What was the best UConn Men’s Basketball team that didn’t win a national championship?

[StllH8L8ner]

UConn was #1 when we went to their house and gave it to them. I believe L'ville was top 5 or just outside. Me and a couple friends left a party at Carriage House in the wee hours Sunday morning to drive to L'ville and attend the game. Left immediately following the game to get back for Tuesday classes.

Kudos to you. That's a long ride round trip. I made the drive with some friends in a rented car for the Derby one year and flew home. The flight home seemed like eternity also but mainly because I had hit Fourth Street Live pretty hard the previous night.

 

[CTBasketball]

1989-1990 was the best by far. But after that I think you could argue vs. 2008-2009 and 1995-1996.

2008-2009 had a lot more weapons on offense in my opinion. A healthy Dyson, Price, Kemba, Thabeet, Adrien, Stanley, and even Austrie could go off for 20+ a night. Defensively that team was better than 1995-1996 as well. I think 2008-2009 was one of our better teams ever.

 

[TheChamps990411]

A renown coach who played both teams said UConn was better.

I love the dream team but they lose by 15 to that UNLV team. That team was big, deep and could score at will. We would've had to go up and down with them and we would not have been able to keep up. Our defense was great but that was the one team in that tourney I don't see us beating.

 

[boog204]

89-90 would have been crushed by UNLV, I think.
93-94 was very good but soft.
94-95 might have been our most explosive offensive team. Donny, Ray, Doron, KO, BFair, Travis... We averaged over 90/gm in the tourney that year.
95-96 was slightly better than 93-94, but maybe even softer. Losing Ricky was an enormous loss, too, as Doron ran out of gas as the only playmaker.
97-98 was a really good team but they would lose to that UNC 9 out of 10 times, I think.
01-02 would have beaten anyone except for Maryland with how they (Caron) were playing.
05-06 man for man was probably our most talented but they just never really clicked for more than 10 minutes or so a game. There was a 'Cuse game, at the Dome, where we started the game on a 10-0 run, gave up a big run, and then ended the half on a 19-0 run. In those two runs we were unreal. Then we would take our foot off the gas and let them back in because we'd get complacent. They are the poster child for underachievers and are the answer here. All that talent and we were lucky to get out of the 1-16 game.
08-09 I think we beat MSU but I'm not sure we beat UNC. I know Dyson was a good player and would have been another scoring option, but we were playing GREAT ball without him and you could argue were better because the ball moved more. Just my opinion.

 

[huskyrob1]

93 was my last year on campus, never had a chance to see ray in college

You just missed him, he was there in the Fall of 93.

 

[Brochacho]

I think it has to be 2009, assuming a healthy Dyson. 6 guys who would get drafted/play in the NBA, Austrie and Edwards were fine collegiate players. Also played in what may have been the best year for the Big East, at least at the top - 3 #1 seeds in the NCAAs. One of the few UConn teams you expected to win every game no matter the opponent or location.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I always thought '05-06 had the most talent and figured they would run through the tourney that year.

'89-90 will always be my favorite team but I don't think there was any way they were beating UNLV.

 

[Deadrody]

I think it has to be 2009, assuming a healthy Dyson. 6 guys who would get drafted/play in the NBA, Austrie and Edwards were fine collegiate players. Also played in what may have been the best year for the Big East, at least at the top - 3 #1 seeds in the NCAAs. One of the few UConn teams you expected to win every game no matter the opponent or location.

Agreed. I remember that dismantling AT Louisville to this day. Louisville ended up the overall #1 seed in the tournament. Beating them 68-51 at their place was that UConn team at their peak. If Dyson doesn't get hurt, they go all the way.

 

[Waquoit]

They weren't beating UNLV.

They weren't beating Duke in 99 either.

 

[Chin Diesel]

They weren't beating Duke in 99 either.

There's a big difference to me between UConn possibly playing UNLV in '90 and beating dook in '99.

'99 UConn was coming off an E8 appearance the season before and was heading in the Finals against dook on a sustained two year run of excellence. Two McD's AA's in the lineup, consensus first team AA in Rip on the floor. That '99 team could score in the halfcourt, in transition and play great D. '99 was also a much bigger team physically inside.

The sole shortcoming of the Dream Season team was halfcourt offense. That team successfully throughout the year used a great TO advantage to get way more possession per game than their opponents. It's a great characteristic to have as a team but they weren't a great offensive team. You had to be able to score for 40 minutes to stay competitive with UNLV.

I looked at this thread not just as who my favorite UConn teams were, or which ones had the most talent, but more from the "which UConn team was best suited to win compared to the field that season?" line of thinking. Winning a championship often takes some good breaks but also good matchups.

 

[superjohn]

They weren't beating Duke in 99 either.

I always thought we would beat Duke that year, UConn was ranked #1 more weeks than Duke was. UNLV was just significantly better than UConn, they would have had to run with UNLV and nobody could keep up with them.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

1989-1990 was the best by far. But after that I think you could argue vs. 2008-2009 and 1995-1996.

