The UConn Huskies defeated San Diego State on Monday Night 76-59, to take home their fifth National Title in program history. This put UConn ahead of Kansas and even with programs like Duke and Indiana, in terms of all time National Championship victories in program history. UConn barely sweat in tournament play, blowing out the likes of Saint Mary’s, Arkansas, Gonzaga and Miami on the way to the National Title game. UConn’s biggest sweat of the tournament was when they faced a 1-point halftime deficit in their opening round NCAA Tournament against Iona. While that does show just how great of a coach Rick Pitino is, UConn did ultimately separate from Iona in the second half and never looked back.
We’ve all been used to UConn winning a ton over the past 25 years, however it is important for us to remember where this Huskies program was when Dan Hurley first took the job in 2018. Since winning the National Title in 2014, UConn only made the NCAA Tournament once with a single win, from 2015-2018, in the last four seasons of the Kevin Ollie era. This program was in a tough spot when Coach Hurley first got to Storrs,
Hurley was fresh off back to back NCAA Tournament appearances at Rhode Island, and even found a way to win games in the big dance and advance to the Round of 32, in both seasons. The UConn program however, had hit rock bottom towards the end of the Kevin Ollie era, missing the NCAA Tournament in back to back years for the first time since the 1980’s. UConn was in the American Athletic Conference, playing their Conference Tournament games in Texas, against teams that some of the kids they were recruiting have never heard of.
It was one day however, that changed everything for this UConn program, when it was announced in the Summer of 2020, that they will be returning to the Big East. This would allow Hurley to sell recruits on playing in the biggest games at Madison Square Garden, against some of UConn’s old rivals from their original Big East days including Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, Georgetown and more. That decision has worked out really well for UConn, as they have made each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, and now have a National Championship ring to show for it.
One of the biggest storylines throughout this College Basketball season has been that there is no dominant team and going into the tournament, anyone had a chance to cut down the nets. This was proven in the Final 4 with three teams in Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, and Miami, all making history in getting to the big stage, all for the first time. This was the first time in the history of the Final 4, that there were three separate programs all there for the first time.
In addition, this was also the first Final 4 since teams were started to be seeded in 1979, that there wasn’t a single McDonald’s All American in attendance. In today’s new era of College Basketball that puts such a heavy emphasis on the Transfer Portal and NIL, it is significantly difficult to keep an established group of guys at the college level together. If someone has a good season out of nowhere, odds are there are going to be other parties reaching out before they’re even allowed to. This UConn team had the perfect mix of talent and experience, to get them to the next level. While most of the UConn players were taken care of when it came to NIL, Coach Hurley has made it very clear that there wasn’t a single player on the Huskies team that came to Storrs because of NIL. There is a very fine line that needs to be drawn, when it comes to the type of players you’re recruiting and Dan Hurley did a phenomenal job doing that with this roster.
While we had a lot of trouble trying to figure out who the best team in the country was during conference play, UConn left no doubts whenever they took the floor against a team that wasn’t in the Big East. UConn finished their season with a perfect 17-0 record, all by double digits, in their games against non-conference opponents. The Huskies climbed all the way to the #2 team in the country in late December, following their 14-0 start. During this red hot start to the season, UConn picked up victories over the likes of Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Villanova, dominating some of the best competition that College Basketball had to offer.
The thing that really stood out during this run for UConn was not only the fact that they were winning, but they were just dominating their opponents. The Most Outstanding Player of the Final 4 Adama Sanogo had a quote following the Huskies victory over Oklahoma State in December, that was really reminiscent of just how dominant UConn’s run to the National Title really was. “When (we) knew they were coming to us, so this was a big win for us,” Sanogo said. “They thought they had a chance to win the game tonight – they did not.”
That is how UConn treated their competition in the NCAA Tournament. Both sides knew who was winning anytime the Huskies took the floor, and the Huskies proved that by barely even sweating in their run to a National Championship. It never felt like San Diego State had a legitimate chance to win on Monday, until one moment in the second half that UConn dismissed immediately.
The Aztecs were in the midst of a 14-4 late in the second half that cut UConn’s lead to 5, which was the closest the game had been for the entirety of the second half. The Huskies immediately responded with a beautifully designed Jordan Hawkins three off a screen, and they never looked back. In addition, the Aztecs even cut the game to 6 a few seconds earlier, but Sanogo extended the lead right back to 6 with a clutch tip in. Anytime someone got even close to UConn in this tournament they immediately shut it down, and the Huskies became the fifth team in the history of College Basketball, to win all six of their NCAA Tournament games by double digit points. They join 2000 Michigan State, 2001 Duke, 2009 North Carolina and 2018 Villanova, as the only teams that were able to accomplish that.
Throughout the season, we wondered who was the best team in College Basketball, and it was the team that went undefeated in non-conference play, without even sweating. This should be a lesson, that hitting adversity in the middle of conference play is the ideal time. UConn had plenty of adversity when they suffered a stretch of losing six of eight games in Big East Conference play, but you have had no idea watching this team in March. They were that good.
Zac Krull has covered College Basketball for the last 2 years while working with Aaron Torres of Aaron Torres Media and recording his own Zac Krull Sports Podcast. Currently, Zac is writing as a contributor for Aaron Torres online with weekly articles and working as a producer for the BETQL Network. Zac graduated from SUNY Cortland in 2021 with a degree in Sports Studies.