Connecticut Huskies men's basketball

Connecticut Huskies
2016–17 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team
University	University of Connecticut
First season	1901
All-time record	1664–921 (.644)
Conference	The American
Location	Storrs, CT
Head coach	Kevin Ollie (5th year)
Arena	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion 10,167 XL Center 16,294
Nickname	Huskies
Uniforms
Home Away Alternate
NCAA Tournament champions
1999, 2004, 2011, 2014
NCAA Tournament Final Four
1999, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2014
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
1964, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen
1951, 1956, 1964, 1976, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1976, 1979, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2016
NCAA Tournament appearances
1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1976, 1979, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016
Conference tournament champions
1976, 1979, 1990, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2011, 2016
Conference regular season champions
1925, 1926, 1928, 1941, 1944, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1976, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006

The Connecticut Huskies men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball team of the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut. They currently play in the American Athletic Conference (The American) and are coached by Kevin Ollie.

The Huskies have won 4 NCAA Tournament Championships (1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014), which puts the program at sixth-most all-time. The Huskies have also won seven Big East Tournament Championships, ten Big East regular season titles and one American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. Numerous players have gone on to achieve professional success after their time at UConn, including Cliff Robinson, Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Kemba Walker, Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Caron Butler, Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, Shabazz Napier, and Rudy Gay. The Huskies have participated in 5 NCAA Final Fours (tied for 13th all time) and appeared in the NCAA tournament 33 times. The team has been a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament 5 times, most recently in 2009.

History

Early history

Men's basketball at UConn began in 1901 with a single game played by Connecticut Agricultural College against Windham High School in January of that year. The college team won, and by 1903 basketball was a varsity sport.

Hugh Greer era

After graduating from the Connecticut Agricultural College, former player Hugh Greer returned to his alma mater as a freshman coach. He was later named head coach of the Huskies six games into the 1946–47 season. Greer led Connecticut to a perfect 12–0 mark for the remainder of his first season. Posting a record of 16–2, this was the best single season finish in school history to that point. UConn won twelve Yankee Conference titles under Greer in 16 completed seasons, including ten consecutive titles from 1951–60. Greer also led UConn to its first seven NCAA berths and one NIT appearance while compiling an overall head coaching record of 286–112. Greer died of a heart attack in 1963, ten games into the 1962–63 season. He was replaced by George Wigton who led them to the NCAA tournament. UConn men's basketball was a regional power under Greer, winning eighteen Yankee Conference championships between 1947 and 1975—when the Yankee Conference dropped support of basketball—including twelve by Greer.

Jim Calhoun era

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Connecticut remained a regional power and earned multiple NCAA tournament berths. In 1979, UConn became one of the seven founding schools of the Big East Conference, which was created to focus on basketball.

Prior to the 1986–87 season UConn hired Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun to take over the program. Calhoun's first team finished the season with a record of 9–19. In 1988, the team showed significant improvement and gained a berth in the National Invitation Tournament. UConn went on a run in the tournament and defeated Ohio State 72–67 at Madison Square Garden to win the NIT, the school's first national basketball title.

The 1990 "Dream Season" would bring UConn basketball back to the national stage. Led by Chris Smith, Nadav Henefeld, Scott Burrell, Tate George, and John Gwynn, UConn went from unranked in the preseason to winning the Big East Regular Season and Tournament Championships, both for the first time. 1990 also marked the opening of Gampel Pavilion, the program's new on-campus home. In the NCAA Tournament the Huskies garnered a #1 seed in the East Region, but trailed Clemson 70–69 with 1 second remaining in the Sweet 16. Burrell's full-court pass found Tate George on the far baseline. George spun, fired, and hit a buzzer-beater that is known in Connecticut simply as "The Shot". They would be eliminated on a buzzer-beater 2 days later by Duke, losing in overtime 79–78.

Exterior view of Gampel Pavilion

UConn continued to rise as a national program throughout the 1990s, winning five more Big East Regular Season and three more Big East Tournament Championships, as well as reaching several regional finals. The Final Four still eluded Calhoun and the program until the 1999 NCAA Tournament. With Richard "Rip" Hamilton leading the way, they claimed the program's first national title that same year. Calhoun's teams would go on to win two more national championships during his tenure at UConn.

