What was the best UConn Men’s Basketball team that didn’t win a national championship? | Page 5 | The Boneyard

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

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
 
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.
 
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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