warriorfan4life
02-15-2013, 04:12 PM
For those longer term MU fans, how good was the 2002 team? I followed the team from afar as a college hoops fan, but did not have a tie to that team until right before the tourney. I have heard some people think it was better then the Final Four team, and they certainly were defensively.
For the second part of the thread, I will define the modern era from Wade's first year (2002) to present. Also, I will rank this year's team, though the season is far from complete. Here are my rankings of the teams from 2003 to the present:
1. 2009: A better defensive version of the 2003 team, and a match-up nightmare for opponents with Butler at 4 and Hayward at 5 at times. Would have gone to Elite 8 minimum if James does not get hurt.
2. 2003: Awesome offensively, had one of top 20 NBA players ever on the team along with two other future NBA players. However, the worst defensive team to make the Final Four in the last decade.
3. 2012: With a just touch more offensive firepower, this team could have made a Final Four. I think Crowder had the best season in an MU uniform since Wade.
4. 2008: Tons of talent on the team, but fell a bit short in key situations (Georgetown, Stanford) and players like Matthews appeared to have stagnated. I think this team had better talent then 2009, but Buzz got so much more out of them.
5. 2011: Underachieved for a lot of the year, but came together at the right time. This team had two potential long-time NBA players (Crowder, Butler) and a few other solid college players.
6. 2006: James's best year in an MU jersey and the Amigos had the perfect complementary guy to their skills with my man Steve Novak (who had a phenomenal season himself that year).
7. 2013: This year's team sort of reminds of 2011, but with better luck for this team so far. I like the pieces of this year's team, but things have not totally clicked yet despite the record (especially on the defensive end).
8. 2010: A great follow-up to Buzz's first year, this team undoubtedly got the most out of their talent and then some.
9. 2007: Strong on the defensive side of the ball, but had major issues scoring the ball and left a bad taste in the NCAA game.
10. 2005: Played hard despite the talent and athletic limitations, but the Diener injury sunk them. Probably make the NCAA's as an 8-9 type seed if Diener was healthy all year.
11. 2004: A fair amount of talent, but this team never clicked and to this day had some of the worst efforts I have ever seen from a MU team (three losses to a crappy TCU team, the Southern Miss debacle in Green Bay).
For the second part of the thread, I will define the modern era from Wade's first year (2002) to present. Also, I will rank this year's team, though the season is far from complete. Here are my rankings of the teams from 2003 to the present:
1. 2009: A better defensive version of the 2003 team, and a match-up nightmare for opponents with Butler at 4 and Hayward at 5 at times. Would have gone to Elite 8 minimum if James does not get hurt.
2. 2003: Awesome offensively, had one of top 20 NBA players ever on the team along with two other future NBA players. However, the worst defensive team to make the Final Four in the last decade.
3. 2012: With a just touch more offensive firepower, this team could have made a Final Four. I think Crowder had the best season in an MU uniform since Wade.
4. 2008: Tons of talent on the team, but fell a bit short in key situations (Georgetown, Stanford) and players like Matthews appeared to have stagnated. I think this team had better talent then 2009, but Buzz got so much more out of them.
5. 2011: Underachieved for a lot of the year, but came together at the right time. This team had two potential long-time NBA players (Crowder, Butler) and a few other solid college players.
6. 2006: James's best year in an MU jersey and the Amigos had the perfect complementary guy to their skills with my man Steve Novak (who had a phenomenal season himself that year).
7. 2013: This year's team sort of reminds of 2011, but with better luck for this team so far. I like the pieces of this year's team, but things have not totally clicked yet despite the record (especially on the defensive end).
8. 2010: A great follow-up to Buzz's first year, this team undoubtedly got the most out of their talent and then some.
9. 2007: Strong on the defensive side of the ball, but had major issues scoring the ball and left a bad taste in the NCAA game.
10. 2005: Played hard despite the talent and athletic limitations, but the Diener injury sunk them. Probably make the NCAA's as an 8-9 type seed if Diener was healthy all year.
11. 2004: A fair amount of talent, but this team never clicked and to this day had some of the worst efforts I have ever seen from a MU team (three losses to a crappy TCU team, the Southern Miss debacle in Green Bay).