Calhoun was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, and officially announced his retirement in September 2012.

After the breakup of the old Big East in 2013, UConn remained as a member of the American Athletic Conference, the legal successor to the original conference. It is therefore the only charter member of the original Big East still playing in that conference.

Kevin Ollie era

Kevin Ollie was hired as UConn's men's basketball coach shortly after Calhoun's retirement. During his first season, the Huskies record was 20–10. That year the Huskies were banned from postseason play by the NCAA because of a low APR score in 2010.^[1] In Ollie's second season, the team made the NCAA tournament. On March 30, 2014, Ollie became the first UConn coach other than Jim Calhoun to lead the Huskies to a Final Four. They won the Men's NCAA tournament on April 7, 2014, defeating the University of Kentucky 60–54. His team was the first #7 seed to ever win the NCAA tournament. Ollie led Connecticut to the American Athletic Conference tournament championship and another NCAA tournament appearance in 2015-16. The Huskies defeated Colorado 74-67 in the Second Round but were eliminated by the Kansas Jayhawks 73-61 in the third round of the tournament.

National Championships

1999 NCAA Title

UConn won both the Big East and NCAA National Championships in 2011.

The Huskies were the top seed in the West region, and a win over Gonzaga in the regional final sent UConn to Tropicana Field for the program's first Final Four appearance. They defeated Ohio State 64–58 in the semi-final to face off against Duke in the final. Despite having been ranked #1 for half of the year, the Huskies entered the national championship game as 9-point underdogs.

UConn won their first national title with a 77–74 victory. Hamilton was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

1999 NCAA Tournament
Round	Opponent	Score
Round #1	#16 Texas-San Antonio	91–66
Round #2	#9 New Mexico	78–56
Sweet 16	#5 Iowa	78–68
Elite 8	#10 Gonzaga	67–62
Final Four	#4 Ohio State	64–58
Championship	#1 Duke	77–74

2004 NCAA Title

In 2004, the Huskies returned to the Final Four. Once again they faced Duke, this time in the National Semifinal, and used a late run to beat the Blue Devils 79–78. Two nights later, led by Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, Connecticut won their second national title with an 82–73 victory over Georgia Tech. Okafor was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

One day later the UConn women's basketball team also won a national title, making UConn the first and only school in NCAA Division I history to have its men's and women's basketball programs win a national championship in the same season.

2004 NCAA Tournament
Round	Opponent	Score
Round #1	#15 Vermont	70–53
Round #2	#7 DePaul	72–55
Sweet 16	#6 Vanderbilt	73–53
Elite 8	#8 Alabama	87–71
Final Four	#1 Duke	79–78
Championship	#3 Georgia Tech	82–73

2011 NCAA Title

The 2011 Huskies won eleven straight games in postseason play, the final six of which resulted in the program's third national championship. On April 4, 2011, they defeated the Butler Bulldogs, 53–41. UConn junior Kemba Walker was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Many consider UConn's win in the Championship Game to be a great defensive performance, as the Huskies held Butler to only 18.8% shooting from the field (a record for field goal percentage defense in a championship game) and tied a title game record with ten blocked shots.^[2] An analysis by Sports Illustrated columnist Luke Winn credited the Huskies' defense by demonstrating, for instance, that they blocked or altered a staggering 26.6% of Butler's shots – compared to just 3.8 percent by Pittsburgh and 12.1 percent by VCU in earlier rounds.^[3] The 53 points scored by Connecticut was, in turn, the lowest point total by a winning team in a championship game since 1949.

