It’s pretty common for a rankings story to rile up a fanbase and get people real mad online (something this author may or may not have experienced in the past week). But it’s rare that the same story would give fans both reason to gloat and make them start quote-tweeting in anger at the same time.
ESPN’s ranking of the 25 greatest teams of the past 25 years in men’s college basketball may have accomplished just that though, as UConn saw one of its legendary title teams land at No. 1, and another one snubbed altogether.
The 1998-99 Huskies were, surprisingly to some, named as the greatest college basketball team in the last quarter-century. It’s a nice bit of recognition for that team, which is legendary in Connecticut and went 34-2, upending a Duke team that was being ballyhooed as one of the greatest of all time in the title game. It may come as a surprise for Huskies fans to see the national media giving that team the respect it deserves, given the fact that it reluctantly ceded blue-blood status to the program only after its fifth national championship.
But the 2022-23 Huskies, who steamrolled their way to the national title by beating opponents by an average margin of victory of 20 points per game, were left off the list. That margin of victory has only ever been surpassed by 2009 North Carolina (by a fraction at 20.2) and 1996 Kentucky (21.5). Both of those teams earned blowout wins in their first round games though, and both had closer games than UConn ever experienced during its dominant run.
Throw in the fact that ’23 UConn had three players who will almost certainly see time in the NBA this season and at least one more who will likely be a lottery pick next year (Donovan Clingan), and yeah, this team deserved to be ranked higher than the ’04-05 Illinois Fighting Illini, for example.
As for the remaining UConn champions on this list? The 2003-04 squad, which went 33-6 with a team led by Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, came in sixth in the rankings. The 2011 and 2014 teams didn’t crack this Top 25, though that’s understandable. Those Huskies teams were average in the regular season and went on Cinderella runs– though they beat opponents like Kawhi Leonard’s San Diego State and Julius Randle’s Kentucky squad along the way.
There’s no doubt UConn fans will have opinions on these rankings, and that’s certainly the point.
But in case you feel like sounding off, well, there’s no doubt about this either.
You know who to quote-tweet.
Commercials Cooperation Advertisements:
(1) IT Teacher IT Freelance
立刻註冊及報名電腦補習課程吧!
电子计算机 -教育 -IT 電腦班” ( IT電腦補習 ) 提供一個方便的电子计算机 教育平台, 為大家配對信息技术, 電腦 老師, IT freelance 和 programming expert. 讓大家方便地就能找到合適的電腦補習, 電腦班, 家教, 私人老師.
We are a education and information platform which you can find a IT private tutorial teacher or freelance.
Also we provide different information about information technology, Computer, programming, mobile, Android, apple, game, movie, anime, animation…
(2) ITSec
www.ITSeceu.uk
Secure Your Computers from Cyber Threats and mitigate risks with professional services to defend Hackers.
ITSec provide IT Security and Compliance Services, including IT Compliance Services, Risk Assessment, IT Audit, Security Assessment and Audit, ISO 27001 Consulting and Certification, GDPR Compliance Services, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), Penetration test, Ethical Hacking, Vulnerabilities scan, IT Consulting, Data Privacy Consulting, Data Protection Services, Information Security Consulting, Cyber Security Consulting, Network Security Audit, Security Awareness Training.
Contact us right away.
Email (Prefer using email to contact us):
SalesExecutive@ITSec.vip