UConn 2004 vs UConn 2024

[aburks41]

2024 was the most dominant college basketball team I have ever seen. The system we ran was just too good and basically impossible to beat unless we beat ourselves

 

[Scottobot]

04 wins 8 out of 10...maybe all 10.

It would also depend from era are the officials.

2024 team was better. Clingan would have shutdown Okafor. 7,2 vs 6’9. Castle defense would have been trouble for Gordon.

 

[bmayuc]

I'd say both teams were equally dominant in their eras.

But 2024 is a spectacularly terrible mismatch for 2004. All of the things that made 2004 tick, 2024 has the perfect answer. Emeka's physical dominance and rebounding? Oh, how about this 7'2 Unicorn that will gobble up Emeka and neutralize him completely. Dynamic score-first 6'2 Guard Ben Gordon? Stick 6'6 beast Stephon Castle on him and make his life miserable. And 2024's positional versatility and shooting would make it really hard for Emeka to plug all the gaps.


2024 78-65 over 2004

 

[OceanDoggie]

2024 team was better. Clingan would have shutdown Okafor. 7,2 vs 6’9. Castle defense would have been trouble for Gordon.

This idea is so crazy. I love Clingan, but the truth is He is no more dominant a defender than Thabeet was. No one thought Thatbeet would shutdown Okafor.

Before you trash Thabeet, 1) National Defensive Player of the Year, 2) #2 NBA Draft pick overall, in a much tougher Draft 3) 7"3" 260lb.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Real question. Out of 10 games which coach gets ejected the most?

Funny enough, I only remember Hurley being rejected from one game since he’s been here? The Villanova game.

I don’t think he’s been ejected once on the championship runs as crazy as that sounds.

Calhoun used to purposefully looked to get ejected from games at times. Lol

 

[Chin Diesel]

I never said otherwise. I loved watching BG take over games (Alabama comes to mind), but for 2004 to win, it seems like he'd have to somewhat considerably outscore his average vs one of the best perimeter defenders in program history.

Those guys aren't as talented as Ben but every one of them will at least have a cup of coffee in the league. Olivari has struggled in summer league I guess so maybe he's the exception.

Ben G at MSG in '04 BET was ridiculous.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

This idea is so crazy. I love Clingan, but the truth is He is no more dominant a defender than Thabeet was. No one thought Thatbeet would shutdown Okafor.

Before you trash Thabeet, 1) National Defensive Player of the Year, 2) #2 NBA Draft pick overall, in a much tougher Draft 3) 7"3" 260lb.

I think what makes Donovan better is his ability to not have silly fouls. He also seemed to have a stronger base in general.

If he was healthy and played as many minutes as Thabeet did he could’ve been NDPOY, too.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Okafor being out with back spasms opened up the middle for Ben.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Okafor being out with back spasms opened up the middle for Ben.

Ben was averaging 17 a game and Calhoun was still telling him he had another level to get to at the start of the video.

And that’s what you loved about Calhoun. He was going to make sure he got the absolute most out of any talented player that he had here. He wasn’t going to settle on what a guy was capable of doing.

 

[RuffRuff]

This idea is so crazy. I love Clingan, but the truth is He is no more dominant a defender than Thabeet was. No one thought Thatbeet would shutdown Okafor.

Before you trash Thabeet, 1) National Defensive Player of the Year, 2) #2 NBA Draft pick overall, in a much tougher Draft 3) 7"3" 260lb.

It’s an interesting comparison. There was more value put on bigs in the draft back then, so hard to truly compare based on where drafted.

There is no denying Thabeet defensively, although it felt different. He got his blocks in spades, but I never felt like he changed the floor as much as Donovan. And Don is so savvy on the offensive end as the high point/pick and as a passer. It’s truly undervalued.