2011 NCAA Tournament
Round	Opponent	Score
Round #2	#14 Bucknell	89–52
Round #3	#6 Cincinnati	69–58
Sweet 16	#2 San Diego State	74–67
Elite 8	#5 Arizona	65–63
Final Four	#4 Kentucky	56–55
Championship	#8 Butler	53–41

2014 NCAA Title

2014 UConn National Championship teams at the White House

In 2014 led by American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Shabazz Napier, UConn became the first #7 seed to win the NCAA Championship, getting past No. 1 seed Florida, No. 2 seed Villanova, No. 3 seed Iowa State, and No. 4 seed Michigan State, before defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 60–54 in the championship game in Arlington, Texas. UConn is undefeated in the state of Texas in the Final Four (6–0).

As in 2014, the UConn women's basketball team also won a national title, making UConn the first and only school in NCAA Division I history to have its men's and women's basketball programs win a national championship in the same season twice.

2014 NCAA Tournament
Round	Opponent	Score
Round #2	#10 Saint Joseph's	89–81 ^OT
Round #3	#2 Villanova	77–65
Sweet 16	#3 Iowa State	81–76
Elite 8	#4 Michigan State	60–54
Final Four	#1 Florida	63–53
Championship	#8 Kentucky	60–54

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Huskies have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 33 times. Their combined record is 59–30. They have been to five Final Fours and are four time National Champions (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014).

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1951		Sweet Sixteen	St. John's	L 52–63
1954		First Round	Navy	L 80–85
1956		First Round Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Manhattan Temple Dartmouth	W 84–75 L 59–65 L 64–85
1957		First Round	Syracuse	L 76–82
1958		First Round	Dartmouth	L 64–75
1959		First Round	Boston University	L 58–60
1960		First Round	NYU	L 59–78
1963		First Round	West Virginia	L 71–77
1964		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	Temple Princeton Duke	W 53–48 W 52–50 L 54–101
1965		First Round	Saint Joseph's	L 61–67
1967		First Round	Boston College	L 42–48
1976		First Round Sweet Sixteen	Hofstra Rutgers	W 80–79^OT L 79–93
1979	#5	Second Round	#4 Syracuse	L 81–89
1990	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	#16 Boston University #9 California #5 Clemson #3 Duke	W 76–52 W 74–54 W 71–70 L 78–79^OT
1991	#11	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#6 LSU #14 Xavier #2 Duke	W 79–62 W 66–50 L 67–81
1992	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 Nebraska #1 Ohio State	W 86–65 L 55–78
1994	#2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#15 Rider #10 George Washington #3 Florida	W 64–46 W 75–63 L 60–69^OT
1995	#2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	#15 Chattanooga #7 Cincinnati #3 Maryland #1 UCLA	W 100–71 W 96–91 W 99–89 L 96–102
1996	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#16 Colgate #9 Eastern Michigan #5 Mississippi State	W 68–59 W 95–81 L 55–60
1998	#2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	#15 Fairleigh Dickinson #7 Indiana #11 Washington #1 North Carolina	W 93–85 W 78–68 W 75–74 L 64–75
1999	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	#16 UTSA #9 New Mexico #5 Iowa #10 Gonzaga #4 Ohio State #1 Duke	W 91–66 W 78–56 W 78–68 W 67–62 W 64–58 W 77–74
2000	#5	First Round Second Round	#12 Utah State #4 Tennessee	W 75–67 L 51–65
2002	#2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	#15 Hampton #7 NC State #11 Southern Illinois #1 Maryland	W 78–67 W 77–74 W 71–59 L 82–90
2003	#5	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#12 BYU #4 Stanford #1 Texas	W 58–53 W 85–74 L 78–82
2004	#2	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	#15 Vermont #7 DePaul #6 Vanderbilt #8 Alabama #1 Duke #3 Georgia Tech	W 70–53 W 72–55 W 73–53 W 87–71 W 79–78 W 82–73
2005	#2	First Round Second Round	#15 UCF #10 NC State	W 77–71 L 62–65
2006	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight	#16 Albany #8 Kentucky #5 Washington #11 George Mason	W 72–59 W 87–83 W 98–92^OT L 84–86^OT
2008	#4	First Round	#13 San Diego	L 69–70^OT
2009	#1	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four	#16 Chattanooga #9 Texas A&M #5 Purdue #3 Missouri #2 Michigan State	W 103–47 W 92–66 W 72–60 W 82–75 L 73–82
2011	#3	Second Round Third Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	#14 Bucknell #6 Cincinnati #2 San Diego State #5 Arizona #3 Kentucky #8 Butler	W 81–52 W 69–58 W 74–67 W 65–63 W 56–55 W 53–41
2012	#9	Second Round	#8 Iowa State	L 64–77
2014	#7	Second Round Third Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	#10 Saint Joseph's #2 Villanova #3 Iowa State #4 Michigan State #1 Florida #8 Kentucky	W 89–81^OT W 77–65 W 81–76 W 60–54 W 63–53 W 60–54
2016	#9	First Round Second Round	#8 Colorado #1 Kansas	W 74–67 L 61–73

