I don't remember the young DJ, but old DJ that led the C's is what I remember. He was not an Uber-Athletic guard, like we see throughout the league now. He was a very good defender, mainly due to his BBIQ and excellent anticipation. Newton's offensive game is what reminded me of DJ.
Frankly, I don't have much an opinion on Newton's defense. UConn does a lot of switching on the perimeter, and when they don't when the switch would be problematic, Hurley wants his players to go over the screen with the defender of the screener hedging down and blocking the passing lane. I did noticed that on a number of defensive sets in the first two games too many of our perimeter defenders going under the screen, something to keep an eye on when they start facing better teams who can exploit that.