UConn Huskies

[ScriptOhio]

UConn caps dominant 2-year run with another title

Finishing a job that the selection committee thought they were capable of when they were granted the No. 1 overall seed, the UConn Huskies cruised to the school's sixth men's NCAA championship Monday night, pulling away from the Purdue Boilermakers.

www.espn.com

UConn beats Purdue and cruises to sixth NCAA championship​

"What could you say?" UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "We won -- by a lot again."

And after one of the most dominant NCAA tournament runs in history last year, when UConn beat its six opponents by 20.0 points per game, it was even more unbeatable this year. The Huskies' average scoring margin in their six 2024 NCAA tournament wins was 23.3 points.

Once again, all six wins came by double digits -- making that 12 straight NCAA tournament wins by at least 10 points dating back to last season.

How UConn became the first back-to-back national champion in 17 years

Zach Edey got his points for Purdue, but UConn's perimeter defense limited the Boilermakers to just one made 3-pointer.

www.espn.com

The keys that won UConn the 2024 men's national championship​

UConn has done it. The Huskies repeated as national champions with a convincing 75-60 victory over Purdue. Coach Dan Hurley's team is the first reigning champion to defend its title successfully since Florida won back-to-back championships under Billy Donovan in 2006 and 2007.

The much anticipated clash of the big men lived up to its billing. Zach Edey put up his usual impressive numbers for the Boilermakers: 37 points to go with 10 rebounds. Even so, Donovan Clingan guarded Edey straight up and enabled his teammates to stay on Purdue's perimeter shooters.

With this loss for the Boilermakers, the Big Ten's streak now stands at 24 years and counting since Michigan State won a title for the conference in 2000. Over that span, the Big Ten is 0-8 in national title games.

What was the key to UConn's win?

With UConn in 2024, you have to point at keys, plural. The Huskies out-Purdued Purdue in terms of getting more shots. They didn't turn the ball over at all and crashed their offensive glass. Tristen Newton showed no fear of Edey in attacking the paint repeatedly. Most of all, UConn's defense stayed on Purdue's shooters. Edey scored from the field, but he didn't get to the line, Purdue didn't get its usual share of second chances and there was only one made 3.
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UConn, Duke installed as '25 NCAA title favorites

UConn and Duke enter the offseason as the variable early betting favorites to win the 2025 men's basketball championship.

www.espn.com

UConn, Duke open as betting favorites to win 2025 NCAA title​

A heavy betting favorite -- both in the odds and for the public -- throughout March Madness, UConn is the first back-to-back NCAA men's basketball champion since Florida in 2007. But it's uncertain if the Huskies can make it three in a row in a highly volatile college basketball landscape.

UConn is the favorite to win the 2025 national championship at ESPN BET and Caesars Sportsbook, opening with +900 and 10-1 odds, respectively. However, DraftKings (10-1) and FanDuel (11-1) have Duke favored to take home the top prize next season, with the Huskies coming in at second (14-1) and sixth (18-1) on those respective odds boards. BetMGM has Kansas and Duke tied at the top (11-1), with UConn right behind (12-1).

Hurley plans to stay at UConn, chase a dynasty

With Kentucky's coaching job expected to open Tuesday, UConn's Dan Hurley said he intends to remain with the Huskies in pursuit of "a dynasty in modern times."

www.espn.com

Dan Hurley plans to stay at UConn, eyes 'dynasty in modern times'​

With Kentucky's coaching job expected to officially open Tuesday, UConn's Danny Hurley made clear Monday night that he plans to stay with the Huskies and attempt to win a third straight national title.

After UConn beat Purdue 75-60 to repeat as NCAA tournament champions, Hurley addressed the opening with a few jokes, telling reporters he doesn't "think that's a concern" when asked about Kentucky. He added they should ask his wife, Andrea, who is also a native of New Jersey.

"Oh my God, Kentucky or anywhere that's going to take her further from New Jersey," he said when asked about her reaction to a potential move. "I mean, we just went to Rhode Island, which I had to drag her to, and then to Connecticut. I got her closer. And now further? I can't afford a divorce right now, too. I just started making money."