NCAA Tournament seeding history

The NCAA began seeding the tournament with the 1979 edition.

Year →	'79	'90	'91	'92	'94	'95	'96	'98	'99	'00	'02	'03	'04	'05	'06	'08	'09	'11	'12	'14	'16
Seed →	5	1	11	9	2	2	1	2	1	5	2	5	2	2	1	4	1	3	9	7	9

NIT results

The Huskies have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 13 times. Their combined record is 15–12. They were NIT champions in 1988.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1955	First Round	Saint Louis	L 103–110
1974	First Round Quarterfinals	St. John's Boston College	W 82–70 L 75–76
1975	First Round	South Carolina	L 61–71
1980	First Round	Saint Peter's	L 56–71
1981	First Round Second Round	South Florida Minnesota	W 66–55 L 66–84
1982	First Round	Dayton	L 75–76
1988	First Round Second Round Quarterfials Semifinals Finals	West Virginia Louisiana Tech VCU Boston College Ohio State	W 62–57 W 65–59 W 69–60 W 73–67 W 72–67
1989	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Charlotte California UAB	W 67–62 W 73–72 L 79–85
1993	First Round	Jackson State	L 88–90
1997	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Iona Bradley Nebraska Florida State Arkansas	W 71–66 W 63–47 W 76–67 L 65–71 W 74–64
2001	First Round Second Round	South Carolina Detroit	W 72–65 L 61–67
2010	First Round Second Round	Northeastern Virginia Tech	W 59–57 L 63–65
2015	First Round	Arizona State	L 61–68

Coaches

The following is a list of Connecticut Huskies men's basketball head coaches. The Connecticut Huskies have had 18 coaches in their 116-season history. The team is currently coached by Kevin Ollie.

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1900–15[4]	No Coach	15	45–44	.506
1915–19[4]	John F. Donahue	4	11–23	.324
1919–21[4]	M.R. Swartz	2	14–14	.500
1921–22[4]	J. Wilder Tasker	2	15–5	.750
1922–23[4]	Roy J. Guyer	1	8–6	.571
1923–27[4]	Sumner A. Dole	4	39–25	.609
1927–31[4]	Louis A. Alexander	4	35–19	.648
1931–36[4]	John J. Heldman, Jr.	5	19–42	.311
1935–36[4]	J. Orlean Christian	1	3–10	.231
1936–45[4]	Don White (interim)	9	94–59	.614
1945–46[4]	Blair Gullion	2	14–7	.667
1946–63[4]	Hugh Greer	17	287–113	.718
1963[4]	George Wigton (interim)	1	11–4	.733
1963–67[4]	Fred A. Shabel	4	72–29	.713
1967–69[4]	Burr Carlson	2	16–32	.333
1969–77[4]	Donald "Dee" Rowe	8	120–88	.577
1977–86[4]	Dominic "Dom" Perno	9	139–114	.549
1986[4]–2012	Jim Calhoun	26	625–243	.720
2012–	Kevin Ollie	4	97–44	.688

As of the end of the 2011–2012 season (111th season), the Huskies had 17 coaches, and had amassed a record of 1567 wins to 877 losses (a .641 winning percentage).^[4] Its current record, after 116 seasons with Ollie as its head coach, is 1664 wins to 921 losses (winning percentage, .644).

