UConn's Best Freshman Season

[OkaForPrez]

No rip mentions? Good year on a bad team.

 

[David 76]

Hard to explain to the youngins how much Dove elevated that team, elevated our program, elevated our expectations. That team had talent and some great role players. But as Dove grew into that team and his minutes increased, we took off coming out of nowhere.
Lamb, Sheffer Allen and others were great contributors some with even more potential, but they did not do what Dove did.

 

[Scoe]

Hard to explain to the youngins how much Dove elevated that team, elevated our program, elevated our expectations. That team had talent and some great role players. But as Dove grew into that team and his minutes increased, we took off coming out of nowhere.
Lamb, Sheffer Allen and others were great contributors some with even more potential, but they did not do what Dove did.

A minature Larry Bird as Raftery would say.

 

[Huskies4ever]

I think that was Chris Smith's freshman year too.Young talent on that team. But w/o Nadav (or Tate) they weren't quite the same the next year.

Chris Smith was a soph on that team.

 

[boog204]

No rip mentions? Good year on a bad team.

Rip would get my vote. I just watched the first half of the Kansas game his fresh year. Rip might have been the best player on the court playing the point. You could see that he was going to be an absolute stud.

Nadav, Ray, Caron, Emeka, Khalid, Sheffer, Ben, Donyell all deserve a mention.

 

[boog204]

A minature Larry Bird as Raftery would say.

Watch the California game from the tourney that year. He WAS Bird in that game. He was three plays ahead of everyone else on the court. Amazing.

 

[Huskies4ever]

No one has mentioned Caron.

Also, Emeka, and Ben were great, just like Ray and Doron.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I believe Corny also had a great freshman year, Kelly was great but I'm staying with Nadav.

Corny was without question the second best freshman in the country that year. Prior to the tournament it could hve been argued that he was the best freshman bur a kid named Aguirre took DePaul to the final four that year.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't know about freshman "season", in terms of stats, team W/L, etc., but in terms of freshman presence or impact, I would vote for Khalid. He came in and provided a badly-needed swagger to this team and this program after a decade of near-misses and should-haves.

Henefeld also has to be up there, but he was just barely before my time as a fan, so I can't comment on him, and also his status as a "freshman" is a bit iffy since he was what, 21, when he played?

 

[Scoe]

Watch the California game from the tourney that year. He WAS Bird in that game. He was three plays ahead of everyone else on the court. Amazing.

Yes I have watched that game and will watch it again, I laughed so hard when Nadav whipped the ball over Lou Campanella's head inbounding the ball on Cal's sideline.

 

[Kembacity]

Amida Brimah for that clutch and-1 in the biggest game of his life

but all joking a salad I agree with your well thought out points on this, good discussion point too

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

A minature Larry Bird as Raftery would say.

I think it was either the second Villanova game or the Pitt game on the road where Raftery first made that Bird comparison with Henefeld (I know it was early in the season), tentatively... "He's a little Bird-like, with the way he passes the ball and breaks down the defense." Little did he know what lay ahead...

 

[johnhuskies95]

I don't know about freshman "season", in terms of stats, team W/L, etc., but in terms of freshman presence or impact, I would vote for Khalid. He came in and provided a badly-needed swagger to this team and this program after a decade of near-misses and should-haves.

Henefeld also has to be up there, but he was just barely before my time as a fan, so I can't comment on him, and also his status as a "freshman" is a bit iffy since he was what, 21, when he played?

Yeah, he was older than Kemba was as a junior. A little different than guys like Ray and Lamb who were 18 their entire seasons as freshmen.

Caron was 20 for most of his freshman year and then turned 21 towards the end.

 

[HuskyFich]

Amida Brimah for that clutch and-1 in the biggest game of his life

but all joking a salad I agree with your well thought out points on this, good discussion point too

 

[John]

Earl Kelly

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/connecticut/1983.html

Earl came off the bench for the first six games but he was leading the team in minutes played, scoring, and was second to Karl Hobbs in assists. “After the sixth game I became a starter. By the end of my freshman year I was voted Big East Player of the week six times, Big East rookie of the year, I made the District 10 All Star team along with Michael Jordan (former NBA player) and Patrick Ewing (former NBA player). I was the only freshman to make the team.

 

[Milo65]

DOVE! What doesn't show up in the stat sheet is Dove's nasty defense and awesome passing ability.

 

[willie99]

Caron Butler, geez

15.3 PPG
7.6 RPG
3.3 APG
2.2 SPG

he was the workhorse on a nationally prominent program which nobody looked past

 

[CallMeBruce]

DOVE! What doesn't show up in the stat sheet is Dove's nasty defense and awesome passing ability.

Both of those things showed up in the stat sheet in the form of his 3.7 steals and 2.9 assists per game.

 

[nomar]

Hard to explain to the youngins how much Dove elevated that team, elevated our program, elevated our expectations. That team had talent and some great role players. But as Dove grew into that team and his minutes increased, we took off coming out of nowhere.
Lamb, Sheffer Allen and others were great contributors some with even more potential, but they did not do what Dove did.

I turned 13 during the Dream Season. If I had a shekel for every Bar Mitzvah Nadav got invited to that year...

I was crushed when he announced he was returning to Israel.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Both of those things showed up in the stat sheet in the form of his 3.7 steals and 2.9 assists per game.

They don't tell the whole story.

I wonder how many assists he'd have had with the kind of scoring talent around him Marcus Williams had...or if basketball had the "hockey assist."

 

[Excalibur]

1) Khalid
2) Nadav





Everyone else . . .

 

[Husky25]

Khalid
Okafor
Lamb
R. Hamilton

 

[mauconnfan]

Josh Boone had a significant impact as a freshman also. Not Henefeld-like per se but more than anticipated for sure.

 

[Husky25]

Josh Boone had a significant impact as a freshman also. Not Henefeld-like per se but more than anticipated for sure.

I forgot about Edmond Saunders. He was more than serviceable his freshman year, though he did not start. Honestly though, you just don't come in and beat out a Kevin Freeman for a spot in the starting 5.

Don't forget about Jeff Adrien either.

 

[businesslawyer]

I feel sorry for the younger Husky fans who didn't get to see Henefeld play as it happened. He was a revelation. At 6'7" with a unique set of skills, Henefeld could handle like a guard, rebound like a power forward, and he was arguably the slickest passer ever to wear a UConn uniform.

And then there were his abilities as a defender...he could legitimately guard all 5 positions, and frequently did.

Mookie Blalock held the NCAA freshman steals record at 131 before Nadav shattered it with 142. I wonder if it still stands.

He also had a mental toughess/maturity that was hard to describe. In the game that, more than any, welcomed UConn to the big time, Mourning ticked off Nadav with his incessant talking. Nadav demanded the ball in the low blocks with Mourning on him and hit a fadeaway "and one" with a leap backwards to give himself space to get the shot over 'Zo that had to have been seen to be believed.

The answer to the question is Nadav, with KEA a close second. In each case, they stepped on the floor and became the leader of a top ten team that hadn't been to the tournament the year before.