Who would win this kentucky team or unc from '09?

[UConnSwag11]

people say this is a great team and agreed they were extremely dominant the whole year... but ive wondered the whole year if this kentucky team would beat the NC unc from '09... then i wonder if theyd beat uconn, lousiville, nova,pitt or msu from '09... to me that was the year when college was insane and had many great teams and the last year were there were great teams..., when i think of the louisville and uconn team those teams to me were etremely intimidating

 

[husky91]

That 2009 UNC team was loaded and more experienced guard play. A much better and deeper team at virtually every position.

Go look at that roster, Lawson, Ellington, Danny Green, Tyler H, Deon Thompson, etc.

 

[upstater]

I have them behind 09 UNC and 04 UConn in the last decade, and probably behind 05 UNC and the two Florida teams, but they are much closer to those. I would bet good money they'd lose to the top two of the last decade, and then I'd think the other 3 would be slightly favored.

 

[businesslawyer]

That is an outstanding, and really talented, Kentucky team. Having said that, experience and development does count for something (a lot actually) and '09 UNC had not only talent and depth but experienced talent and depth. Didn't Ed Davis, for example, come off the bench for them?

No one beats Kentucky '12 easily, but UNC '09 likely beats them.

 

[Connecticut34]

'09 UConn with Rome

 

[tzznandrew]

people say this is a great team and agreed they were extremely dominant the whole year... but ive wondered the whole year if this kentucky team would beat the NC unc from '09... then i wonder if theyd beat uconn, lousiville, nova,pitt or msu from '09... to me that was the year when college was insane and had many great teams and the last year were there were great teams..., when i think of the louisville and uconn team those teams to me were etremely intimidating

They're not better than:

09 UNC/UConn (full team)
08 Kansas/Memphis
07 Florida
04 UConn

This Kentucky team is very good, and I know pointing out who they were worse than downplays that. They are not as good as the media hype, but that is only because it is out of this world.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Talent is relatively even, but UNC was more experienced.

Lawson >>> Teague
Ellington > Lamb
Kidd-Gilchrist > Green
Hansbrough >>> Jones
Davis >>> Thompson

 

[Inyatkin]

UConn '04 really should be more prominent in these discussions (nationally, not here) but is hurt by the five losses. Okafor's bad back was the issue, but five losses doesn't look good, in comparison.
Stupid Providence.

 

[caw]

UK would be tough because Davis shuts down so much on the inside. Even with Davis, Withey was impressive.

I wonder how the two '99 teams (Duke and UConn) would fair against this UK team. I think UConn would pretty good because UConn had a great mid-range game with El-Amin and Hamilton.

KU failed to make any mid-range shot last night, or even take any. Their offense was completely based on going to the rim or shooting 3's. To beat this UK team you need someone like Lamb/Rip/etc. to hit that mid-range shot at a high rate. Duke I think would have a more difficult time, but Brand versus Davis would be a fantastic match-up.

 

[Lefty2one]

If they did actually face each other Hansbrough would probably take 20 FT's and have Jones and Davis in foul trouble. I know Davis never got in foul trouble but Psycho T was on another level when it came to getting calls from refs. I think UNC would win, Lawson vs Teague is a big mismatch in UNC's favor. UK didn't have to face any shooters in their two Final Four games and Ellington was streaky but good.

Our 2004 team will never get the historic credit it deserves. Okafor's back as someone said, Charlie's eligibility issues, Gentle Ben's broken nose that derailed his play mid-season. We weren't clicking until the tournament and if it wasn't for the insanely tight officiating vs Dook we'd have steam-rolled that entire field. I think that team would handle '12 UK. Six 1st round picks, size, athleticism, shooters, defense, shot-blocking. That team had it all. Guess the IQ and chemistry could have been a little better but that team was disgusting. Along with the entire 2004 team I don't think Okafor ever gets the credit he deserves for how great of a college player he was. No one dominated BOTH ends of the floor like he did in a long, long time. He was just as good of a shot-blocker and a better on-ball defender in college than Davis was this year with a much better offensive game.

