What was the best UConn Men’s Basketball team that didn’t win a national championship? | Page 4 | The Boneyard

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

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.
 
Why no poll in the thread? I was at the Mason game - I loved that team. They would be my vote.
 
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.
 
XLCenterFan said:
Why no poll in the thread? I was at the Mason game - I loved that team. They would be my vote.
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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 said:
Best chance to win when we didn't: 08/09

Best team that didn't win: 05/06
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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.
 
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Chin Diesel said:
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.
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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.
 
Waquoit said:
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.
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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.
 
Waquoit said:
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.
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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.
 
MilliniumPrince said:
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.
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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.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
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.
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But we got Thabeet
 
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95-96 comes to mind. A 32-2 team that lost in the sweet 16....that was surely a surprise and a big disappointment.

05-06 was a disappointment too. That team should have won, no doubt. Never lived up to their potential.

08-09 with Dyson and we are playing for the championship. Beat UNC? Not so sure.
 
Most talent was 05-06

Best opportunity was probably 08-09. That Michigan st team had one legit nba player and he came off the bench as a true frosh. The front court should’ve thrown them around like children. But much like 05-06 it relies too much on one PG. in this case it was price’s outside shooting. He was going to have to go full Shabazz to win it all (no off games) because that team could not stretch the floor. And Austrie was just completely overwhelmed.

95-96 is a brutal one. Too. Something named Daryl Wilson shot the lights out, while doron and ray did not. That just happens in a one game format. I’m tempted to go them just for that, but beating that Kentucky team would’ve been brutal.

The thing about 09 and 96 are the teams in the title game would’ve been excellent teams.

2006 flordia turned out to be really good too.

Even the 94 team would’ve had to go through arkansas.

Not like the best teams on this list missed chances in weak years for the title.

The two teams that lost to eventual champs (95 and 2002) were right there with both.

2006 makes me sick just thinking of losing to a bunch of absolute nobodies. Especially the future first rounders in the front court getting thrown around.

I’ll say 96 due to the fluke shooting and Moore. 09 just had zero depth to begin with.
 
the Q said:
Most talent was 05-06

Best opportunity was probably 08-09. That Michigan st team had one legit nba player and he came off the bench as a true frosh. The front court should’ve thrown them around like children. But much like 05-06 it relies too much on one PG. in this case it was price’s outside shooting. He was going to have to go full Shabazz to win it all (no off games) because that team could not stretch the floor. And Austrie was just completely overwhelmed.

95-96 is a brutal one. Too. Something named Daryl Wilson shot the lights out, while doron and ray did not. That just happens in a one game format. I’m tempted to go them just for that, but beating that Kentucky team would’ve been brutal.

The thing about 09 and 96 are the teams in the title game would’ve been excellent teams.

2006 flordia turned out to be really good too.

Even the 94 team would’ve had to go through arkansas.

Not like the best teams on this list missed chances in weak years for the title.

The two teams that lost to eventual champs (95 and 2002) were right there with both.

2006 makes me sick just thinking of losing to a bunch of absolute nobodies. Especially the future first rounders in the front court getting thrown around.

I’ll say 96 due to the fluke shooting and Moore. 09 just had zero depth to begin with.
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You explained 05-06 perfectly. Once Dyson went down we just about maximized our potential. As you stated it all revolved around Price and an off shooting night like he had in the final 4 and it was too much for them to overcome, there was no shame in losing to Michigan State in their home state and I doubt they would've had the scoring prowess to overcome UNC.
 
superjohn said:
You explained 05-06 perfectly. Once Dyson went down we just about maximized our potential. As you stated it all revolved around Price and an off shooting night like he had in the final 4 and it was too much for them to overcome, there was no shame in losing to Michigan State in their home state and I doubt they would've had the scoring prowess to overcome UNC.
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They played pretty poorly against MSU. That’s where the shame is. Our supposed elite big men were thrown around by some mediocre guys. Price had an off night because there was no shooting Threat besides him.

I know austrie had a cult like following on here due to him being a quasi local boy. But if you’re being objective, he had no business playing significant minutes on a UConn final four team. To think people thought he was better than a same age vital. With vital they easily get past MSU.
 
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Dyson was an interesting player for sure. Extremely impactful, but not "the guy" like Bazz or Kemba. That said, with a healthy Dyson perhaps the '09 team wins the championship without someone considered "the guy".
 
Huskybass said:
Extremely impactful, but not "the guy" like Bazz or Kemba.
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Dyson was never one of my guys but he was playing incredible ball when he went down. He was scoring and dishing.
 
ju6381 said:
That matchup was good for UConn. UNLV would have needed to keep the turnovers down. Reminds me of the UConn-UCLA game and we had a chance to win that game as well.
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They were a power team but Georgetown had Morning and Mutumbo. how’s that for a matchup nightmare and we beat them 2/3
If they could handle our pressure they win if not we beat them by double digits.
 
The thing that’s interesting about 06 and 09 is they didn’t have that one guy that could get them a bucket whenever needed. They had a lot of bucket getters but not the 1 DUDE.

99, 04, 11 and 14 sure did. 94 and 96 did too as well as 02, but they fell short for other reasons.

Gay and Price did their best but ultimately they weren’t that guy.
 
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