Ranking the Most Talented UConn Basketball Teams of All Time

College basketball history is full of great teams. Legendary squads that make you wonder how it all worked to such perfection on the hardwood.

This is not about those teams.

This is about the ones that make you squint at the roster years later and wonder how it all fit in one locker room—squads where the talent level bordered on absurd and future pros were sometimes stacked two-deep.

You can win a title without that kind of depth. You can even dominate a season without it. But when it's there, it leaves a different kind of imprint.

So we set out to find those instances.

Bleacher Report writers and editors started with a massive pool of candidates and cut it to 68 via a staff vote, enforcing a simple rule along the way: No overlapping cores. That meant no two teams from the same school could share more than one rotation player.

From there, we focused on what these rosters became, counting only players who actually reached the NBA or WNBA, and weighing how many made it, how long they lasted and how much they accomplished as pros. Individual NCAA accomplishments were also considered, but amateur team success was not.

A first-place vote garnered 68 points, on down to 1 point for a last-place vote.

The result isn't a ranking of the best college teams ever. It's a catalog of talent at its most concentrated—rosters that, in hindsight, feel almost unreasonable.

Below is a collection of UConn's most stacked teams that appeared in our overall ranking.

Team summaries by Andy Bailey

5. 2003-04 UConn Men (33-6)

Overall Rank: 58

Pro Seasons (46): Ben Gordon (11), Charlie Villanueva (11), Emeka Okafor (10), Hilton Armstrong (6), Josh Boone (4), Marcus Williams (4)

Pro All-Stars: 0 | Top-10 Picks: 3

NCAA Tournament: Won National Title

The 2003-04 UConn Huskies are another team that didn't give us any All-Stars, but at least three of their players went on to have long, successful NBA careers.

Ben Gordon was a heat-check scorer who won Sixth Man of the Year as a rookie and averaged 18.5 points over his first five seasons.

Emeka Okafor won Rookie of the Year and averaged 12.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks before injuries derailed his career.

And Charlie Villanueva, though he never had a starring role, was a contributor on four different teams and finished his career with a double-digit scoring average.

Even without any real stars, that's an awful lot of NBA talent and production for one college team.

High Vote: 34

Low Vote: 58

4. 1994-95 UConn Women (35-0)

Overall Rank: 40

Pro Seasons (25): Nykesha Sales (9), Rebecca Lobo (7), Jennifer Rizzotti (5), Kara Wolters (4)

Hall of Famers: 1 | Pro All-Stars: 2 | Top-10 Picks: 0

NCAA Tournament: Won National Title

The undefeated 1994-95 UConn women's team sent four players to the WNBA, three of whom had double-figure scoring seasons there.

Seven-time All-Star Nykesha Sales was the most accomplished in the pros. She averaged 14.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 threes while shooting 35.6 percent from three. She also nabbed an All-WNBA second team nod in 2004.

But, thanks in large part to her success in the Olympics and dominant college career, Rebecca Lobo is the one who made the Hall of Fame.

Injuries cut her career short, but Lobo averaged double figures and at least six boards and one block in each of her first two pro seasons.

High Vote: 11

Low Vote: UR

3. 2015-16 UConn Women (38-0)

Overall Rank: 8

Pro Seasons (50): Moriah Jefferson (9), Breanna Stewart (8), Napheesa Collier (7), Kia Nurse (7), Gabby Williams (7), Morgan Tuck (5), Katie Lou Samuelson (5), Saniya Chong (2)

Pro All-Stars: 4 | Top-10 Picks: 7

NCAA Tournament: Won National Title

It should come as no surprise that a title-winning team that went 38-0 and produced eight pros made it into this top 10.

And its position on the list is even easier to justify when you look at the resumes of the four All-Stars.

Breanna Stewart is a dominant big with seven All-Star nods, two MVPs, three championships and career averages of 20.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 blocks.

Napheesa Collier has a Defensive Player of the Year win and averages of 18.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks.

Kia Nurse made an All-Star team in her second season, when she put up 13.7 points, and Gabby Williams just broke through for her first All-Star nod in 2025, when she averaged 11.6 points, 4.2 assists and 2.3 steals.

High Vote: 3

Low Vote: 47

2. 2008-09 UConn Women (39-0)

Overall Rank: 5

Pro Seasons (52): Tina Charles (14), Tiffany Hayes (13), Renee Montgomery (11), Maya Moore (8), Kalana Greene (6)

Hall of Famers: 1 | Pro All-Stars: 4 | Top-10 Picks: 3

NCAA Tournament: Won National Title

Another undefeated team, the 2008-09 UConn Huskies boasted four players who went on to make WNBA All-Star teams and one who's already in the Hall of Fame.

Tina Charles is still in the league, won an MVP in 2012 and has averaged 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds for her career. The nine-time All-WNBA selection is also the league's all-time leading rebounder.

Tiffany Hayes is still active, too. And she just won Sixth Player of the Year in 2024. Twelve years earlier, Renee Montgomery secured her own 6POY.

And even though all three played more total seasons, Maya Moore could be the best individual player of this bunch.

Moore made All-Star teams in six of her eight WNBA seasons. She won MVP in 2014 and finished top-four in MVP voting for five straight seasons. By the time she stepped away, she had career averages of 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals.

High Vote: 3

Low Vote: 32

1. 2001-02 UConn Women (39-0)

Overall Rank: 1

Pro Seasons (82): Sue Bird (19), Swin Cash (15), Diana Taurasi (14), Asjha Jones (12), Jessica Moore (9), Tamika Williams (7), Ashley Battle (6)

Hall of Famers: 2 | Pro All-Stars: 4 | Top-10 Picks: 5

NCAA Tournament: Won National Title

We've made it to the top, where the 2001-02 UConn Huskies have claimed the throne.

Not only did this team go undefeated and win the NCAA tournament, it sent seven players to the WNBA. And several of those players went on to become some of the best the league has ever seen.

Diana Taurasi (18.8 points and 4.2 assists for her career), Sue Bird (11.7 points and 5.6 assists), Swin Cash (10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists), Asjha Jones (10.9 points and 4.8 rebounds) and Tamika Williams are third, eighth, 38th, 87th and 143rd, respectively, on the WNBA's all-time win shares leaderboard.

Between the seven women listed above, there are 30 All-Star appearances, one MVP nod (for Taurasi) and 10 championships.

Their dominance in both college and the WNBA makes them the rightful queens of this list.

High Vote: 1

Low Vote: 14