Homer or not, I think in the last 20 years it's '92 Duke, '96 Kentucky and '04 UConn as the cream of the crop. I remember there was a poll on ESPN or CBS.com a year or two ago ranking the past 15 champions and I don't think our 2004 team was even in the Top 10.

 

[Reno]

I'm not sure this UK team is more than very good. I think they're mostly the product of a down turn in talent in college basketball than a truly great team. If we take off the ESPN "latest is greatest" blinders we find a team whose best player has zero offensive post moves, SF has a seriously inconsistent shot, and PG is not really anything special.

 

[Lefty2one]

Yup - it's the worst PG in Cal's one-and-done era, Terrance Jones still doesn't have a right-hand or a go-to move, one shooter in Lamb, a glue guy in Miller and the freak that is Davis. They're a very good team but I don't think historically great. IMO they had a very easy road to their title. Louisville is the definition of an average team and doesn't have a future NBA guy. Kansas had Robinson, a guy who struggles against big/athletic teams, and not much else. And of course they played in the mid-major conference known as the SEC.

 

[RuffRuff]

The only thing stopping this Kentucky team from being the best team in the last 20 years is a couple years of experience with their freshmen - I think they'll go down as the most talented by product of what becomes of their NBA players. Anthony Davis is special and can't help but see him turn into an NBA all star. If he gets stronger, I'm not sure I even see a weakness in his game. UNC wins only because they had so much more seniority on that team, but that team was not nearly as talented as this Kentucky team.

 

[businesslawyer]

Sorry, but Anthony Davis is already a better shot blocker than Okafor was in '04. I love Okafor, and he was great at blocking shots for three years, but if you watched last night and didn't think Davis was at a totally different level you weren't watching hard enough.

Okafor blocked a lot of shots you didn't think he could get. Davis blocks shots that you're not even considering whether he can get them because he's not "in the picture" when you're deciding to shoot.

 

[Fishy]

If there was ever a team built to give Davis trouble, it would have been the 2004 UConn team - he would not have been the factor that he was last night. Kentucky has a tree in the middle - UConn had an entire forest in there.

The '04 UConn team goes through UK pretty easily, as does the 2009 UNC team.

 

[TheChamps990411]

"Homer or not, I think in the last 20 years it's '92 Duke, '96 Kentucky and '04 UConn as the cream of the crop. I remember there was a poll on ESPN or CBS.com a year or two ago ranking the past 15 champions and I don't think our 2004 team was even in the Top 10.m"

anyone with half a brain knows when that uconn team inserted rashad into the starting lineup,ok4 got healthy and bg got the mask off and his confidence back that team was 15 points better than any team in the country that year. the fact that team does not get the respect it deserves is rediculous. the 5 best teams i remember over the last 20 years would be uk 96,uconn 99,uconn 04,unc 09,uf 07. no im not a homer putting both uconn teams on the list people forget that in 99 we lost two games and in one of those games rip and jake were out and in the other loss rip wasnt yet back at 100%. if you look at the national champs over the last 22 years record wise the top five are duke 92 (34-2) ucla 95 (31-2) ku 96 (34-2) uconn 99 (34-2) uk 12 (38-2)

 

[tzznandrew]

"Homer or not, I think in the last 20 years it's '92 Duke, '96 Kentucky and '04 UConn as the cream of the crop. I remember there was a poll on ESPN or CBS.com a year or two ago ranking the past 15 champions and I don't think our 2004 team was even in the Top 10.m"

anyone with half a brain knows when that uconn team inserted rashad into the starting lineup,ok4 got healthy and bg got the mask off and his confidence back that team was 15 points better than any team in the country that year. the fact that team does not get the respect it deserves is rediculous. the 5 best teams i remember over the last 20 years would be uk 96,uconn 99,uconn 04,unc 09,uf 07. no im not a homer putting both uconn teams on the list people forget that in 99 we lost two games and in one of those games rip and jake were out and in the other loss rip wasnt yet back at 100%. if you look at the national champs over the last 22 years record wise the top five are duke 92 (34-2) ucla 95 (31-2) ku 96 (34-2) uconn 99 (34-2) uk 12 (38-2)

They lost against Syracuse without Rip and Jake, and then they beat Stanford without Rip in Palo Alto.