Hurley went on to give some insight into what's next for his program: "Now you're thinking in your brain, as I'm looking at the locker room, about the chance to do it three times, like a dynasty in modern times. I mean, that's what I'm thinking about."

UConn officials are in line with that thinking, as they gave Hurley a hefty new contract last year in the wake of his first national title at UConn. Hurley made $5 million this season as part of the six-year deal that was announced in June.

Just sayin': Of the 8 UConn players (that played more than 1 minute); only Newton and Spenser are out of eligibility. Karaban, Clingan, Castle, Stewart, Johnson, and Diarra could return next year. Regardless, being considered a legitimate NCAA Champion contender next season UConn should be very attractive to some very good transfers.

Will Hurley actually stay at UConn?

Will UConn 3-PEAT in 2024/2025?

Would 3 consecutive NCAA wins be considered a dynasty?

 

[OHSportsFan]

Missed the tournament 8 of last 25 years.

Won the tournament 6 of the 17 times they got in.

I’d take it.



Edit - 6 of 16 because of Covid I guess? Not going to fact check.

 

[CincyInterloper]

 

[NFBuck]

Missed the tournament 8 of last 25 years.

Won the tournament 6 of the 17 times they got in.

I’d take it.



Edit - 6 of 16 because of Covid I guess? Not going to fact check.

And they've done it with 3 different coaches...

 

[CincyInterloper]

Below are the years, coaches, conferences, and seeds for each Husky NCAA championship in case anyone is interested.

Year Coach Conference Seed
1999 Jim Calhoun Big East 1
2004 Jim Calhoun Big East 2
2011 Jim Calhoun Big East 3
2014 Kevin Ollie American 7
2023 Dan Hurley New Big East 4
2024 Dan Hurley New Big East 1

 

[ScriptOhio]

Former UConn star: Dan Hurley told me to 'get the hell out of here' and join NBA

Donovan Clingan tried to convince Dan Hurley he was staying at UConn to vie for a third straight title, but the Huskies' coach knocked some sense into him.

www.foxnews.com

Former UConn star: Dan Hurley told me to 'get the hell out of here' and join NBA​

Donovan Clingan was the 7th pick of the NBA Draft​

Donovan Clingan wanted to contend for a three-peat, but Dan Hurley was having none of it.

The former UConn star helped the Huskies to a second straight national championship earlier this year.

For a second straight year, the Huskies won every tournament game by double-digits and won their sixth title in school history.

The big man cemented himself as not just a lottery pick, but a top-10 selection in the draft with his performance in the tournament, averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Clingan spent two seasons at UConn, and he was looking for a third title.

But Hurley knocked some sense into him.

"I went into Coach Hurley’s office, and I was like, ‘Yo coach, I’ll come back. I’ll go for another one.’ He’s like ‘You’re out of your mind, bro. Get the hell out of here.’ And I guess I had to go," Clingan told the "Knuckleheads Podcast," hosted by ex-NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles.
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[ScriptOhio]

Great "feel good story" about Braylon Mullins, someone could make an actual modern day true to life "Hoosiers movie" here:

Braylon Mullins’s Shot Was a Lifetime in the Making

“You better be able to shoot”: How small-town Greenfield, Ind., shaped the UConn freshman to step up on the biggest stage in March Madness.

www.si.com

Braylon Mullins’s Shot Was a Lifetime in the Making​

“You better be able to shoot”: How small-town Greenfield, Ind., shaped the UConn freshman to step up on the biggest stage in March Madness.

There is a black Dodge police cruiser parked in front of Greenfield-Central High School, and it’s not difficult to deduce who drives it. The Connecticut Huskies license plate on the front is the giveaway.

Inside the building, school resource officer Josh Mullins is trying to get back to work, but the interruptions keep coming. A stunning college basketball scramble play in Washington, D.C., Sunday tilted life here in Greenfield, a town of about 25,000 located in the flat farmland terrain that stretches out east of Indianapolis. Mullins’s oldest son became a March legend in that instant, and the smile remains plastered on his face.

“Enjoy the moment, man,” officer Mullins says. “These things don’t happen to everybody.”