Huskies of Honor

On December 26, 2006, UConn announced inaugural inductees into the "Huskies of Honor" recognition program, a class of 13 players and 3 coaches that were later introduced at halftime during the February 5, 2007 UConn-Syracuse game.^[5] Former athletic director John Toner was inducted on February 28, 2009.^[6] On April 5, 2011, Kemba Walker was the first men's basketball player to be added to the program since the inaugural inductees, an honor he was bestowed after leading the team to a national championship.

The Huskies of Honor are each recognized by a four by five foot panel which displays his name, jersey number and years of service, and a plaque which summarizes each's career accomplishments;^[5] Both the panels and the plaques are on permanent display at Gampel Pavilion on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Connecticut.

Players

• Ray Allen 1993–96
• Wes Bialosuknia 1964–67
• Jerome Dyson (born 1987), basketball player for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League
• Walt Dropo 1942–47
• Khalid El-Amin 1997–2000
• Rudy Gay 2004–06
• Richard Hamilton 1996–99
• Tony Hanson 1973–77
• Toby Kimball 1961–65
• Donyell Marshall 1991–94
• Caron Butler 2000-02
• Shabazz Napier 2010–14
• Emeka Okafor 2001–04
• Art Quimby 1951–55
• Clifford Robinson 1985–89
• Chris Smith 1988–92
• Corny Thompson 1978–82
• Kemba Walker 2008–11

Coaches and administrators

• Jim Calhoun, Head Coach, 1986–2012
• Dee Rowe, Head Coach, 1969–77
• Hugh Greer, Head Coach, 1946–63
• John Toner, Athletic Director, 1969–87

Teams

• 1999 National Championship Team

Notable victories

• February 27, 1954 – Worthy Patterson's buzzer-beater at Holy Cross gave UConn an upset of the then-powerhouse Crusaders, 78–77.
• March 14, 1964 – UConn upset Princeton and star forward Bill Bradley 52–50 in the Sweet 16. The victory was sealed when Dom Perno stole the ball from Bradley with 19 seconds to play. Perno would later become UConn's coach.
• February 28, 1970 ("The Slowdown Game") – With four players unavailable and a share of the Yankee Conference Regular-Season Championship on the line, UConn beat Rhode Island 35–32 at the Field House. Played before the shot clock-era, UConn dribbled endlessly for 38 minutes to make up for the limited roster.
• March 30, 1988 – UConn defeated Ohio State 72–67 at Madison Square Garden to win the NIT.
• January 27, 1990 – UConn beat #15 St. John's 72–58 in the first game played at Gampel Pavilion.
• March 11, 1990 – UConn beat Syracuse 78–75 at Madison Square Garden to win its first Big East Tournament Championship.
• March 22, 1990 ("The Shot") – Tate George made a shot at the buzzer to beat Clemson 71–70 in the 1990 Sweet 16 at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
• March 9, 1996 – With 4 minutes remaining, UConn trailed Georgetown 74–63. The Huskies closed the game with a 12–0 run and won the Big East Championship 75–74 on an off-balance floater from All-American Ray Allen at Madison Square Garden.
• March 20, 1998 (Hamilton "Rips" Washington's heart out) – Down 74–73 in the Sweet Sixteen to the eleven seed Washington Huskies, two seed UConn gets three shot attempts off in the final 15 seconds with Rip Hamilton's buzzer beating jumper winning it 75-74.
• March 29, 1999 – UConn won its first NCAA Championship, defeating Duke 77–74 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
• April 5, 2004 – UConn won its second NCAA Championship, defeating Georgia Tech 82–73 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
• March 28. 2009 – defeated Missouri 82–75 to win the Arizona Regional Final and advance to their third Final Four
• March 10, 2011 - In the quarterfinal of the 2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, the 9th seeded Huskies (ranked 21st nationally) defeated the 1st seeded Pittsburgh Panthers (4th nationally) by a score of 76-74. Kemba Walker scored 24 points and hit a famous game winning step-back shot at the buzzer to advance.
• March 12, 2011 – In the final of the Big East Tournament, the Huskies defeated Louisville by a score of 69–66 to claim their seventh Big East Championship. The victory capped an unprecedented run wherein the Huskies won five tournament games in five consecutive days. Four of those wins came against top-25 opponents. Junior All-American guard Kemba Walker scored a tournament-record 130 points in the five-game run, and was named tournament MVP.
• April 4, 2011 – The Huskies defeated Butler 53–41 to claim the NCAA Championship in Houston's Reliant Stadium.
• November 9, 2012 – In Kevin Ollie's first game as Connecticut head coach the Huskies beat the #14 Michigan State Spartans 66–62 in Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
• February 13, 2013– In the final conference game against rival Syracuse the Huskies defeat the #6 Orange 66–58, at the XL Center.
• December 3, 2013 - In a highly anticipated non-conference game, the 12th ranked Huskies played underdog to the 15th ranked Florida Gators at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. Senior guard Shabazz Napier hit a game winning shot from the foul line with 0.7 seconds to go to win 65-64.
• March 30, 2014– The Huskies defeat Michigan State 60–54 at Madison Square Garden to advance to the Final Four for the fifth time.
• April 7, 2014 – The Huskies defeated Kentucky 60–54 to win the 2014 NCAA Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• March 11, 2016- With 0.8 seconds remaining and UConn down by 3, Freshman point guard Jalen Adams hits a 60-foot 3 pointer to tie an American Conference tournament quarterfinal game vs Cincinnati and force a fourth overtime. UConn would win the game 104-97 and the final against Memphis two days later and advance to the NCAA tournament.