As for the Miami game they lost, it was a while after the first lost (2/1 v. 2/20) and they had all their starters play 22 minutes (although Voskuhl had 4 pts and 5 rebs only). They were up 41-35 at half, too. There were some minor injuries for the game (Hartford Courant says: Hamilton [right thigh], Freeman [right shin], Voskuhl [left foot], and Moore [back]), but I think they just lost focus, and were no more banged up than usual. I think they just lost the game, more or less fully healthy, because Miami was a tough matchup for them (they were a 2 seed and UConn only won by 2 @Miami earlier) and it was Senior Day.

 

[Inyatkin]

They lost against Syracuse without Rip and Jake, and then they beat Stanford without Rip in Palo Alto.

As for the Miami game they lost, it was a while after the first lost (2/1 v. 2/20) and they had all their starters play 22 minutes (although Voskuhl had 4 pts and 5 rebs only). They were up 41-35 at half, too. There were some minor injuries for the game (Hartford Courant says: Hamilton [right thigh], Freeman [right shin], Voskuhl [left foot], and Moore [back]), but I think they just lost focus, and were no more banged up than usual. I think they just lost the game, more or less fully healthy, because Miami was a tough matchup for them (they were a 2 seed and UConn only won by 2 @Miami earlier) and it was Senior Day.

Yeah, it's become part of the legend that we only lost when we had guys out that year, but I remember this game really well. Miami was a really good team, and we had a shot to beat them in the last minute, but didn't get it done. Doesn't take anything away from the season, but we were a full team for that game.

 

[Fishy]

The Miami game was just a war that UConn lost - they were straight up beaten.

They had the ball and a chance to win in the final possession, but Khalid slipped cutting in the lane and was unable to get a decent shot off.

Oddly, K had been slipping and sliding the entire game.

I blame the loss on Nike.

 

[champs99and04]

I think the 12 Kentucky team was extremely good, even by historical standards. They were the best offensive team in the country (only Louisville slowed them down) and could lock down on defense when they wanted to. Sure they were under classmen for the most part, but they were all incredibly mature. Say what you want about Calipari, but I don't know too many coaches in the country who can take a group of extremly talented freshman-most of whom probably had big egos-and get them to play that well together. Any one of six players could beat you, and any one of six players could get their own shot.

If Kentucky had one weakness, it was their lack of a killer instinct. They would get up double digits and then let the opposition crawl back into it. If they wanted to, they probably could have beaten Kansas by 25. Put them up against any historical team, and they might not win, but it would be a great game.

The best teams I've seen over the last ten years are 04 UConn, 07 Florida, 09 UNC, and 12 Kentucky. I couldn't really tell you who was the best of the bunch, but all of them were really, really good. I don't think anybody else's best game could stay within ten points of their best game.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think this Kentucky team was real good, but I saw them leave so many teams in games, not only because they didn't have the killer instinct but because they were a little nutty with the ball and inconsistent shooting it. Their defense was real good for a young team no doubt. But I agree with Fishy, the 04Huskies would have been a nightmare for 12UK.......Okafor would've been a nightmare for AD and visa versi of course......but noone could guard Ben, they were huge on the baseline and athletic. better team and more experienced. Jake in 99 also would've done a nice job on AD and Lamb would't have gotten 20 on Ricky that's for sure!!! Again, very good UK team but look at the FF - off year in the NCAA as well as last year for us............timing is everything.

 

[Inyatkin]

That's a good point about Kentucky leaving everyone in games. Not sure why people forget what UConn did in that 04 tournament, but we were on our way to blowing out Duke before Okafor got his second foul. No one else was even close.