Why UConn's repeat run is unrivaled college basketball's modern era

On the heels of UConn Coach Dan Hurley celebrating another national championship late Monday night – a scenario that for weeks looked like a forgone conclusion – it’s important to put this repeat run in proper context:

This UConn team stands alone.

The Huskies carved out a unique perch in college basketball history at a time when the sport is experiencing extraordinary tumult. The NIL and transfer portal era has leveled the playing field to a marked degree, providing power conference teams with avenues for quick fixes. Bluebloods aren’t as consistently dominant as they once were.

And yet here is Hurley placing the Huskies in the same sentence as Duke in 1991-92 and Florida in 206-07, the only other schools to win back-to-back titles since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 in 1985.

But UConn’s achievement is more remarkable. 

It is the only school to win the second title with a new nucleus. And at a time when the regular season’s weekly polls reveal heightened competitive balance, they accomplished this singular feat in dominating fashion, winning all six tournament games by at least 14 points. Last March Madness, they won every game by at least 13.

“I just think it’s the best two-year run in a very, very long time just because of everything we lost from last year’s team,” Hurley said. “To me, it is more impressive than what Florida and Duke did because they brought back their entire teams. We lost some major players.”

You should get no pushback if you rank this UConn team with any national champion of the past 30 years save for ultra-deep Kentucky in 1995-96. Its coach, Rick Pitino, once told me that his second unit on that team would have reached the Final Four had it been a separate team. 

Viewership paled in comparison with women’s final

The gap between this UConn squad and everyone else this season was mammoth. Granted, the sport’s star power compared with previous eras is clearly diminished, which has been a factor in the sport’s receding relevance nationally.

Viewership numbers reflect that.

In total, 14.82 million watched Monday’s title game across TBS, TNT and truTV, just slightly up from last year’s record-low (14.69 million) UConn-San Diego State championship on CBS. It warrants mentioning that Monday’s matchup of No.1 seeds was arguably the best the men’s tournament could have featured in the final.

In the semifinals, UConn-Alabama averaged 14.18 million. Purdue–NC State averaged 11.45 million. Both games were eclipsed by viewership for the women’s national semifinal between UConn and Iowa, which attracted 14.2 million on ESPN on Friday.

The sport’s issues by no means detract from Hurley’s achievement. The only negative? The blunt Jersey native knows he now must dive head first into the portal and play catch-up on schools that have been navigating those waters for three weeks. 

“I know things are going to be a little crazy for the next 10 days,” Hurley said. “Unfortunately we’re going to head into the portal, like everybody else now. I’ve been dreading this moment.”

Hurley detailed his blueprint: maintain a championship culture, welcome in talented freshmen, boost returning players through development and, of course, strategically add through the portal. 

Amid college basketball’s significant tumult, that’s the winning formula. For UConn, it’s rinse and repeat – and maybe three-peat. 

“Shit, we’re going to try to replicate it again,” Hurley said. “I don’t think we’re going anywhere.”