Round 1: #3 Cliff Robinson vs. #14 Ryan Boatright

Cliff Robinson was the first great NBA player to come out of UConn, except that nobody realized it at the time. Robinson came to UConn the year before Jim Calhoun arrived, and was the best player on the team in those three years leading up to the Dream Season of 1989-1990. A 6’10” Forward-Center, Robinson led the team in scoring three times, and in rebounding twice, finishing his career with 1664 points, good for ninth all-time, and 663 rebounds.
As UConn wasn’t known for producing top basketball talent at the time, Robinson fell to the 2nd round of the NBA draft, but still managed to score almost 20,000 points over an 18-season career, more than any other member of a draft class that included Glen Rice, Tim Hardaway, and Shawn Kemp. Robinson was also named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 1993, and played in the 1994 All-Star Game.

Career Points: 1664

Career Rebounds: 668

Career Assists: 136

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Career Steals: 110

Career Blocks: 116

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2nd Team Big East 1988-1989
3rd Team Big East 1987-1988
1,000 point club

It is difficult to properly rank Ryan Boatright in this contest because his journey at UConn is far from finished. As a freshman, Boatright impressed, averaging 10.4 points per game on a UConn team with few bright spots. This past season, Boatright flashed brilliance in big and improbable wins – helping to lead a young Husky team to unanticipated success. In his two seasons at UConn Boatright has scored 722 points and passed out 231 assists.

Career Points: 722

Career Rebounds: 171

Career Assists: 231

Career Steals: 73

Career Blocks: 8

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Just completed sophomore season