UConn’s commanding win in Monday’s men’s national championship game — the culmination of another historically dominant run through the NCAA Tournament — left Dan Hurley’s Huskies in rarified air.
And in some ways, this UConn team stands alone.
With the 75-60 victory over Purdue, UConn became the first school to repeat as NCAA champions since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators from 2006-07. The only other team to do so in the last 50 years was Mike Krzyzewski-led Duke from 1991-92.
UConn’s +140 point differential over its six March Madness games was the largest ever in an NCAA Tournament. Each of the Huskies’ 2024 tournament wins were by double-digits, just like in last year’s run.
That UConn managed to do this during the transfer-portal era — a still-unraveling landscape in which players frequently switch teams for immediate playing time or NIL money — made the feat even more unprecedented.
“I think it’s up there in terms of the greatest two-year runs that a program’s maybe ever had,” Hurley said after Monday’s win in Glendale, Ariz.
“Just because of everything we lost from last year’s team,” he continued, carefully choosing his words. “To lose that much and to do what we did again, it’s got to be as impressive a two-year run as a program’s had since prior to whoever did it before Duke. To me, it is more impressive than what Florida and Duke did, because they brought back their entire teams.”
UConn lost three starters from its 2023 championship team, including its two leading scorers in Adama Sonogo and Jordan Hawkins. Sonogo is now with the Chicago Bulls organization after going undrafted last year, while Hawkins was the 14th overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans. Andre Jackson, a 2023 second-round pick, now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Huskies managed to absorb those losses this season thanks to the transfer-portal addition Cam Spencer; the instant excellence of freshman guard Stephon Castle; and the second-year ascent of 7-2 center Donovan Clingan.
Spencer, a do-it-all guard who transferred from Rutgers, averaged 14.3 points per game this season, finished in double-figures in all six tournament games, and scored or assisted on each of UConn’s first four baskets Monday.
Castle, the Big East Freshman of the Year, started 30 games this season, averaged 11.1 points per game, and scored 21 and 15, respectively, in UConn’s final two games of the tournament. His 11 selections for Big East Freshman of the Week set a conference record.
And Clingan, who came off the bench for UConn’s 2023 title team, led the Huskies with 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game during the NCAA Tournament, using his physicality to help tire the excellent Zach Edey at times during Monday’s win.
That trio filled out a 2023-24 starting lineup also featuring returning starters Tristen Newton, whose 15.1 points per game led UConn this season, and Alex Karaban, whose 13.3 points per game ranked third on the team.
“This is a whole different year,” said Newton, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after his 20 points led UConn on Monday. “Credit [Hurley] for setting the tone. Everybody just follows his lead.”
The previous team to repeat before Duke was John Wooden’s UCLA, which won seven consecutive titles from 1967-73. UConn’s roster will again look much different next season as it tries to become the second-ever men’s team to win three championships in a row.
Newton and Spencer are both out of collegiate eligibility. Castle and Clingan are projected to be lottery picks in the 2024 NBA Draft. Karaban could also be a first-round pick.
UConn’s 2024 recruiting class includes touted four-star point guard Ahmad Nowell, as well as four-star forward Isaiah Abraham. Hurley is also prepared to again tackle the transfer portal, which launched in 2018 and, since 2021, has allowed players to change schools without sitting out a year.
“On the flight home tomorrow, we’ll start talking about what the roster is going to look like,” Hurley said Monday. “Obviously, we graduate some players. We’re going to lose a couple, potentially, to the NBA early entry. We’re going to dive in and put together a roster that can play a comparable level of basketball to the one that you guys have witnessed the last two years.”
Hurley, 51, is now one of eight coaches to win back-to-back men’s titles, joining Donovan, Krzyzewski, Wooden, Ed Jucker, Phil Woolpert, Adolph Rupp and Henry Iba. He is one of three active coaches with multiple championships, along with Bill Self, who’s won twice with Kansas, and Rick Pitino, now of St. John’s, who won with Kentucky and Louisville.
UConn, meanwhile, has won six championships since 1999, including three under the retired Jim Calhoun and another under Kevin Ollie, who is now the interim head coach of the Nets. No other school has more than three (Duke and North Carolina) during that stretch.
Hurley signed a six-year, $32.1 million extension following last year’s championship and could be due for another raise after this one. After winning in 2023 as a No. 4 seed, UConn pulverized opponents throughout 2024 en route to a 37-3 record, a Big East championship and the tournament’s top overall seed.
Speculation continues to swirl about Kentucky’s coveted coaching job with John Calipari leaving for Arkansas, but Hurley, who hails from Jersey City, downplayed the possibility he would leave Connecticut.
“I don’t think that’s a concern,” Hurley said Monday with a laugh.
