Top 50 Uconn players - The dumbest thing you'll read all day via theuconnblog

[HuskyFan32]

Jerome Dyson should be #1. oh sorry i thought it was the 50 worst most destructive worthless players in Uconn history.

 

[Silk City]

You could argue that they've done more in one year than some of the guys higher on the list did in a "full" career at UConn.

If Lamb jumped to the NBA after last year, you wouldn't put him on a top-50 list? I certainly would.

Of course I would. He didn't jump though, which is my point.. Let's see how the rest of his career plays out before seeing where he ultimately stands

 

[HuskyFan32]

A lot of people seem to think Okafor should be first. What do you guys think? I think mek was obv great, but there were a number of stretches where Ben Gordon was the best player on those teams (or go to guy is maybe a better way of putting it). Emekas intangibles and rebounding and d were incredible, but his offense was just a notch below so that kinda knocks him down a tiny bit im my mind. I'd put Kemba, Rip, and Ray ahead of him without question. Agree with a previous post that Gordon should be 6 or 7. I still think that had Butler stayed his Junior year, we woulda had a great chance to win it all. He woulda been All-American and potentially POY and he would be a Top 5, possibly Top 3 Husky of All-Time. Of all the guys leaving early, I wish Caron stayed one more year the most.

 

[HuskyFan32]

I definitely cannot agree with Kemba at #1. He was only the starting PG for a single season. If you want to say, best season every by a UConn player, I'll give him that. But best play? Ray, Rip, Donyell, Emeka and probably KEH were better over their careers.

Meanwhile a guy like Tim Coles is way too low. Sheffer ahead of Taliek, Ollie, Ricky and Marcus Williams? All of those guys were better than him, at the same position.

Kemba deserves to be #1 based solely on the face that he saved out program. We were literally inches from falling off a cliff and into college bball mediocrity (ala Maryland). And now we have more talent or depth than we ever have. It boggles my mind that we are down to 10 scholarships and we have probably our deepest team ever. Kemba took us inches from death and put us in a better spot than weve ever been (potential bs APR violations withstanding).

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Kemba deserves to be #1 based solely on the face that he saved out program. We were literally inches from falling off a cliff and into college bball mediocrity (ala Maryland). And now we have more talent or depth than we ever have. It boggles my mind that we are down to 10 scholarships and we have probably our deepest team ever. Kemba took us inches from death and put us in a better spot than weve ever been (potential bs APR violations withstanding).

Could you be anymore dramatic?

"Inches from death".... or as it's known in the state of Connecticut, 1 season removed from the Final 4.

 

[Lefty2one]

He's not being that over-dramatic.

We just came off the most disappointing season of the JC era, we lost a ton of production, Kemba was thought of as a work-in-progress still, our previous three recruiting classes had been largely disappointing and we were loaded with underclassmen. We were picked to finish 10th in the Big East in the preseason poll. Not to mention the questions about JC's future, his contract saga and the Miles mess.

There's no question IMO that one year ago today was a very unnerving time to be a UConn fan. I had a discussion with a few friends and we basically reminisced about the JC era, assumed it was all but over and hoped for a best case scenario of Kemba developing into a nice player and making one last run with him as a senior and Drummond as a freshman. I remember turning off my TV after the season opener and thinking to myself, "this going to be the first time in 20 some odd years we'll be going to back-to-back NITs".

 

[NightDog]

Bleacher Report=Swagger, and nothing else.

 

[Prezidint]

I look at it this way - and reasonable people can disagree.

Take Ray off the team. Take Mek off the team. Take KEA off the team.

How do they do?

If you take Kemba off the 11 team . . . and I'm trying not to exaggerate here, they don't make the NIT and they may not win a Big East game.

Put him on and they win the NC.

No other player comes remotely close to being that important.

That's greatness.

Ergo - he gets the 1 spot from me, and the 2nd guy is a distant second guy.

 

[61cygni]

C'mon, we still beat DePaul without Kemba.

 

[lavuuk153]

I look at it this way - and reasonable people can disagree.

Take Ray off the team. Take Mek off the team. Take KEA off the team.

How do they do?

If you take Kemba off the 11 team . . . and I'm trying not to exaggerate here, they don't make the NIT and they may not win a Big East game.

Put him on and they win the NC.

