Was this the most surprising UCONN championship run ? | The Boneyard

Was this the most surprising UCONN championship run ?

Marat

Marat

The Champ Is Here.
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In 1999, we had a veteran terrific team that was ranked #1 for part of the season, and only Duke stood in the way. But it was the 1st one so it was shocking to actually be on top of the mountain.

In 2004, we knew the team was stacked and was not suprising at all to win it .

In 2011, I guess you could say it was surprising to others but once the team won the BET 5 in 5 days, then you could anticipate the run.

In 2014, yes that was surprising - didn't expect to win it all .

This 2023 team - given the previous 2 ncaa endings, Hurley, and mediocre mid-season swoon, it was surprising. The experts said there isn't dominant team, and they were wrong. You can argue that this championship run was even more surprising than our other runs, due to how dominant this team became vs non conference opponents.
 
I would say 2014, definitely.

Not sure there is a case for anyone else.

2014 lost by 35 or so at UL to end the regular season and then got smashed again in the AAC championship game. (Lost by 10, but it was a blowout.)
 
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Absolutely no one picked us to beat Duke in '99. Somewhat of a surprise, and our first.
2004 , not a surprise.
2014 biggest surprise.
This year we showed that we could dominate teams, so not a surprise at all.
 
I said to my dad last night, I would have been surprised in late January that we won, but when we were #2 and undefeated OOC, I wouldn't have been surprised then.

I think 2014 was the most surprising, being a #7 seed, DeAndre Daniels playing out of his mind for 3 weeks, Tyler Olander having more national championships than Syracuse....
 
Fishy said:
I would say 2014, definitely.

Not sure there is a case for anyone else.

2014 lost by 35 or so at UL to end the regular season and then got smashed again in the AAC championship game. (Lost by 10, but it was a blowout.)
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Clearly not as surprising as 2014. Hard to distinguish between '11 and this year. In both years we went undefeated OOC, struggled in conference and were seeded at a level where making the Final Four was not shocking but there were other teams with a better chance of going all the way than us.

The '11 team played far more competitive games in the tournament, three of which could have easily gone the other way, but there was faith in that team being able to win a close game because of Kemba and the Big East tournament, whereas when SD State cut it to 5 this year I can't have been the only fan beyond nervous because I didn't want to see us have to make good decisions down the stretch.
 
This season itself as a whole was a surprise. Not so much the tourney because we knew by that point what they were capable of once they got rolling.

Both 2011 and 2014 they struggled through the regular season. Nobody saw the 5 wins in 5 days coming (wherever MakersMuppet is, you're forever in Boneyard lore). Once we did that, they carried that momentum into the tourney as a 3 seed and Kemba took us to the promised land.

But 2014? We'd just lost to Louisville again in the AAC final, and went into the dance as a 7 seed. Don't think many people saw us repeating 2011. But Bazz was the man that year and once we got to MSG for the regionals, you could feel that March magic coming back again. This was the most surprising of our titles IMO.
 
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2014, not even close. This was a great team, I'd put the 2023 and 2011 in the same category.
 
Going from being banned to winning the next year is probably one of the most improbable championships ever. Hard to beat.

This one means we’re back though. And going to be here for AWHILE.
 
2014.

I was not surprised at all by 2011. I felt the same way I felt this year. Crazy Big East reffing shackled us in the conference regular season. We are a combined 35-0 OOC and 22-16 BE reg. season for 2011 + 2023. EYE POPPING.

I really like all the players on this team, and I love the way they play offense. It's really pleasing. That being said, based on the context around them and being left for dead in the AAC, the banning because of APR in 2013, and the vindication at MSG, that 2014 may always be my favorite championship team.
 
If not for Brimah, 2014 would've been done before getting off the ground and KO was coach, so definitely the most surprising. I'd say 2014, 2011, 2023, 1999 and 2004.
 
