UConn men’s basketball 00s All-Decade team – CT Insider

The Huskies won their second national championship in 2004 — with probably the best team in program history and even one of the best in NCAA history — behind Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon.

The decade was not without dips or disappointment. The 2006 team, for instance, was a national championship favorite that was upset in the Elite Eight by George Mason. And the 2007 team that followed was the first UConn team to miss the postseason in 20 years.

Overall, the 2000s were successful both in recruiting and results and the continuation of a legacy.

Here is a look at the best of the bunch, the 2000’s All-Decade team. Like our 1990’s team, eligibility for the list is having been a member of any team for seasons that ended in the 2000s — from 1999-00 to 2008-09. 

Players are listed alphabetically.  

Jeff Adrien (2005-09): Third in program history with 1,126 rebounds behind only Art Quimby and Toby Kimball, Adrien is one of just six UConn players with 1,000-plus career rebounds. He is also part of the exclusive 1,000-1,000 club, one of five players with at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds —  with Emeka Okafor, Quimby, Kimball and Corny Thompson. Adrien, a key player off the bench as a freshman on a team with five NBA draft picks, led UConn in rebounding as a sophomore (9.7) and junior (9.2). Adrien, who scored 1,603 points in college, went undrafted after helping UConn to the 2009 Final Four but played professionally until 2020, including parts of five seasons in the NBA (153 games).

Rashad Anderson (2002-06): The knuckleballing 3-point specialist remains UConn’s all-time leader in 3-pointers with 276, an average of 2.12 a game that ranks fourth in program history. Anderson averaged 17.3 points a game in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. In a Sweet 16 victory that season over Alabama, on the way to the Huskies’ fourth national title, Anderson had 28 points. Two years later, he famously hit a game-tying 3-pointer with seconds left in regulation of an overtime victory over Washington in the Sweet 16. Anderson scored 20 or more points 11 times off the bench, a UConn record (Brian Fair did it nine times). Anderson, 22^nd on UConn’s career scoring list with 1,432 points, played 12 seasons overseas.

Josh Boone (2003-06): Boone, a key part of the 2004 national championship run as a freshman, shot 57.8 percent over his three-year UConn career, fifth all-time behind Amida Brimah (63.7), Hasheem Thabeet (61.1), Gavin Edwards (59.3) and Emeka Okafor (59.0). He finished with 959 points and 718 rebounds in 103 games and was a stable low-post force throughout. Boone is also fifth in program history with an average of 2.2 blocks a game. He was UConn’s leading rebounder in each of his final two seasons, when he had 19 double-doubles (11 as a sophomore). Boone was drafted 23rd overall, spent four seasons with the Nets and has been playing internationally since.

Taliek Brown (2000-04): UConn’s leader in career assists with 722, and the only UConn player with 1,000-plus points and 700-plus assists, Brown was a four-year starter and captain of the 2004 national championship team. He set a program record with 253 assists that season while averaging 6.5 a game, third-best in program history. Brown started 128 games, second in history Jake Voskuhl (135). He averaged 5.4 assists a game in his career, third behind Marcus Williams (7.3) and Doron Sheffer (5.5). His 35-foot heave in the second overtime helped UConn past Pittsburgh in the 2002 Big East championship game. Brown spent four years as UConn’s director of player development before leaving to work as an assistant at Iona under Rick Pitino.

Caron Butler (2000-02): Butler stayed at UConn just two years, but his impact was immeasurable. He averaged 18 points in 63 career games, including 20.3 as a sophomore in 2001-02. His final game was one of the great individual NCAA Tournament performances in UConn history. Butler, UConn’s leading scorer in both his seasons and the 2002 Big East player of the year, scored 26 of his 32 points in the second half of an Elite Eight loss to Maryland. He was selected 10^th overall in the NBA Draft and averaged 14.1 points a game over 14 NBA seasons. Butler’s 691 points in 2001-02 is the second-most ever by a UConn sophomore, behind the 795 Richard Hamilton scored in 1997-98.