Awards

AP National Coach of the Year Jim Calhoun – 1990

NABC National Player of the Year Emeka Okafor – 2004

Consensus First Team All-Americans Donyell Marshall – 1994 Ray Allen – 1996 Richard Hamilton – 1999 Emeka Okafor – 2004 Kemba Walker – 2011 Shabazz Napier – 2014

National Defensive Player of the Year Emeka Okafor – 2003 Emeka Okafor – 2004 Hasheem Thabeet – 2008 Hasheem Thabeet – 2009

Pete Newell Big Man Award Emeka Okafor – 2004

Bob Cousy Award Kemba Walker – 2011 Shabazz Napier – 2014

Big East Player of the Year Donyell Marshall – 1994 Ray Allen – 1996 Richard Hamilton – 1998 Richard Hamilton – 1999 Caron Butler – 2002 Emeka Okafor – 2004 Hasheem Thabeet – 2009 AAC Player of the Year Shabazz Napier – 2014

Big East Defensive Player of the Year Donyell Marshall – 1994 Emeka Okafor – 2003 Emeka Okafor – 2004 Josh Boone – 2005 Hilton Armstrong – 2006 Hasheem Thabeet – 2008 Hasheem Thabeet – 2009 AAC Defensive Player of the Year Amida Brimah – 2015

Big East Tournament MVP Chris Smith – 1990 Khalid El-Amin – 1998 Kevin Freeman – 1999 Caron Butler – 2002 Ben Gordon – 2004 Kemba Walker – 2011 AAC Tournament MVP Daniel Hamilton – 2016

Big East Coach of the Year Jim Calhoun – 1990 Jim Calhoun – 1994 Jim Calhoun – 1996 Jim Calhoun – 1998

Big East Rookie of the Year Earl Kelley – 1983 Nadav Henefeld – 1990 Doron Sheffer – 1994 Khalid El-Amin – 1998 Rudy Gay – 2005

NCAA Tournament MOP Richard Hamilton – 1999 Emeka Okafor – 2004 Kemba Walker – 2011 Shabazz Napier – 2014

AAC Rookie of the Year Daniel Hamilton – 2015

Impact on the NBA

Since the 1990s, UConn has been recognized as being a consistent pipeline for players to enter the National Basketball Association. During the 2006–2007 season, there were an NBA-high 14 former Huskies on active rosters. During the 2013–14 season, 13 former Huskies were on active NBA rosters.