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HuskyWarrior611 said:
Going from being banned to winning the next year is probably one of the most improbable championships ever. Hard to beat.

This one means we’re back though. And going to be here for AWHILE.
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And didn't some players bail the year we got banned? Yet we came back and won soon after.
 
2014 and i don’t think it’s close. Totally erratic all season long. But Boatwright and Napier especially jelled during the BE tournament and the team as a whole steadied. Still needed a miracle here and their. Having two effective guards at the right time was huge.
 
No. 2014 was most surprising.

This team showed it was elite in non-conference games and righted the ship during conference season.

Computer metrics were high on this team all season and a good case could be made UConn should have been a 3-seed.

2014 most surprising
2011 second most surpising
2023
1999/2004. Not surprising at all.
 
Certain "fans" on this board would have to say its 2023.

Because they were absolutely, positively, 100% convinced that Hurley would never be able to win in March.

Turns out, he can win just fine in both March and April.
 
Surprising? Quite a few experts predicted UConn to reach the Final Four this year.
 
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2014 hands down. This year we had one starter who fasted and one who was struggling with a stomach ailment. In 2014 all the starters and players were hungry!
 
Definitely 2014, although by the time we beat Villanova, I knew nobody had anything for our defense or Bazz, and I wasn’t very nervous about any of the three remaining games.

I was more nervous this run, but I was saying all year that, when playing right, we are a top 5 team in the country. The way we blew everyone up OOC really showed that.
 
This was not a surprise. I think a lot of people felt good after the strong start of the season.

The 2014 was a surprise. That came out of nowhere. We lost to Louisville 3 times that year.

I didn't think we could make a run, but the mojo was strong. Bazz, Daniels, Boatright, and the rest plus Sehor surprised everyone including that punk Emmert. "The Hungry Husky's"
 
Are you guys goldfish or something? Are your memories really that short?

Go look at the threads from November and the first half of December and there were dozens of threads about how awesome this team was. We all knew then that this team was one of the best in the country. In hindsight, the midseason "lull" happened because it appears that three of our conference mates (Xavier, Marquette and Creighton) were among the top 10-15 teams in the country, and they were responsible for 5 of UConn's losses. Providence was getting unprecedented home court officiating all season, and Seton Hall was a bubble team that got lucky against UConn at home, which happens. St. Johns was a bad loss, no way around it, but not enough by itself to change any intelligent person's opinion of UConn, especially in a year where there was full-blown insane upsets throughout college basketball all season. St. Johns beating UConn was not even on the radar given some of the chaos around the country this season.

The only way anyone can be surprised by what happened is if they can't read or have massive short-term memory issues, in which case you should be seeing a doctor. The only thing keeping me from talking mountains of trash throughout March was the almost certain banning I would have received for angering the mojo gods, or whatever they are called. And I know I was not alone in feeling that way. I have at least two threads I started that I can bump that show exactly what I was thinking in a more understated way than I would have preferred.

People like to say they were surprised, or that their team "shocked the world", whenever their team wins. This UConn championship may actually be the least shocking of any of them, because at least the 2004 team had to get past a very good Duke team. I respected Kansas and UCLA, and didn't want UConn to play Creighton again. After that, I cared so little about who UConn played that it was not until the Final 8 that I realized that UConn would not be playing the winner of KSU/FAU. I hadn't bothered to look it up because I didn't care. I think there are a couple of posts where I mention KSU/FAU as impacting UConn's Final Four matchup.

It's basketball, so I know that nothing is a sure thing, but I was certainly not shocked by this championship. I am not even surprised. We knew 8 games into this season that UConn was the best team in the country.
 
husky429 said:
2014 and 2011 were more surprising. 2014 especially.
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I thought 2011 was most surprising. I didn't even think we would be a good team heading into the season. I had no clue Kemba would make the jump he did and be the best player in the country and pretty much the rest of the team was all kids I knew nothing about.

I thought this team was going to be really good but they obviously exceeded expectations.
 
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