This thing happened to a basketball family with deep roots in this community—a family that rejected the nomadic lifestyle of modern prospects and stayed home. This thing was the fulfillment of a recruiting pitch by UConn coach Dan Hurley, and a mother’s wishful Instagram prophecy nearly two years earlier. This thing was the realization of a gym rat’s dream, a live-action monument to a lifetime of practice shots, a distillation of all that work into one fundamentally flawless wrist flick.

“If you’re from Indiana,” Josh Mullins says, “you better be able to shoot.”

Freshman Braylon Mullins’s 35-foot swish beat the buzzer and Duke in the NCAA men’s tournament East Regional final. It propelled UConn to yet another Final Four, and it poetically brings the freshman who launched it back home, where his thunderclap of a shot echoes loudly. The electronic sign in front of the school on North Broadway celebrates the event: “Congrats UConn. GC is proud of you Braylon.”

The shot came at the confluence of opportunity and preparedness. And the preparation stretches back through time in Greenfield: to Christmas mornings in the high school gym; to a floodlit backyard court on Fifth Street; to a childhood friendship turned teenage courtship turned lifetime partnership. This all-time March moment was generations in the making.

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Josh and Katie Mullins met in second grade at Harris Elementary, classmates well before soulmates. After matriculating half a mile down the street to Greenfield-Central, which houses both the middle school and high school, they eventually became best friends. On Valentine’s Day 1998, when Josh was a standout basketball player for the Cougars and Katie was a cheerleader, they went on their first date.

Katie’s family had been in Greenfield forever, establishing a farm outside the city limits that is nearly 150 years old. Josh’s grandparents moved there from Kentucky and never left. This place, about 25 miles outside Indianapolis but not to be confused with affluent suburbs like Carmel or Fishers, is all they knew. Katie’s uncle, Guy Titus, is the mayor. Josh’s cousin, Gary Achor, is running for sheriff.

“We’re just little townies that have always been here,” Katie says.

They actually lived elsewhere during college. Josh went to Lincoln Trail Junior College in Robinson, Ill., to play basketball, and Katie followed. But she was driving 2 ½ hours home nearly every weekend to work at a tanning salon, and after graduating from Lincoln Trail opted to attend nearby IUPUI (now known as IU Indianapolis) to get her four-year degree. This time, it was Josh’s turn to follow Katie—he signed with the Jaguars, becoming a starter and double-digit scorer on their only NCAA tournament qualifier in 2003.

They got married after college and, naturally, settled in Greenfield, a town bisected by U.S. 40 and dotted with American flags and driveway basketball goals. (Knightstown, site of the gym used in the movie Hoosiers as the home of the Hickory Huskers, is 12 miles away.) Josh became a police officer and the couple had three boys—Braylon and twins Cole and Clay, who will play at Division III Franklin University next year. Basketball was an inevitable family bonding element.

Katie remembers Braylon pushing around basketballs before he could walk. By the time the boys were old enough to play, the family lived in a modest house where Katie grew up on West Fifth Street, with a backyard court that became the launching pad for all that followed. Other kids flocked there to play with her boys.

“It was the go-to place in the neighborhood,” Katie says.

But the standing game was Josh and one of the twins against Braylon and the other twin. The rules to keep it relatively fair: Josh had to wear flip-flops and could shoot only three-pointers.

“We would go out all the time,” Josh says. “We played under the lights. It was one of those things where you want your kids to do the same thing as you until they tell you they hate it. [Braylon] never told me that. We put a ball in his hands and it just never left.

“It’s the difference being great and good. You just got to do extra things. And I gave him the ball at five and it just took off from there.”

By the time the boys were in middle school, Josh was on the Greenfield-Central coaching staff. That led to a family tradition—Christmas morning shootarounds in the school gym, Cougar Fieldhouse. Built in 1969, it had an original capacity of 4,620—huge by most standards, but not compared to some of the cathedrals in the state. (New Castle, about 25 miles away, seats 10,000 and is the largest high school gym in the nation.) The current Cougar Fieldhouse capacity is 3,100.

That is where Braylon really honed his shooting stroke and all-around game.

“I met him here every single morning at 7:15, an hour before school, for four years,” says Luke Meredith, the coach of the Cougars during Braylon’s tenure. “He shot by himself. We listened to music, just talked. There would be other guys that he would drag along with him, including his twin brothers. But he was the one constant.”



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