10 Things To Know About Tonight's National Championship Game: (4) UConn vs. (5) San Diego State
At approximately nine o’clock tonight, UConn and San Diego State will meet in the NCAA Tournament’s final game to decide college basketball’s 2023 national champion. The unpredictable championship matchup differs from what fans wanted or picked in the bracket challenges. Still, it is the one we have as San Diego State played March Madness spoiler in its Cinderella run out of the South, while Connecticut proved to be the only team with the KenPom top-20 defense and top-20 offense to reach the championship game.
Seeing as though both teams are unexpected participants from the preseason expectations, we figured you’d need some things to know about the last game of the 2022-23 season. Maybe next year, Kentucky will play in it.
1. Connecticut is playing for a fifth national championship.
If UConn can win tonight, the Huskies will move into a tie with Duke and Indiana on the all-time titles list; one behind UNC, three behind Kentucky, and six behind UCLA.
| Team | Titles | Years Won |
| UCLA | 11 | 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 |
| Kentucky | 8 | 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012 |
| North Carolina | 6 | 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017 |
| Duke | 5 | 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015 |
| Indiana | 5 | 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987 |
| Connecticut | 4 | 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 |
| Kansas | 4 | 1952, 1988, 2008, 2022 |
UConn will have won three since John Calipari arrived at Kentucky in 2009, all with a different coach.
Only once has UConn reached the Final Four and not won the championship.
2. San Diego State had never been to an Elite Eight.
Until this year, the farthest San Diego State had advanced in the NCAA Tournament was the Sweet Sixteen, once in 2011 and again in 2014. But this year, in the school’s fifteenth NCAA appearance, the Aztecs will play for their first-ever national championship trophy in men’s basketball.
This is the program’s tenth tournament appearance in the last thirteen.
3. San Diego State and UConn have played once before.
In San Diego State’s first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2011, it was UConn that knocked the Aztecs from the field. Kemba Walker scored 36 points in the Huskies’ seven-point win, the third in the run of six victories to win the 2011 title over Kentucky in the national championship game.
The 2011 Sweet Sixteen is the only meeting between UConn and San Diego State.
4. UConn head coach Dan Hurley living up to the Hurley name.
The son of a legendary New Jersey high school basketball coach and the younger brother of a legendary Duke point guard, Dan Hurley can become his own Hurley basketball legend, if not already, with a win tonight in the final. Hurley was hired to replace Kevin Ollie in 2018 after head coaching stops at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, Wagner College in Staten Island, and the University of Rhode Island.
Hurley recently said, “We knew we were going to be playing on Monday.”
5. San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher hadn’t won a tournament game until this season.
A longtime assistant under Steve Fisher at Michigan and San Diego State, SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher is now in his fifth season with the Aztecs, but it wasn’t until last month that he won his first NCAA Tournament game. Now he is staring down his sixth tournament win in three weekends.
Dutcher helped bring the Fab Five to Michigan and Kawhi Leonard to San Diego State.
6. The Huskies like Houston’s NRG Stadium.
Unfortunately for Kentucky fans, Connecticut plays well in Houston’s NRG Stadium. In 2011 (when it was called Reliant Stadium), the Huskies beat our beloved Wildcats, 56-55, to advance to the championship to play Butler. UConn then beat Butler, 53-41, for the third of those four championships, in the same building UConn and San Diego State will play in tonight.
7. The Aztecs have the second most wins in school history.
By reaching the championship game, San Diego State stretched its win total to 32 games, the second-most in a single season in school history. Only the team with Kawhi did better, with a 34-3 overall record in the year the Aztecs lost to UConn, the eventual champion, in the Sweet Sixteen.
SDSU comes into the national championship game, having won 15 of its last 16 games and 19 of its last 21.
8. UConn’s Adama Sanogo is a problem.
Inside for the Huskies, All-Big East selection Adama Sanogo averages 17.2 points on 60.7 percent shooting from the field with over seven rebounds per game and 58 straight starts. Those numbers jump up to 20 and 10 in the five tournament games to date, and he hit two three-pointers in the win versus Miami to get here.
Sanogo made Bill Murray laugh with a three in the first round.
9. San Diego State plays nine guys over 16 minutes per game.
It’s not quite the platoon system, but San Diego State makes full use of its roster with nine players averaging over 16 minutes per game and seven playing more than 20. That’s some quality depth.
They play good defense, too. For the Aztecs to win, the game will need to be a rock fight. Only one player, Matt Bradley, averages more than 10 points per game this season.
Four seniors and a junior will start, with three more seniors coming off the bench.
10. UConn is laying seven points.
Kentuckians are paying closer attention to point spreads now that sports gambling is heading toward the Commonwealth. Tonight, UConn is a seven-point favorite over San Diego State, with a low total set for the game at 132.5 points.
As I write this, 63 percent of bets have gone on UConn’s side of the line, probably because UConn won all of its games by 13 or more points to get here.
Go Aztecs, though.
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