Please tell me it’s not my orange and blue glasses in thinking our championship teams would beat either uconn team (last year’s champions and their team this year). People actually think these UConn teams are all time greats. I think the field has been weak these last two years and they have taken advantage of it. Case in point they are playing an Alabama team in the final four who we beat the crap out of twice. The future nba players our guys beat during those runs was impressive. I don’t think there are many guys from the teams UConn beat last year playing in the league and this year doesn’t look much different. Just off the top of my head our guys had to go through teams with players like hibbert/jeff green, Russell Westbrook/afflalo/others I’m forgetting, big baby (he had a teammate who was a high lottery pick who I can’t recall), oden/connley and then nova I think had guards who played in the league. I hate Bama and their smug coach but at the same time I don’t want to see uconn repeat and people will actually have recency bias thinking they are better than our title squads. Thoughts?
The portal has definitely balanced out hoops in a way it hasn’t football (yet). Every year now, I am surprised at how unimpressive most of the top 1-2 seeds are compared to years past. Most P5 programs have a really good top 2-4, but you just don’t have the quality depth and balance on these rosters. That’s why I think teams that keep and develop their own players (like Houston) tend to be so solid annually, even if they don’t have the horses to win big in the tourney.
So we would beat uconn by double digits? In a 7 game nba style series we’d win something like 4-1 ? Trying to gauge how much better we were.
Hate to be in this position as I don't like Bama or UCONN. Nice that at least one of them will be sent packing. Our championship teams were special and would steamroll either of these teams but this UConn team has had a dominating run through this tournament. If Bama beats them, the fact that this years brand of gators were demonstrably better than gumps will of course end the discussion. I really hope it doesn't happen but it looks increasingly likely that it will (UConn winning it all). Anyone that has gone through a winter in Connecticut can attest to how difficult it must be to recruit elite players to that chithole. In the past they won by cheating. In the NIL era, they must be living off legacy fumes. Teams like the 04s are a thing of the past - no doubt that either edition would crush UConn. But if they can win this with a rebuilt roster - gotta give them props and it likely won't happen again for a very long time. I really, really hope they don't. I'm looking forward to when college sports stops serving up chit sandwiches to Gator fans - hell even last years baseball team felt a little like a disappointment because of the way they lost and who they lost to at the end. If the last ten years just balance out we will be winning nattys in fb, baseball, and basketball next year.
Impossible to say. The game really has changed more than you would think since then. As good as Clingan is, I take our bigs in a heartbeat. But their size and skill on the perimeter is better. Would be a dogfight, man.
A UConn back to back, if it happens, might be more impressive due to NIL, the portal and draft. Florida is more impressive in the sense they were not all highly rated kids and jelled well to win two titles. CT has always attracted highly rated kids and NBA talent. The above said, winning back to back is an amazing accomplishment in any age
Is UConn the best national championship team of the past quarter-century? Article about dominant teams in last 25 years The 04s are barely mentioned.
As soon as the game was over, I started pondering the same comparison. You are right on with all your points but I think there is one big difference between what UConn and most every other team in college basketball has today. That would be Corey Brewer or a taller player in the 3 spot. Yes the game has changed with many playing the 3 guard system but Corey could have excelled in either because of his speed and length, and dominated on the offensive side with his height, quickness, jumping ability, rebounding, and finishing at the rim. Brewer was not guardable then and would not get any easier with shorter guards trying it today. Then you look at the bigs combo of Horford and Noah. Sure someone might try to compare a single big on their team today and match them to either individually. But no team in the tourney this year could match these two together and how they linked their play in the high low action, pick and rolls, defensive drop offs, team rebounding, chemistry. I could go on. These analytics don't need any comparison to style of play from then to now because it still speaks of dominating play. Guard play would be different, not because of UConn's 3 approach to the 04s 2 of Green and Humphrey. UConn with their experience playing in last year's final took advantage of the officials letting them play. UConn played a much more physical game but if the refs would have called UConns extended defensive bumps, hand checking, and overall tight defense early on, this might have been a different style of play. If they tried that against our guards, they might have been okay early but Billy would have turned our bigs lose on the UConn 5 to show them what rough play really looks like. Ladies and Gentlemen, now coming into the game Chris Richard and Marreese Speights. Point is if you force the refs to start calling rough defensive fouls, they have to call it both ways. Thus the physical game changes into something more favorable to an offensive game. So for me its not so much about who they played but how they played with what they had. I'll still take our 5 and bench verses any other team since.
UConn probably gives us fits. Faster, stronger, longer length at every position, outstanding ball control, 3 pt shooting from all of the guards and forwards. It's no fluke they are now the best tourney champions of all time with a +140 point differential which is far better than the best the 04s could produce. They barely broke a sweat - amazingly only trailed for about 4:22 minutes of the entire tourney. Even more amazing is winning it with almost a new team. Bama had a chance but it would have required them to hit 80% of their 30 3pt shots and they couldn't maintain that accuracy. Look at the way they used the ball screen. Almost Billy-like in the way they passed the ball around looking for an opening and they were far faster than all of the Field of 64. Purdue looked like they were wearing ankle weights.
