ESPN’s Jay Bilas: UConn Is Best NCAA Hoops Program Since John Wooden-Era UCLA | The Rich Eisen Show
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- ESPN’s Jay Bilas and Rich Eisen discuss the UConn Huskies’ latest college basketball national championship.
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#richeisenshow #collegebasketball #uconn
Gotta acknowledge that Jay was on the UConn train very early in the season, unlike others, and he never wavered. And he was right all along.
this is true
Jay Bilas is the one who called UConn the college basketball capital of the country. He's always been very positive on UConn despite being a Duke guy. One of the best in the business. Unlike your Gary Parishes, Jeff Goodmans, hacks who have always tried to hate on the upstarts and now they're switching up.
As soon as they had their full compliment of players healthy, it started to become clear they were the best team in the country.
Correct. Jay Bilas said all season that he thought UConn was the best team in the country and he never wavered.
Where are all the “experts” who were saying that Purdue was the best team? Or that Houston was the best team? Most of these clowns in the media refused to acknowledge that UConn was the #1 team in the country and was a favorite to go back to back. They demolished everyone in the tournament for the 2nd year in a row. Bilas is right: UConn has more championships in the past 25 years than any other school. UConn is the Basketball Capital of the World. Folks get with it, the Huskies have the best program in the country, and if you add the women’s basketball program to that: 11 championships since 1995, UConn is far and away the top basketball school, period.
As a Carolina fan, I can't argue with what you just said, and UConn was able to do it with three different coaches. UConn is a blue blood program. That Champions Classic they have every year to start the season with Duke. Kansas, Kentucky & Michigan State, they need to kick Michigan State out and replace them with UConn and have those games at Madison Square Garden every year.
People have no clue unless they have been following MCBB for at least 30 years, all these teams that are being called Bluebloods too 5 decades to get there . UCONN has won 6 Titles now in 25 years , I'd say their blood is twice as blue as any other program (with the exception of UCLA under Wooten)
Jay is one of the smartest guys out there and if you don't believe me just ask Jay himself.
I think people are really underrating Tristen Newton. That's what makes the teams consistent. That and Hurley's system/coaching.
What nba team he starting on?? Cam Spencer also or clingan
It’s hilarious that Kentucky fans think Kentucky is a better job than UConn
Money wise it is
Hurley is the new Jerry Tarkanian. Big fish team in a small, pansy conference, so he dominates to get a very high seed year after year without much pressure. Honestly, it's pretty smart not leaving UConn or UNLV in its heyday. Life can be good out of the mainstream.
@@wtk6069 Damn you a hater!! If wasn't for college football you wouldn't be talking that young boy.
“Small pansy conference?” The big East had the best record in the NCAA tourney, better than all of the P5 conferences.
@@wtk6069REALLY???
You really don’t know what your talking about!!!
BIG EAST has has won the NATTY in 2014, 2016, 2018,2023 and 2024! Thats 5 in 10 years and really 9 because of COVID NO Natty year! Wow it really sucks being in a conference that has won 56% percent of the NATTYS in the last 10 years … 5 of 9!!
Clueless
I was comparing them to UCLA of the 60's and 70's after this win, too. I couldn't think of another comparison.
IU fan here ... I was there during the golden age of CBB from '66 to '79 ...
And I firmly believe this UCONN team would have beaten those UCLA teams with that big red-headed cry-baby ...
@@douglascarlson9006I mean obviously they would basketball has evolved so much since then. Uconn might beat the old UCLA teams by 50 if they wanted too
12 straight NCAA Tournament victories
Big deal. Where is the talent and who have they played? Nobody. Bilas is a paid hack and liar
And all double digit wins!
Did it with very few McDonald's All- Americans compared to all the big basketball schools. We did it with top 200 talent not top 25.
Back-to-back let's go UCONN ❤
we're #1! Champions
I’m concerned that the tournament is becoming top-heavy as a result of the growing discrepancy between mid-majors and the larger schools. They keep talking about expanding the tournament. There’s probably a better case to be made for shrinking it.
TY J BILAS !!
Kentucky Shmukky Go UConn!!
UConn fan here. UConn has had 2 phenomenal years, but the 5yrs prior were ROUGH. If they can pulloff a 3peat, they will be the most dominant current program
They are the current dominant program already. The 5 years prior were bad because of a number of reasons off the court. It doesnt erase what theyve been for the better part of the last 30+ years.
All NCAA Championships go thru Storrs. Both man and women's.
Geno's girls won 4 Natty's in a row.
How about UConn in the ACC? Better for than the most recent moves?
The Big East is plenty competitive.
