what was your favorite BE championship squad? | The Boneyard

what was your favorite BE championship squad?

StllH8L8ner said:
89-90. 'You never forget your first'.

Took down G'Town and Cuse on back to back days when they were both top 5 at a time.
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I was in Vegas the week before. UConn was favored.
 
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Favorite team is '99, favorite BET is '11.

The Hamilton to Moore to El Amin to Freeman fast break to make it 11-0 against St. Johns is the most perfect fast break that's ever been run. I can still remember going crazy in the Garden with my old man when Jarvis called the timeout.
 
StllH8L8ner said:
89-90. 'You never forget your first'.

Took down G'Town and Cuse on back to back days when they were both top 5 at a time.
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Absolutely.

Never forget the first. Taking down 'Cuse and G'town. For every UConn fan, up to that point, beating one of those two in the BET had been a pipe dream. Doing it back to back? The stuff of legends.
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
Favorite team is '99, favorite BET is '11.

The Hamilton to Moore to El Amin to Freeman fast break to make it 11-0 against St. Johns is the most perfect fast break that's ever been run. I can still remember going crazy in the Garden with my old man when Jarvis called the timeout.
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Maybe the best one play from the entire season.
 
Here's the Cliff Notes version on the Dream Season team. Just so fun to watch that team play. The SU and Gtown games at the Civic Center were nice but you can obviously see and feel the difference between the crowd for those games and the game against the Johnnies at Gampel.

Love seeing all the highlight of Gwynn doing the fist pumps.

 
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2004 was my favorite tournament team. We were going back and forth with Pitt winning the prior year and UConn beating them the year before. The Pitt fans at MSG were insufferable. UConn fell behind big. And late. The players had it under control. Emeka's back was hurting, but Josh Boone played out of his mind. UConn made a huge comeback on a top 5 Pitt team, and MSG was roaring.
 
John Gwynn is probably 4-5 years older than me. He dated a girl I went to high school with and I played pick up with him many times. He was guardable and I could score on him relatively easily. To this day, I don’t understand how he played at UConn—-and played well. He had an incredible energy on the court but he wasn’t like other top guys I’ve played against. He was much more pedestrian. He’s the guy that makes me think, “I could have played at UConn”.
 
upstater said:
2004 was my favorite tournament team. We were going back and forth with Pitt winning the prior year and UConn beating them the year before. The Pitt fans at MSG were insufferable. UConn fell behind big. And late. The players had it under control. Emeka's back was hurting, but Josh Boone played out of his mind. UConn made a huge comeback on a top 5 Pitt team, and MSG was roaring.
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I was going to add 2004, because seeing Benjamin Gordon go ape against Julius Page and others was a treat for me. One of my favorite and smoothest Husky scorers ever, bar none.

Okafor being hurt was the only chance other programs had that year, and when he was out and Gordon put to rest his "Gentle Ben" persona and went straight on-court killer, I knew they'd be a tough out the rest of the season. Then 'Mek came back and they went on a rampage as a 2 seed, which I witnessed in the first 2 rounds in Buffalo.
 
Mr. French said:
I was going to add 2004, because seeing Benjamin Gordon go ape against Julius Page and others was a treat for me. One of my favorite and smoothest Husky scorers ever, bar none.

Okafor being hurt was the only chance other programs had that year, and when he was out and Gordon put to rest his "Gentle Ben" persona and went straight on-court killer, I knew they'd be a tough out the rest of the season. Then 'Mek came back and they went on a rampage as a 2 seed, which I witnessed in the first 2 rounds in Buffalo.
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Correct. That team was being compared toUNLV 1990. Most non-UConn fans wrote UConn’s name all the way to the championship before filling out the rest of the bracket
 
StllH8L8ner said:
Then Laettner ruined it...thus my handle.
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I don’t recall this. Wasn’t he the guy who rode the bench on the Olympic team? All I remember is Tate George hitting the buzzer beater in the Sweet 16 and then jumping the passing lane and dribbling out the clock in the Elite Eight. A clutchier combination of offensive and defensive plays in back to back games you’ll never see.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Here's the Cliff Notes version on the Dream Season team. Just so fun to watch that team play. The SU and Gtown games at the Civic Center were nice but you can obviously see and feel the difference between the crowd for those games and the game against the Johnnies at Gampel.