No other player comes remotely close to being that important.

That's greatness.

Ergo - he gets the 1 spot from me, and the 2nd guy is a distant second guy.

When you say off the team, do you mean their respective teams? Best is different than most valuable. Allen, Hamilton, Okafor, etc (feels nice to have this many awesome players) would all have been the guy on last year's team and would have carried them farther than any average replacement. Last year's team was the perfect storm of young players buying into the system and playing tough defense combined with a lack of great or even really good teams. Does anyone really think last year's team beats either Duke team from 99 or 04 more than twice out of 10 times? If last year's team had North Carolina on their jersey would Walker be better than Jordan?

The best player to ever play at Uconn is the only sure fire Hall of Famer the school has produced, Ray "Jesus" Allen.

 

[61cygni]

If your criteria includes the post-UConn career.

 

[HuskyHawk]

When you say off the team, do you mean their respective teams? Best is different than most valuable. Allen, Hamilton, Okafor, etc (feels nice to have this many awesome players) would all have been the guy on last year's team and would have carried them farther than any average replacement. Last year's team was the perfect storm of young players buying into the system and playing tough defense combined with a lack of great or even really good teams. Does anyone really think last year's team beats either Duke team from 99 or 04 more than twice out of 10 times? If last year's team had North Carolina on their jersey would Walker be better than Jordan?

The best player to ever play at Uconn is the only sure fire Hall of Famer the school has produced, Ray "Jesus" Allen.

Even just looking at the UConn careers, Kemba isn't best. MVP of a single season sure. But AJ was ahead of him his sophomore year and he only played a little as a freshman.

The program was certainly not in trouble. And if the prior year was poor, and they missed the tournament, why isn't that on Kemba in part? You look at the whole body of work. He's not close to #1 by that criteria.

 

[Deadrody]

not sure if this was posted yet as I couldn't find it.

It takes something spectacular to get me to link to Bleacher Report, but they've really outdone themselves today, so here you go: A list of UConn's 50 best basketball players that is as hilarious as it is wrong. It is impossibly stupid, don't read it unless you want to get angry.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/908054-uconn-the-top-50-players-in-school-history

And the best part ? You only have to start at #50 to find something ridiculously stupid - Andre Drummond.

It is beyond debate that when all is said and done, Drummond is very likely to be much farther up the list, but as of today, having never even played an official game, he doesn't belong on the list AT ALL. Yikes

And then you only have to click once more to find something NEARLY as stupid - Jeremy Lamb #49. Really ? The clutch #2 scorer on an all-time underrated run to a national championship ? I'm going to go with a handful of other players on championship / final four teams - Rip, Emeka, Gordon, Price, and add in a few all time greats - Caron, Ray, Donyell, Cliff - to fill up the list of guys that clearly belong above Lamb. He's not done and already I'm going to slot him into #10-#20.

Travis Knight above Voskhul ? What ?
Marcus Williams above Rashad "The Dagger" Anderson ?
Doron Sheffer and Phil Gamble above Ricky Moore ?
Tony Hansen #10, Toby Kimball #7, Art Quimby #6 ?
Emeka at #2, but Gordon down at #11 ?

Ironically, Kemba gets #1 for the championship he delivered in 2011. And yet that kind of TEAM success is apparently ignored on much of the rest of the list. If that kind of success counts, there is nobody pre-Calhoun making the top 10, at least.

Also, it seems to me that the author of the list went out of their way to include pre-Calhoun players just for the sake of it. There are at least 4 or 5 guys on the list I've never even heard of. Balasuknia, Kimball, Quimby, Coles, etc. Sure. They belong. Not sure who got left of the list in their favor, but I'd have to think about it...

Horrendous list

 

[Deadrody]

Ray Allen is number 1. Sorry.

Not a chance

 

[Deadrody]

Even just looking at the UConn careers, Kemba isn't best. MVP of a single season sure. But AJ was ahead of him his sophomore year and he only played a little as a freshman.

You see, this disqualifies you from even HAVING an opinion. When Kemba was a Sophomore, AJ Price was in the NBA. Please, buy a clue before chiming in again

 

[uconnfan68]

not sure if this was posted yet as I couldn't find it.