The big east is very underrated
The ACC is on shaky ground. The only conferences that UConn should jump to if given the chance are 1. Big Ten and 2. Big 12.
They should absolutely bolt to the acc if offered. The money is way better.
@@TurboFist0 B10 were fools not to take UConn when Warde Manuel, now at Michigan, wanted them in B10. Football, football, football, football, $$$$$$$$$$. So tired of B10 decisions based on football.
The BIG10's 8 second places in M. Basketball this century = a reminder of the antiquated basketball leadership. Oh so close, but don't want to make the changes as a league: speed the game up, it's not football, and retain the talent. Otherwise deal with Big East schools who mostly share the footprint.
College Basketball recruiting is regional = East coast hoopers > ALL
UConn is next level, better than Kentucky, et al.
Since NIL, the way to win now is to poach players from other programs and build superteams. The days of building by recruiting is over. Not good for college basketball.
Money is definitely the root of all evil.
AND WOODEN HAD SAM GILBERT - TO HELP WITH RECRUITING AND KEEP PLAYERS AND GIRLFRIENDS HAPPY
Wooden was a real rat for letting Gilbert do his thing ...
@@douglascarlson9006 Wooden always denied that he knew what was going on , but he did confess to Bob Knight that he " didn't know how to handle the situation - COP OUT JOHN
I F’n loathe UConn. But he’s not wrong.
Shall I alert the media??
Yeah you could but Uconn just won in the first two years of the NIL. At the end of the day college sports is just going to become lower leagues to pro teams. It’s inevitable. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
That's a bit of a stretch. But ok.
Attracted Serious Players - Men and Women ? To the competition they constitute the “ Evil Empire” - hated and envied ? 🤔
*since Florida
Yes, Florida absolutely has to be in this conversation!
Speaking of Wooden he had the most successful program ever and he didn’t run up and down the court making himself the center of attention….Someone should gift Connecticut’s coach a clown rubber ball nose to suit his antics….That said…the better team won last night….Purdue won the Center Position Contest,Connecticut won the Forward and Guard contests….Overall Connecticut was better both offensively and defensively and plainly more balanced.
Realistically, it's equal to Florida when it won back-to-back tiltles and just a notch below UK's three titles games and two wins in three years, and definitely below UCLA's amazing run.
I’d put it above Florida cause UConn won 2024 while losing their top scorers from 2023. Florida was able to run it back with their entire roster.
In the modern game you can only compare Uconn to 91-92 Duke, and 06-07 Florida. Kentucky didn't win back to back, which is ridiculously hard to do considering it's only been done 3 times since 1985, when the tournament expanded to 64 teams. As a Uconn I will say they had the most dominant back to back run winning all 12 of their tournament games by 13+ points, and broke Kentucky's margin of victory record by 11 points, winning their 6 games by 140 this season. But if I'm being honest I think 91-92 Duke is the greatest back to back champion, especially when you look at the legendary teams they beat to do it. UNLV and the Fab 5 Michigan team just to name a couple. Personally I'm pleased to be 1 of just 3 teams to win back to back in modern basketball, and to have 6 national titles since 1999. Since the tournament expanded Uconn has 6, Duke has 5, UNC has 4 and no other school has more than 3. Crazy
@@stephenlowe8158 Kentucky didn't win back to back that's a fact. But that's an artificial criteria, which seems designed to try to dismiss those teams from the conversation somehow. 2 titles in 3 years with a national runner-up in the year in between is a more impressive 3 year run, than what any of these other teams have done over 2 years because it's a longer period of sustained success that resulted in the same number of titles. And the year before those 3 was an Elite 8. It really just comes down to how many years you want to use for your comparison. I can cherry pick 3 years just as easily as you can cherry pick 2.
I think this is a great take. No one is gonna come close to what UCLA did. Only caveat is that the sport was so very different back then, that it's hard to really compare it to the modern era, but that was the definition of dominance. Even recent Alabama football doesn't come close.
I hate Duke but the back to back run they had in 91-92 was better than UConn. And UK's 1996-1998 3 national championship games in a row with two wins and one OT loss is also more impressive. Recency bias or should I say Recency Bilas. I will rank them over the Florida 06-07 B2B run
They beat teams by 23.3 pts a game during this tournament. Last year was over 20 as well. They completely DOMINATED the tournament the last 2yrs. Nobody was in there league, and that's with Uconn losing 7 players from last years championship team.
Explain to me why Dukes 91-92 run is more impressive than Uconns current run?
@@anthonysalvati5868 Cause Grant Hill, Chrstian Lautner, and Bobby Hurley were way better than Cligan, Newton, and Castle.