2008-2009 had a lot more weapons on offense in my opinion. A healthy Dyson, Price, Kemba, Thabeet, Adrien, Stanley, and even Austrie could go off for 20+ a night. Defensively that team was better than 1995-1996 as well. I think 2008-2009 was one of our better teams ever.

I think 1994-1995 was better than 1995-1996. They had to play a red hot UCLA team in Cally.or they win it all.
They lost Donny Marshall , KO, and Brian Fair. Donny was the soul , KO the distributor an another leader and Brian a great shooter.
That team blows out MS.

 

[CTBasketball]

I think 1994-1995 was better than 1995-1996. They had to play a red hot UCLA team in Cally.or they win it all.
They lost Donny Marshall , KO, and Brian Fair. Donny was the soul , KO the distributor an another leader and Brian a great shooter.
That team blows out MS.

Need luck at the right time. 1996 didn’t have it, 1995 didn’t either, 2009 certainly didn’t, 2006 don’t remind me, and 1990 lost to Laettner’s shot.

Honestly all these teams were great and could have won it all. Speaks volumes to how great of a coach Calhoun was. Most schools dream about having these conversations.

 

[Waquoit]

UNLV spit the bit in 1991 with practically the same team. I still think UConn would have been a tougher matchup for the Rebs than Duke in 90.

 

[Ratso]

1989-1990 was the best by far. But after that I think you could argue vs. 2008-2009 and 1995-1996.

2008-2009 had a lot more weapons on offense in my opinion. A healthy Dyson, Price, Kemba, Thabeet, Adrien, Stanley, and even Austrie could go off for 20+ a night. Defensively that team was better than 1995-1996 as well. I think 2008-2009 was one of our better teams ever.

freshman kemba wasn’t the kemba we know. he was more of slasher with no real outside shot. obviously unc was the team to beat, but hey the final 4 is all about matchups.

 

[Ts5034]

On paper, 2008-2009 was our 5th best team we ever had. You can argue until you're blue in the face if we win it all with a healthy Dyson, but looking back on it, the way Ive come to see it is that we at least got something to show for that season. In college basketball, your success as a coach, and as a program, is measured by Final Four's and National Championship's. For me, 1995, 2002, and 2006 hurt a lot worse than 2009...Im too young to remember 1990 and the dream season. If we beat George Mason in 2006, that would have meant we would have made the Final Four in 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2014. That really would have been a dominant stretch over that 15 year period.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Why no poll in the thread? I was at the Mason game - I loved that team. They would be my vote.

 

[Sky ball]

Don't remember the years but two come to mind. Team that lost to George Mason with all the NBA draft picks and the Ray Allen team that lost to UCLA.

 

[Waquoit]

Why no poll in the thread? I was at the Mason game - I loved that team. They would be my vote.

Why? They were miserable, games didn't flow. They played really bad against really bad teams. I got a family group of a dozen or so to the Sun Dome that year to see the USF game. They almost lost to a 3 win team. I think they lost to the better team even though Mason was the last at-large team in.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Best chance to win when we didn't: 08/09

Best team that didn't win: 05/06

 

[Chin Diesel]

Best chance to win when we didn't: 08/09

Best team that didn't win: 05/06

I'd say you have it backwards. 08/09 was a better team but the FF was stacked that year. 05/06 wasn't as good of a team but had an easier path to the trophy.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I'd say you have it backwards. 08/09 was a better team but the FF was stacked that year. 05/06 wasn't as good of a team but had an easier path to the trophy.

Fair point. The 05/06 clearly wasn't mentally as cohesive as they needed to be. Whereas, the 08/09 team made the Final Four and played well against a good Mich St. team in what amounted to a home game for them. If Dyson had been healthy, I think we would it all. But I feel 05/06 was more talented top to bottom.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Why? They were miserable, games didn't flow. They played really bad against really bad teams. I got a family group of a dozen or so to the Sun Dome that year to see the USF game. They almost lost to a 3 win team. I think they lost to the better team even though Mason was the last at-large team in.

I can't recall a team of ours that had more NBA draft picks. Although they bowed out early in the BE tourney, they basically ran through the regular season with no losses. I loved that they had a CT product in Austrie, and they featured Ed Nelson. Debating between them and the 08/09 team is just splitting hairs. I would have loved to see them play each other. I'm assuming you like that team better...explain to me why. And calling them miserable is just absurd. I should call you miserable for that nonsense comment.

 

[selles]

UNLV spit the bit in 1991 with practically the same team. I still think UConn would have been a tougher matchup for the Rebs than Duke in 90.

Everyone remains in awe of that UNLV team because they put on one of the most dominant performances in championship game history. Fair enough.

But the week before I remember watching them very nearly lose to Ball State.

It would have been an uphill battle, but we certainly would have had a puncher's chance.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Fair point. The 05/06 clearly wasn't mentally as cohesive as they needed to be. Whereas, the 08/09 team made the Final Four and played well against a good Mich St. team in what amounted to a home game for them. If Dyson had been healthy, I think we would it all. But I feel 05/06 was more talented top to bottom.

I think they would have beaten MSU with Dyson but still would have been underdogs to Carolina. Carolina almost scored 60 in the first half of the final and handled Michigan State with ease - that game was lopsided.