Love seeing all the highlight of Gwynn doing the fist pumps.

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Man those clips bring back memories. If you wrote a script for that season people would be like no way could all that happen. Bottom half of the league program to that point, playing in a tiny on campus gym for half the games, brand new arena opens up, an unknown Israeli shows up to lead this crazy press that generates a ton of steals, 1990 UConn sets the stage for everything that happens going forward. That team had “it” with the chemistry you see passing the ball and working together to beat national powerhouses. Def. didn’t have the talent of 1999, 2004, 2006, 2009 UConn but boy oh boy could they play ball
 
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Chin Diesel said:
Here's the Cliff Notes version on the Dream Season team. Just so fun to watch that team play. The SU and Gtown games at the Civic Center were nice but you can obviously see and feel the difference between the crowd for those games and the game against the Johnnies at Gampel.

Love seeing all the highlight of Gwynn doing the fist pumps.

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Wasn’t there ... but the legend of that Georgetown Civic Center game and the noise in the place during the 12-0 start has been passed down for generations. Might not translate well from old TV and VHS-type recordings.

Although JC’s favorite noise story is the NIT quarterfinal game in the Field House in 1988 where the noise shook all the dust off the rafters and they played the game in a cloud.
 
89-90 for sure. That is still my favorite Uconn team ever and that is saying a lot considering teams like 95,99,04,11 and 14. 90 was just so special and something those of you too young to remember cant even imagine. IIrc Uconn went down like 10-0 early to cuse in that game.
 
Mr. French said:
I was going to add 2004, because seeing Benjamin Gordon go ape against Julius Page and others was a treat for me. One of my favorite and smoothest Husky scorers ever, bar none.

Okafor being hurt was the only chance other programs had that year, and when he was out and Gordon put to rest his "Gentle Ben" persona and went straight on-court killer, I knew they'd be a tough out the rest of the season. Then 'Mek came back and they went on a rampage as a 2 seed, which I witnessed in the first 2 rounds in Buffalo.
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Yes, that was my second year living in Buffalo. I walked down to the arena with friends from my home, stopping at 3 bars on the way. We beat DePaul! I was so superstitious that I took the same trip again in 2014 in Buffalo. The arena here in town sure loves the Huskies.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
89-90 for sure. That is still my favorite Uconn team ever and that is saying a lot considering teams like 95,99,04,11 and 14. 90 was just so special and something those of you too young to remember cant even imagine. IIrc Uconn went down like 10-0 early to cuse in that game.
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You recall correct. Sitting in my dorm lounge at that point down 10-0, I was happy just to reach the finals and didn’t want us to lose by 50 and embarrass ourselves and ruin the magic carpet ride. Fortunately, the players had loftier goals that they didn’t give up on after five minutes.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Unabridged version of 89-90.

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If those of you who weren’t around in 1990 want one minute that sums up what that team was like, watch from 25:15 to 26:15 of this video from the Cal second round NCAA game. Smith 3, press, Sellers steal, quick bucket ... Henefeld steal, Smith miss but Henefeld crafty tip rebound to a George bucket ... more pressing, Cal almost breaks it, but great Burrell hands for a steal and then all sorts of fast break goodness for a Burrell dunk at the other end.

This was a team picked eighth in the BE (out of nine) crushing it to advance to the second weekend. Brings a nostalgic tear to my eye.
 
Gurleyman said:
If those of you who weren’t around in 1990 want one minute that sums up what that team was like, watch from 25:15 to 26:15 of this video from the Cal second round NCAA game. Smith 3, press, Sellers steal, quick bucket ... Henefeld steal, Smith miss but Henefeld crafty tip rebound to a George bucket ... more pressing, Cal almost breaks it, but great Burrell hands for a steal and then all sorts of fast break goodness for a Burrell dunk at the other end.

This was a team picked eighth in the BE (out of nine) crushing it to advance to the second weekend. Brings a nostalgic tear to my eye.
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Team had 484 steals in 37 games.

1989-90 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com (sports-reference.com)
 
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