@@mgers75 really? You think Bobby Hurley was a more complete player that Tristan Newton, who is 6'6", is as good a passer as Hurley, a better rebounder, and a way better defensive player, I think you are having trouble seeing through your blue shades.
@@anthonysalvati5868 Bobby Hurley is the freaking all NCAA assist leader. Or at least he was till the NCAA started letting these guys play 7 years of CBB. He had all the same fire and BBIQ as Danny but was a MCD AA and first round NBA pick. Tristen Newton is a good solid player but he was a guy that averaged 8ppg at East Carolina as a Sophmore Hurley as a sophomore was the best PG in CBB. I feel dirty now speaking up for Puke I mean duke
How 'Bout those two back-to-back Indiana teams from the mid-70s? ...
They went 63-1 over two seasons, and would have also won two straight NCAA titles if Scott May had not broken his arm.
nah.
@@MrHCify Ha! ...
How the *** would you know when you weren't even alive back then?
No 3 point shots back then so can't really predict the perimeter game. Did Indiana essentially have 2 different teams back then? UConn did.
@@stevefisher8323 Your point is totally valid ... no shot clock, no 3 pt FGs ... but we're not debating talent here ...
We're talking about that vague term "greatness" ... I firmly believe THIS UCONN team would beat that IU team and any of those UCLA teams ...
But you can't just skip over that IU team because they were last undefeated team ...
UK won 2 out of three in the 90s.. and would have had 3 straight it not for a injury
Haha wtf missed tournament 8 times since calhoun retired haha pray for jay
I'm still waiting for somebody to explain WTF "culture" means ...
And let me add that Edey is NOT a "generational talent! ...
Pitino-era Kentucky was better. The 1996 team is possibly the greatest roster in college basketball history. 3 title games in a row, losing only the one in '97 in overtime to Arizona. No idea how Bilas could not even mention them in the conversation.
Only the 96 Ky team has similar dominance to either of these UConn teams. To call that one of the best rosters in college basketball history is absolutely nonsense when looking back. I don't think one player on that team will be a NBA HOFer. Walker? He'll need some serious help getting in at this point. That run of Ky teams from 97-98 played a lot of close games and you put it best: 97. That was mostly freshman on that AZ team and they lost. UConn is far superior to Ky in modern era and they've beaten Ky in NCG with less talent. Twice as many titles as Ky in modern era. Enough!
@@grahamhallman243 Your reply is bizarre because you are talking about how players performed in the NBA when we are talking about how well they did in college. The best team in 1996 was Kentucky's starting 5. The second best team in 1996 was Kentucky's second string. That's how dominant they were. And you are talking about what happened in the 2000's when I'm talking about the '96-'98 run. What happened in the national championship game nearly 2 decades later has no relevance to the discussion. It's not a conversation about whether UCONN or Kentucky has a better basketball program over the last 20 years, but somehow you've tried to turn it into that. "Enough!"
@@jabasabon
You seem to have failed reading comprehension. I clearly point out 97 Ky lost to AZ and you needed an amazing comeback against Duke in 98 and an OT win against Stanford. So that 98 team is not a dominant team in comparison to either 2023 or 2024 UConn. UConn beat everyone by double digit points in this back to back run.
Yes, 96 Ky was a great team but in the Final Four they did not beat UMass nor Syracuse by double digits. That is not as convincing as either UConn team.
And those 96 Ky players were merely aok in the NBA with some good seasons here and there. NBA performance does matter when measuring a team’s greatness from college.
You need to take a closer look at what UConn has done here the past two years. The stats don’t lie. This UComn run bears Pitino era Ky by many metrics, especially score differentials and the indisputable fact they won two consecutive titles. You can’t “what if” 97. AZ won.
What’s bizarre is you calling me out for such when you failed to read your own opinions then my facts were overlooked.
@@grahamhallman243 I was "calling you out" because we were comparing the Pitino-Era Kentucky teams to the recent UConn teams and somehow you decided that it was relevant to go back to how many titles UConn had won since the late 90's. Khalid El-Amin, Richard Hamilton, and Kemba Walker were great college players, but their teams are irrelevant to this conversation.
You said: "NBA performance does matter when measuring a team's greatness from college". Well, then come back in 10 years after we can assess how well UConn's players over the last couple of seasons do in the NBA, because there's little chance that they are going to have better combined NBA success than Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Ron Mercer, Nazr Mohammed, and Walter McCarty.
The 1996 Kentucky team lost only 2 games, one against UMass (w/ Marcus Camby) and one against Mississippi State. They played both of those teams again that year and won. Last season's UConn team lost 8 games. This seasons UConn team lost 3. So neither season was better than Kentucky's 1996 season.