It takes something spectacular to get me to link to Bleacher Report, but they've really outdone themselves today, so here you go: A list of UConn's 50 best basketball players that is as hilarious as it is wrong. It is impossibly stupid, don't read it unless you want to get angry.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/908054-uconn-the-top-50-players-in-school-history

Nice list. Happy to see they recognized some older guys. Won't even start about the order. We could all argue that all day.

 

[HuskyFan32]

Could you be anymore dramatic?

"Inches from death".... or as it's known in the state of Connecticut, 1 season removed from the Final 4.

That was the point. I was going for over the top dramatic.

 

[HuskyFan32]

Not a chance

Well saying Ray "doesnt have a chance" disqualifies you from having an opinion. Ray may not be #1, but he def "has a chance".

 

[HuskyFan32]

Could you be anymore dramatic?

"Inches from death".... or as it's known in the state of Connecticut, 1 season removed from the Final 4.

And thanks Lefty. It was meant to be dramatic, but looking back its really not. We may have been one year removed from the Final Four, but we brought in an unhearalded recruiting class. We lost scholarships and were still facing potential APR violations. Without Kemba, no Daniels for sure, and probably no Drummond. Lamb and Bazz dont develop like they did. The team most likely wouldnt get along and have the intagibles that it now does. The program had no energy at all. If Kemba just had a good season, we miss the tourney, hed go pro and wed be left with a less developed lineup of bazz, lamb, roscoe, olander, and Oriakhi with giffey and bradley as our subs and maybe boatright. That teams not making the tourney (only bec Lamb and Bazz wouldnt be nearly as good without kemba). We were pretty close to falling off the map and becoming Maryland and going 19-11 every year. Im not arguing that we would become Depaul. But to me, turning into what Maryland did the past 7 yrs is pretty much falling off cliff in my eyes

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

(only bec Lamb and Bazz wouldnt be nearly as good without kemba)

That point can be argued. Kemba was the best possible leader a coach could ask for, but look who his coach was. I wouldn't count out Calhoun finding a way to bring out the talent in those two somehow.

 

[cohenzone]

In general, this list is ok. Of course anyone can differ with the order, but except from a few guys who arguably could be on the list, nobody on the list is that much worse than anyone left off. The Drummond thing is a little silly, and it is quite possible that Daniels can jump many on this list, so if Drummond is to be there, so should Daniels. Other possibles not included are Jimmy Foster, Joey Whelton, oldtimers John Pipcynski and Len Carlson. I'm not sold on Travis being a top 50 in school history.

 

[Robertelamin]

You see, this disqualifies you from even HAVING an opinion. When Kemba was a Sophomore, AJ Price was in the NBA. Please, buy a clue before chiming in again

Do you have to be an condescending balloon knot every time you post? Can you be miserable somewhere else?

 

[HuskyHawk]

You see, this disqualifies you from even HAVING an opinion. When Kemba was a Sophomore, AJ Price was in the NBA. Please, buy a clue before chiming in again

Fair enough...huge gaffe on my part. Shouldn't post at 6:50 AM before morning caffeine. But that makes the point stronger. Kemba didn't assert himself to save that 09-10 season. Maybe the mistake prone Dyson and inconsistent SR doomed the team, maybe. But some said he gets #1 for somehow "saving the program" from the brink, when he was the starting PG on the team that somehow put us "on the brink" of doom.

He had one spectacular season. The best ever by a UConn player. But doing it over time is the hallmark of greatness. I'd say Donyell, Ray, Rip and Emeka all had a bigger impact on multiple successful seasons.

 

[Prezidint]

I suppose we'd have to define "great" first.
It could mean "most talented."
It could mean "best stats."
It could mean "most valuable to team."
It could mean "most successful."
and so on.
It comes down to something like this - on the greatness scale, are Marino and Montana even close? Depends on your definition. If you use 1 and 2. If you use 4, then Montana.

I'd define greatness as a complicated combination of value to value to team and success.

Talent is wonderful.
But winning is where it's at.

Create a scale. Add winning and value to team together. Kemba is highest. That's greatness to me. It's hard to be "great" when your team does poorly, especially in a 5 man game like basketball.

But I could certainly see why some would say Allen is the greatest UConn player. It's almost indisputable that he had more talent and better stats than Kemba.

 

[hooskies]

any way ya rank em....we've had some amazing players.