The short, stocky point guard who helped UConn shock the world returned home this past weekend. Khalid El-Amin stood on the Gampel Pavilion court, posed with his teammates from UConn’s first national title team in 1999, and embraced his former coach, Jim Calhoun. He watched as two banners were unveiled, formally inducting the team, and him personally, into UConn’s Huskies of Honor.
El-Amin is a beloved figure in Connecticut. Paired with the tacit brilliance of Richard “Rip” Hamilton, El-Amin’s boisterous and infectious attitude brought levity and fun to the game. And man, could he play.
When he arrived on campus, El-Amin joined a young UConn team brimming with talent fresh off an NIT season in 1997. Hamilton, Kevin Freeman and Jake Voskuhl had just completed their freshman seasons. Ricky Moore and Rashamel Jones, their sophomore campaigns.
In his first game as a Husky, November 15, 1997 against Yale, El-Amin led UConn in scoring. He scored 23 points on 9-13 shooting, handed off five assists and registered five steals. It was the first moment in a season that would end with El-Amin holding the all-time record for points by a freshman in UConn history (593). Combined with Hamilton’s 795 points, the duo set a record for most points by UConn teammates that stood until 2011 when they were surpassed by Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb.
The 1998 season ended prematurely for El-Amin and the Huskies. While Hamilton’s buzzer-beater over Washington in the Sweet Sixteen still delights Husky fans, their season ended two days later at the hands of Vince Carter and North Carolina. El-Amin averaged 23.3 points per game in the tournament, beginning his legacy as king of the moment, master of the big shot.
Expectations were sky high heading into the 1998-1999 season. UConn had returned their entire starting lineup, including Hamilton who considered jumping to the NBA that offseason. They were truly unstoppable. Their season began with 19 consecutive victories including two indelible moments for El-Amin.
On December 12th, UConn ventured to Pittsburgh — consider this the beginning of their decade-long rivalry that followed. Down four, with 15 seconds to play, El-Amin brought the ball up court and found sophomore Albert Mouring, who buried a three to narrow Pitt’s lead. Following a timeout, Pitt threw away the inbounds pass. UConn recovered and handed the ball to El-Amin, who won the game with a spinning free-throw line jumper.
The image of a victorious El-Amin atop the Pitt scorers’ table taunting the home fans remains an iconic moment in UConn history.
Two months later, the Huskies (who were ranked #1 in the country at the time) ventured to California to take on #4 Stanford. Hamilton was out with an injury, putting the game squarely on El-Amin’s shoulders.
The crowd was relentless. Their taunts of El-Amin were hateful and ceaseless. El-Amin’s response was to drop 23 points, five assists and five steals on the Cardinal, sealing a signature win for UConn.
Despite losing only two games on the season, when UConn reached the National Championship game, they were severe underdogs. Duke was the consensus best team in America, and their center Elton Brand was considered the best player in the country. You know the rest. Jim Calhoun devised an interior defense that confounded Brand. Ricky Moore scored early and often in the first half. Hamilton and El-Amin sealed the victory late. They shocked the world.
It was the moment when UConn basketball became legitimate. They had come up short so often before, but were now being welcomed into college basketball’s elite.
Early into the offseason, Hamilton announced he would leave UConn for the NBA. Moore and Rashamel Jones were graduating. El-Amin had a choice to make. He chose to stay.
In hindsight, his prospects may have never been higher. He had proven on the biggest stage that he could play with the best players in the country, that he was a leader, and that he had the, um…courage…to take big shots. It could be argued he should have taken the leap and joined Hamilton in declaring for the draft.
By staying on campus, El-Amin piloted a flawed UConn team that lacked a true second scoring option. Albert Mouring was the team’s second leading scorer at 13.9 points per game, but his game was perimeter-based (Mouring attempted 180 threes and shot 47.8% from deep). Kevin Freeman struggled in his move to the small forward slot. He averaged 11 points and just under six rebounds. Freshman Ajou Deng, thought to be the next big star, averaged less than five points and under 15 minutes per game, en route to becoming maybe the greatest disappointment in the program’s history.
El-Amin led the team back to the NCAA Tournament, but the magic from the year earlier had worn off. UConn barely escaped Utah State in the first round, and lost to Tennessee two days later when El-Amin suffered an ankle injury that limited him to just 13 minutes and three points. It was the last time he would ever wear a UConn uniform.
El-Amin announced his intentions to enter the NBA Draft following the season. When draft day came, El-Amin had to wait a long time to hear his name called. His teammate, Jake Voskuhl was selected with the 33rd pick by the Chicago Bulls, who then chose El-Amin with the 34th pick. As was seen this past offseason with current UConn star Shabazz Napier, a second round prognosis usually sends kids back to college.
However, with his decision made, El-Amin joined the Bulls. He didn’t last through his first season. He was released by the team after playing 50 games, in which he averaged 6.3 points and 2.9 assists per contest. His career took him overseas where he continued playing with flair and passion. He has made enough money to live comfortably, and while currently healing from injury, has had the good fortune to play basketball for living for the past 14 years.
One wonders, however, how different things would look if Khalid came back for his senior season instead of declaring for the 2000 NBA Draft.
The 2000-2001 UConn team was not very good. With El-Amin gone and Freeman and Voskuhl graduated, Albert Mouring and Edmund Saunders were the sole holdovers from the 1999 title team. Their point guard was a tough freshman from New York named Taliek Brown, who could pass, but couldn’t shoot. They did have one thing the previous year’s squad didn’t however, an amazingly talented freshman, Caron Butler.
Had El-Amin returned, he and Butler may have been primed to recapture the success gained when El-Amin partnered with Hamilton. The following year, Butler would, almost single-handedly, carry UConn to the Elite Eight.
In what would have been El-Amin’s senior season, Butler averaged over 15 points per game, as did Albert Mouring. That wasn’t good enough without a second star player, however, and UConn went to the NIT where they promptly lost. Would a talented El-Amin have provided enough reinforcements to change the outcome? If he had, would his draft stock have improved enough to earn him a first round pick and more of an American playing career?
There’s also the historical side of this hypothetical. El-Amin’s three-year point total of 1,650 is currently good for 11th place on UConn’s all-time list (just behind Napier). If he had come back to Storrs and duplicated his junior year output of 560 points, he would pass all others, including both Hamilton and Chris Smith, on the all-time leaderboard, becoming the greatest scorer in UConn history. Had he and Butler been enough to make a deep tournament run, he would have a very serious claim as the greatest player to wear a UConn uniform.
The what-if game is an interesting exercise concerning El-Amin, because he was so generally unpredictable. He could take over a game on a moment’s notice by scoring points in a hurry. Or he could sit back, let the game come to him, and get his teammates involved. He appeared to genuinely love playing basketball, and on Sunday as he watched his name and number displayed in the rafters, it was obvious that he loved being a Husky. Despite only three years on campus, and a specter of missed opportunities, the Storrs faithful, his team and the university clearly love him back.