UConn has had 13 players selected as lottery picks in the NBA Draft:

UConn Lottery Picks
Player	Year	Pick #	Team
Donyell Marshall	1994	4	Minnesota Timberwolves
Ray Allen	1996	5	Minnesota Timberwolves
Richard Hamilton	1999	7	Washington Wizards
Caron Butler	2002	10	Miami Heat
Emeka Okafor	2004	2	Charlotte Bobcats
Ben Gordon	2004	3	Chicago Bulls
Charlie Villanueva	2005	7	Toronto Raptors
Rudy Gay	2006	8	Houston Rockets
Hilton Armstrong	2006	12	New Orleans Hornets
Hasheem Thabeet	2009	2	Memphis Grizzlies
Kemba Walker	2011	9	Charlotte Bobcats
Andre Drummond	2012	9	Detroit Pistons
Jeremy Lamb	2012	12	Houston Rockets

• The 2006 Draft class was notable for tying the record of most first-round picks from one school, with four. With five players drafted in the two rounds, UConn tied for the second-most ever taken in an NBA draft.^[7]
• Two players (Clifford Robinson, 1992–93, and Ben Gordon, 2004–05) have been winners of the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.
• Emeka Okafor was the winner of the 2004–05 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
• Ray Allen was the winner of the 2002–03 NBA Sportsmanship Award, and is the NBA all-time leader in 3-point field goals made.
• Five players (Scott Burrell, '97–'98, Travis Knight, '99–'00, Richard Hamilton, '03–'04, Ray Allen, '07–'08 and '12–'13, Caron Butler, '10–'11) have won NBA championships.

NBA Players Past and Present

• Adrien, Jeff 2010–2015
• Aleksinas, Chuck 1984–1985
• Allen, Ray 1996–2014
• Armstrong, Hilton 2006–2014
• Bialosuknia, Wes 1967–1968
• Boone, Josh 2006–2010
• Burrell, Scott 1993–2000
• Butler, Caron 2002–present
• Drummond, Andre 2012–present
• Dyson, Jerome 2012
• El-Amin, Khalid 2000–2002
• Foster, Jimmy 1974–1975
• Gay, Rudy 2006–present
• George, Tate 1990–1994
• Gordon, Ben 2004–2015
• Hamilton, Daniel 2016–present
• Hamilton, Richard 1999–2013
• Kimball, Toby 1966–1974
• Knight, Travis 1996–2002
• Kuczenski, Bruce 1983–1984
• Lamb, Jeremy 2012–present
• Marshall, Donny 1995–2002
• Marshall, Donyell 1994–2009
• Napier, Shabazz 2014–present
• Okafor, Emeka 2004–2013
• Ollie, Kevin 1997–2010
• Patterson, Worthy 1957
• Price, A.J. 2009–2015
• Robinson, Clifford 1989–2006
• Smith, Chris 1992–1994
• Thabeet, Hasheem 2009–2014
• Thompson, Corny 1982–1983
• Villanueva, Charlie 2005–present
• Voskuhl, Jake 2000–2009
• Walker, Kemba 2011–present
• Williams, Marcus 2006–2010

References

1. AP Staff (2012-04-20). "NCAA defends Connecticut Huskies postseason ban stemming from APR" (online news report). ESPN.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
2. ESPN Staff (2011-04-04). "Butler vs. Connecticut—Game Recap" (online news report). ESPN.com. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
3. Winn, Luke (2011-04-13). "The last word on defense: A comprehensive title-game study" (online news report). Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
4. CSTV (2011). "2012-13 Connecticut Basketball History: UConn Men's Basketball Information Supplement" (PDF). Retrieved 7 May 2016.
5. UConn Staff (2006-12-26). "Men's Basketball Huskies of Honor Announced" (university news release). uconnhuskies.com. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
6. UConn Staff (2009-02-28). "John Toner inducted into [school's "Huskies of Honor" program]" (university news release). uconnhuskies.com. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
7. AP Staff (2006-06-29). "UConn ties draft record with four first-round picks" (online news report). ESPN.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 May 2016.

External links

• Official website