, I think Whelton is top 10 too and I have to assume he won't stay there very long. Success can be a bitch.
 
huskiesnyc said:
It was a tough call between Kemba and Bazz, but the reason I went with Bazz number 1 is because he stayed his junior season despite us having a postseason ban and coaching change. That kind of loyalty is unheard of with an All-American type talent like him. UConn weathered the biggest transitional period in program history thanks to him, and now we're back on top. That 20-10 team two years ago was so gutsy.
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Maybe we should go with a tie for first. When I was watching Kemba, I knew I was seeing something I would never see again. Then I saw it again.
 
David 76 said:
I was there when Whelton played and I loved him. Hard to compare eras, but do you think Whelton would have gotten much PT in 2014?
Maybe that would be a good litmus test. Who of these folks would have taken Boat's PG minutes last year. If not, you can't be top 5 because Boat isn't (yet)
Quite the record our PGs have. Everyone has had to drop either Price or Williams, or Sheffer from their list! That is amazing.

Anyway Mau, I think Whelton is top 10 too and I have to assume he won't stay there very long. Success can be a bitch.
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Lucky fans to even have this comparison huh? ;)

He may have taken some PG time while moving Bazz to the 2. Only issue we have is he definitely wasn't guarding anyone like Boat but having said that we're not sure Boat will be a great PG. So the comparison's are for fun anyway. Wonder if he'd still have the mop on his head if he played in this day and age? LOL
 
Davidm said:
To be fair, I thought dyson was playing and would have played alot better that season until he got injured.
I kinda think that him getting injured and putting price in the floor general role kinda helped mature Price and improve his play dramatically. Price did have some Iffy decisions sometimes though, I can still remember watching games sometimes and think to myself "what? why did he think that was a good idea".

I would have

1.A) Kemba (sorry bazz but I just gotta)
1.B) Bazz (was close but I think Kemba takes it by a slim margin)
3) El-Amin
4) Marcus Williams

Most likely, I'll have to think on 5 and maybe edit the list later after thought about it a little more.
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I think the reason many of us want to rank Bazz a slight notch higher than Kemba is due to Bazz getting a 2nd ring. However, if Kemba wasn't superhuman that one year Bazz wouldn't have gotten the first ring. Kemba shouldn't be dropped on a list because he was the main reason the guy above him has one more ring. Kemba did get to a Final Four as well so that needs to be taken into consideration. IMO, the bottom line is you can't go wrong with either at 1 and the other at 2. Being able to even have these debates is what makes us so ridiculously lucky to be Husky fans.
 
It is a legacy of point guards. Look at the people not on the list. Start with the coaching staff.

It always surprises me when newer fans or national taking heads call us a big-man team. Calhoun and KO have focused on ther PGs
 
KEA
Chris Smith
Kemba
Marcus
Bazz

Honorable Mention Taliek and Doron

Of course this depends on if you are ranking overall talent or pure point skills.
 
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MilliniumPrince said:
KEA
Chris Smith
Kemba
Marcus
Bazz

Honorable Mention Taliek and Doron

Of course this depends on if you are ranking overall talent or pure point skills.
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The way I see it is take the best year they performed and decide who you would rather have as the starter, backup #1, #2, #3 ect.

I think in terms of overall talent kemba has this one with bazz just slightly behind but really kemba was in a league of his own in overall talent and ability / potential. Also I believe bazz became the player he was because of learning from kemba, including his work attitude and alot of mental quirks really intangibles that you can't teach but could watch and learn from others.

Edit: Oh and plus kemba definitely taught Shabazz the head fake (drive the lane and throw your head up to show the refs there was contact incase they missed it) I really hope boat picked up on that and can pass that on. Always loved that move.
 
David 76 said:
It is a legacy of point guards. Look at the people not on the list. Start with the coaching staff.

It always surprises me when newer fans or national taking heads call us a big-man team. Calhoun and KO have focused on ther PGs
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Pre Okafor, they usually called us a donut team. After that we got wealthy in the middle. In 04, we had Mek, Josh, CharlieV and Hilton on the same team. Of course it was before HA blossomed in his senior season, but still... That team had 4 bigs who were drafted in the 1st round, all on the same team.
 
Davidm said:
The way I see it is take the best year they performed and decide who you would rather have as the starter, backup #1, #2, #3 ect.

I think in terms of overall talent kemba has this one with bazz just slightly behind but really kemba was in a league of his own in overall talent and ability / potential. Also I believe bazz became the player he was because of learning from kemba, including his work attitude and alot of mental quirks really intangibles that you can't teach but could watch and learn from others.

Edit: Oh and plus kemba definitely taught Shabazz the head fake (drive the lane and throw your head up to show the refs there was contact incase they missed it) I really hope boat picked up on that and can pass that on. Always loved that move.
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Fair enough. I have a hard time placing Bazz above Khalid. One one one, I think KEA was better than Bazz...but they are so similar to me. No one had bigger stones than those two...except maybe Kemba. I think many forget how well rounded Marcus was due to the fact the '06 team under achieved.
 
I would never say my list is the 5 BEST point guards we had. It's just my favorites. The PG's I really, really enjoyed, and in that regard, my top five consists of a three way tie for first, followed by a 2 way tie for next.

Kemba/Bazz/Ricky
Taleik/KEA

I was watching the UConn/Oklahoma game from '04 today, and it really reminded me what a good PG TBrown was. Not many of our PGs could rifle a one handed pass off the dribble from beyond half court with deadly accuracy and timing like he could.
 
Remember the "donut team" remarks. A bit tough on Jake, Rod and Travis, but that was our rep.
RichZ said:
Pre Okafor, they usually called us a donut team. After that we got wealthy in the middle. In 04, we had Mek, Josh, CharlieV and Hilton on the same team. Of course it was before HA blossomed in his senior season, but still... That team had 4 bigs who were drafted in the 1st round, all on the same team.
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Remember the "donut" years. Thought that label was harsh for Travis, Jake and Rod (especially when you look at who Sellers played against, undersized and with a bad leg) Most of the past 12 years has been very different
 
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