NEW YORK — This is college basketball royalty.
Blueblood programs don't just win championships, they win by making it look easy despite carrying the burden of expectations and living as Goliath in every game they play.
That's Yukon.
On Saturday night, Dan Hurley's show added another trophy to the case. While the Huskies' 73-57 victory over Marquette at Madison Square Garden may not have come as much of a surprise, let's take a quick look at the status of one of the most impressive players. All American sports units.
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“One day you're going to hear that noise coming from the Knicks' locker room, and it's the Knicks,” said a security guard named Mark, who was assigned to guard the entrance to the noisy Connecticut hideout. About an hour after the game was decided, UW's locker room took on the feel of a carnival, with jeers and shouts echoing into the hallways outside.
The Huskies won the Big East Tournament for the first time since 2011. This was the year Kemba Walker led his UConn to the Big East title and also won the national title. It was the 7th time of school. We had to wait 13 years, but number 8 was finally born. This marks the fifth time that Connecticut has swept the Big East regular season and postseason titles.
And now, thanks to Saturday's losses to fellow No. 1 seeds Purdue and Houston, the Huskies appear to be in the lead for the overall No. 1 seed with Sunday's selection.
If that happens, it would be in Connecticut first as well.
In less than a year, Hurley has elevated the program to every height imaginable. He won the NCAA Championship in dominating fashion and went 20-3 against his Big East brethren the following season, establishing an undisputed reign in the league he founded. In 1979, Midtown Manhattan's most popular mid-March Saturday night celebration. If you need more, he finally ended his 10-year drought for UConn against a ranked team on the road. The Huskies have won five straight against AP Top 10 teams for the first time since the 1998-99 season. And in “Storrs South,” Connecticut was 7-0 this season.
“We've done a lot of historic things. I know we've never had a No. 1 overall seed in program history, but this group has made history in a place where it's hard to make history. “It looks like it's being built,” Hurley said.
bingo.
Harley didn't just create the program exactly as he envisioned it. He has created a one-of-a-kind strategy by hand, using his insane drive and insatiable desire to pursue every victory, big or small, and wrestle it back with trembling hands. The disrespect for him and his team cannot be ignored. There is always a scoreboard.
“We were clearly the best program in the country this year,” Hurley said.
Not Houston. Not Purdue. No one else.
no one can argue with that.After Houston got Shockingly covered in shell In Saturday's Big 12 Tournament final against Iowa State, the Huskies defeated the Cougars on KenPom.com. He rose to first place for the first time this season. But after watching this team all season, one thing is clear and there is little doubt. That means Connecticut's best is better than any other team's best.
The Huskies, who swept the Big East, will move into Sunday's selection as the team best suited to repeat as national champions, the first team since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007. Villanova in 2017 is the most recent valid candidate for that, and that very It was a good team, but not as deadly as this UConn group. What does it say that the University of Connecticut has played the entire B game in the last three days against Xavier, St. John's (who scored a season-high 90 points for the Huskies) and a short-handed Marquette without team MVP Tyler Kolek? Or?
3rd gear is like 6th gear in most other gears.
UConn has grown into something scary. The coach, philosophy, attitude and execution are a perfect match. And, as Hurley mentioned multiple times over the past two nights, the team appears to be doing just that despite allegations that other schools are trying to poach some players. (The transfer portal officially opens on Monday, but this is terrible timing and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.)
“We're not doing what a lot of programs are doing this time of year. We're recruiting people from other teams through third parties, even while other programs are playing. We’re trying to pull them apart,” Hurley said.
He spoke frankly about it. public. He is angry and has a right to be angry.
After winning the Big East title and checking all the boxes, how did UConn find the motivation to repeat as national champions? I guess so. I don't know if UConn can get into that rare atmosphere of winning his sixth straight game and becoming a national champion. But I know I wouldn't be shocked at all if that happened. In fact, I'd be shocked if this team didn't play in Arizona for three weeks starting tonight.
Tristen Newton, the 2024 Big East Tournament Most Valuable Player, left the postgame press box with the trophy in hand. He said he planned to walk the streets of Manhattan back to the team hotel. I hope he was. That player is a joy to watch on the court. As far as I'm concerned, his leadership and consistency earned him a first-team All-American selection.
As if UConn needed anything more to make this a legendary night, consider that Newton had 13 points and 10 assists. He became the second player to record double-digit assists in a Big East title game since Syracuse's Pearl Washington in 1984. And what about Donovan Clingan? Big players show up in big games and emphasize their strength. Clingan had 22 points and 16 rebounds in what started out as an ugly game, but ended with UConn's signature run. Clingan became the first player to record at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in a Big East title game since a man named Patrick Ewing did it in 1984.
Sounds like a pretty good game played in this building 40 years ago.
The 1984 title game ended with Georgetown defeating Syracuse by double digits, sweeping the Big East regular season and postseason titles, and then winning the national title. Is the past a prologue?
UW took the torch from Villanova, then Marquette, and claimed the title of king of this basketball-loving league. If you think this team, school, staff, and players have nothing left to prove, you've lost the plot. There's always another goal to chase, another team to eliminate, another trophy to win. Connecticut enters the NCAA Tournament as the strongest opponent, and it will take a last-minute miracle to defeat this team.
