Patrick Grudberg ‘24

Sports Section Editor

As Danny Hurley and the UConn Huskies lifted the national championship trophy last Monday night in Phoenix, dozens of college basketball analysts preached the same message in one way or another – it had to be them all along. “There was a clear gap between the Huskies and the rest of the pack.” “We saw them do it last year, of course they were going to repeat.” “There’s just no way of stopping that dominant and complex of an offense.”

The classic story of hindsight is 20/20. From CBS analysts on the desk to college dorm room hoops zealots, we all had that lingering fear that history was not on UConn’s side. Every TikTok account recounted the same stat that no team has repeated since the ‘06-’07 Florida Gators. No defending champion since 2015 Duke had even made the Sweet Sixteen. Knocking out the defending champ in the early rounds in your bracket had to be the move. Yet, as the wins kept piling up, and as I witnessed the Huskies lift both the Big East regular season and conference tournament trophies, I kept telling myself, “There’s just no way this team is going to get upset.”

While I love my Holy Cross Crusaders, I’m also a die-hard UConn Huskies fan, born and raised in the great state of Connecticut (this is slowly becoming less and less sarcastic). And as a huge college hoops junkie, I was well aware of the defending champs curse of recent years. When the brackets were revealed, and UConn was likely headed for a Sweet Sixteen matchup with a true “metrics darlings” team in the Auburn Tigers, I began to worry. Hell, the second round even posed a challenge with last year’s Final Four Cinderella Florida Atlantic waiting as the number nine seed. Yet, by some divine intervention, both of those would-be spoilers lost in the first round. My hometown Yale Bulldogs sent Auburn packing (and Bruce Pearl to a short-term CBS analyst role), and the brainiacs at Northwestern took care of FAU in overtime.

Yet, there was more. Even after trouncing Stetson and Northwestern in the first two rounds, waiting in the Sweet Sixteen were the national runners-up, San Diego State, who the Huskies beat in Houston only a year ago. Surely the Aztecs had some inside info on how to stifle this offensive juggernaut. Surely coach Brian Dutcher’s defensive wizardry would give the Huskies some trouble, right? How does 82-52 sound? That’s not even the best of it all. After a slow start in the Elite Eight vs Illinois, the Huskies went on a 30-0 run to put the Fighting Illini to bed. Illini coach Brad Underwood insisted that, “We’ll challenge Clingan at the rim 100 times in a row.” Clingan, the hometown Connecticut native, responded with 5 blocks and a monstrous performance inside.

In the Final Four, UConn handled Alabama with relative ease despite the Tide’s white hot 47% shooting from deep. After all this domination, many still insisted that Purdue’s behemoth center Zach Edey could still give the Huskies’ defense problems. In the title game, he definitely did. The back-to-back National Player of the Year put up 37 points and 10 rebounds. It didn’t matter. Edey’s supporting cast was smothered by the Huskies team defense. The Boilers attempted only 7 three pointers. No matter how many layups and dunks Edey made, making one three pointer and only getting 17 points from Smith, Loyer, Jones and Gillis combined was never going to be enough.

For many, this run of complete domination was boring to watch. I can admit that all neutral fans would prefer a close, back-and-forth game. But, we cannot skip over how impressive and historic this two-year run has been for UConn. Hurley will likely have to replace four starters barring any transfer portal exits. Perhaps UConn’s iron-fisted grip on the landscape of college basketball will finally subside for a few years. With extra Covid years of eligibility finally coming to an end next year, perhaps teams won’t be able to reload and retool with the likes of Tristan Newton and Cam Spencer with fewer players in the portal. Yet, even with this, college basketball doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The transfer portal has become the Wild West. The NCAA has little control or regulation over what has become a pure free agency period. No matter what happens, nobody can deny the beautiful, borderline villainous brilliance of Danny Hurley and his UConn Huskies.

Featured image courtesy of UConn Today.