From 1995-1998, Kentucky made an Elite 8, a National Runner-Up, and won two titles. They came within an OT loss to Arizona of a 3-peat. I'm not "what-if"'ing anything. I'm saying that what actually did happen was already impressive. Meanwhile, UConn has won back-to-back titles but in Hurley's previous two seasons, they were eliminated in the round of 64. If UConn is able to 3-peat, then maybe I'll change my opinion, but right now I'll take Kentucky's two titles and runner-up in 3 years over what UConn has done over it's last 2 years or 3 years (take your pick).
Also, don't fool yourself, UConn is damn good, but anyone who watched them play Alabama this year knows that the first 3/4 of the game was a nailbiter.
Fake news! Kentucky 96 through 98.
It's the 6 championships in 25 years that no other team, except UCLA can match. It took Coach K 45 years to get 5!
Kentucky didn’t win back to back in the 90s they won in 96 and 98 but Arizona won in 97. A simple google search and you would know that.
@@Lmnop1941 Context was not back to back, but who was the best team.
@@harryhondo1013 Truth. I just dislike UCONN ;)
Kentucky is the past, let their fans live there, UConn is the present, enjoy the championship UConn fans, we will be like Kentucky fans in the future, holding on to past victories trying to discredit other teams.
Slap in the face to Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Coach K.
This UConn team wouldn’t even beat Tarkanian’s ‘90 unlv team or Michigan’s fab 5 team in early 90’s.
How is that a slap in the face to Dean Smith or Bobby Knight or coach K, Dean Smith won two National Championships in 36 years of coaching, 14 of those years when you only had to win 4 games to win the tournament, it's a slap in the face to Uconn to even consider him in the same elite company seeing as Uconn has won 6 times in 25 years against 64 team fields, stop focusing on the so called legends, the facts don't support it. And the fab 5? seriously? they never even won a Big Ten Championship much less a national one.
@@anthonysalvati5868 much weaker competition today. Outside of Edey, Purdue doesn't have half the talent of those past teams mentioned.
"Since 1999"
Lol. Rings are NOT the only thing that makes a program a Blue Blood. Who was UCONN before 1999? Completely irrelevant. UK has been relevant in every single decade in the history of college basletball.
Kentucky is only good at losing in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament lol
since 1996 Kentucky has won 3, Uconn has won 6, so that's 3 decades of dominance
Calhoun started building the UConn program in the late eighties, and they were super competitive all through the nineties, consistently in the top 20 and made three Elite Eight appearances and a bunch of sweet sixteens before breaking through. It's not like they weren't on the map or came out of nowhere, as you suggest. Even before that, they had made numerous NCAA tournament appearances. No, of course they aren't "Kentucky", but they are knocking on the door. Sounds like sour grapes to me.
Kentucky has sunk into irrelevancy. Who cares what they did in the 40s?
Kentucky is only good at slobbering on their Jim Crow era trophies. Since the tournament expanded to basically what it is today in 1985 to 64 games UConn has won the most championships.
Settle down, haven't you heard of a guy named Mike Krzyzewski?
What about him? He has been surpassed in Chips by UConn!
I would _ argue Mike Krzyzewski most overrated coach ever he gets the most McDonald All-americans top players every freaking year and when Calhoun beat him for the national championship in 99 he had so much talent way more McDonald all-americans then Calhoun I would argue Calhoun's a better Coach than Mike Krzyzewski when you compare Talent.
LMAO, hes so FOS, look at who they played in back to back years, ONE #1 or #2 seed and Purdue's schtick (7'4 center) was nullified by UCONN's having a 7'2 center. So, they had this beast of a run in 2023, Iona, St. Mary's (LOL, overrated 5 Seed) an 8 seed Arkansas instead of #1 Kansas. Then an always soft/overrated Gonzaga and TWO 5 seed in the Final Four in Miami and San Diego St. (LMAO) then this year they got a 4 seed in Bama who challenged them more than any other team, I knew Purdue was a one trick pony.
John Wooden was a cheater, who played players. UCONN is no where close to many teams between them and now. STUPID shyt
They won every game in the tournament this year by double digits…. The biggest scoring margins in ncaa history’s they out scored their opponents by 140 points and it could have been more.
Haters gonna hate. UConn can only play the team that wins the right to move on. Kentucky lost in the first round, as did Purdue last year. How good are they really if they can lose to bottom feeders?
Let me know the last time a team who won the chapionship finished every game with their scrubs mopping up, and oh BTW a 4 seed is supposed to challenge a 1 seed , and Uconn still won with their starters on the bench cheering on the scrubs, you're clueless.