Jerome Dyson (2006-10): Dyson, a slashing scorer and tough defender, headlined an eight-player freshman class in 2006-07 and led the Huskies in scoring at 13.8 points a game. He scored 429 points that season, tied with Nadav Henefeld (1989-90) for the ninth most by a freshman in program history. Dyson went on to play 113 games and score 1,630 points, 17^th on the all-time scoring list, despite missing a chunk of his sophomore year while suspended and the tail end of his junior season due to a knee injury. He averaged a career-high 17.2 points as a senior in 2009-10 and went undrafted. He played nine NBA games for New Orleans in 2011-12 and had a long overseas career, mostly in Israel and Italy.

Rudy Gay (2004-06): Among the most athletic players in UConn history, and one of the Huskies’ best dunkers, Gay, like Caron Butler before him, played just two years in the program. He was the leading scorer (15.2 points a game) for the most talented Huskies team not to win a championship. That 2005-06 team was famously upset by George Mason in the Elite Eight. Gay averaged 13.6 points and 5.9 rebounds over his two years and departed as an NBA lottery pick, selected eighth overall. Still active with the Jazz, Gay, 36, has averaged 16 points and 5.7 rebounds over 17 NBA seasons.

Ben Gordon (2001-04): The most prolific scorer on the best team in program history, Gordon averaged 18.5 points as a junior in 2003-04 (after averaging 19.5 the year before) as UConn won its second national championship. Gordon shot 42.3 percent on 3-pointers in his three-year career, second only to Ray Allen’s 44.8. His average of 2.32 3-pointers made per game is a UConn record, just ahead of Allen’s 3.21. Selected third overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, one pick behind teammate Emeka Okafor, Gordon went on to be named the NBA’s sixth man of the year as a rookie. He had 1,795 points at UConn, seventh on the program’s career list, and averaged 14.9 points in 11 NBA seasons.

Emeka Okafor (2001-04): Among the best defensive players and students in program history, Okafor left UConn after his junior season as the No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, having led the Huskies to their second national championship. He holds the program record for blocks in a season, 156 in 2002-03, and had another 147 in 2003-04, leading the nation both times. He was a two-time NABC and Big East defensive player of the year. Okafor averaged 17.6 points and 11.5 rebounds and shot 59.9 percent from the field his final season. He is the program’s all-time leader in blocks (441) and blocks per game (4.3). The 2005 NBA rookie of the year, he went on to average 12 points and 9.7 rebounds in 10 professional seasons.

A.J. Price (2006-09): Price’s career was delayed two years due to a life-threatening illness, followed by an arrest and suspension. He settled in as UConn’s best guard over the next three seasons, finishing with 1,284 points, 32^nd on the program’s career list. Price led UConn in scoring as a junior in 2007-07, averaging 14.5 points and 16.1 in Big East play. Despite tearing an ACL in UConn’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to San Diego, he returned as a senior to average 14.7 and lead the Huskies to their third Final Four. Price, a 2007-08 first-team All-Big East player, was drafted in the second round and spent parts of seven seasons in the NBA.

Hasheem Thabeet (2006-09): Thabeet has the second-best and third-best single-season blocks total in program history with 152 as a junior and 147 as a sophomore. He departed UConn after three years and was the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft. Thabeet, 7-foot-3, came to UConn raw and developed into a defensive force, named national defensive player of the year while helping UConn to the Final Four 2008-09. His 4.2 blocks per game rank second on UConn’s all-time list, behind Emeka Okafor’s 4.3. Thabeet was considered a draft bust. His best season was as a rookie with Memphis in 2009-10, when he averaged career highs of 3.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 13 minutes.

Marcus Williams (2003-06): Williams’ career was twice interrupted as he sat out the second semester of his freshman season due to grades, and the first semester of his junior season while suspended. He was dynamic, though, finishing his 70-game career with an assists-per-game average of 7.3, a UConn record. Also records: his assists averages as a sophomore (7.8) and junior (8.6), when, after serving his suspension, he was among the top players in the sport. Williams, who after 12.3 points in 23 games in 2005-06, was picked 22^nd overall in the 2006 draft. He spent four seasons in the NBA, averaging 5.6 points and 2.8 assists, before spending 10 years overseas and in the G League.