RALEIGH, N.C. — What truly defined the past two NCAA men’s basketball tournaments isn’t that UConn won them. It’s that UConn winning them was so clearly inevitable; a team surrounded by an aura of dominance across a dozen win-or-go-home games that defied the chaotic nature of this event.
There was no hint, even for a moment, that UConn was going to lose.
But as the Huskies arrived here to prepare for their round of 64 game in the West Regional, the notion of a three-peat has not escaped anyone’s lips. Finally for coach Dan Hurley, gravity has proven to be a law of nature – and college basketball.
“I think we’re, like, excited to be in the tournament,” he said Thursday. “I feel like, maybe in a weird way, there’s a little pressure off of us. We can just go out and let it rip right now. We don’t have this huge pressure of expectations. A lot of people don’t think we’re going to win the first game.”
UConn is here, playing Oklahoma in the typically coin-flippish 8-9 game rather than thinking about a third straight title because that is what its season deserved – much to the surprise of Hurley, who was dismayed in the preseason when the Huskies weren’t ranked No. 1.
Instead they were No. 3. And that was far, far too generous.
“We just had so many moments that we’re not accustomed to, (given) where the team’s been the last couple years, that were very jarring,” Hurley said.
Jarring like going 0-3 in Maui, including losses to teams such as Colorado and Dayton that never sniffed the NCAA Tournament.
Jarring like a loss at 7-25 Seton Hall in which UConn did just about everything wrong down the stretch and a loss to Villanova in which an 85 percent foul shooter missed two go-ahead free throws with three seconds left.
Jarring like giving up the Big East title to St. John’s and falling out of the top 25.
“You look at our season (early on) and it was like, ‘Are we going to be .500?’ ” Hurley said. “It was scary.”
It’s a little less scary now. It may even be liberating. Now, it comes down to a simple question: How good is UConn really? And it’s been a long time since anyone struggled to come up with an answer in March.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure whatsoever,” said forward Alex Karaban, one of the few remaining contributors from the back-to-back title teams. “Having done what we’ve done the last two years, there’s no pressure. This is a completely different team. We’ve been on a completely different journey, and we just want to wear the jersey with honor and pride. If we do that, anything can happen when you play at UConn.”
He’s not wrong. It was a mere 11 years ago that UConn started as an afterthought No. 7 seed and wound up winning it all. Also, a team seeded No. 9 or worse has made five of the past eight Final Fours.
When you look at what this UConn team has done all season – or not done, to be more precise – it seems unlikely. But when you account for the pedigree, the coaching and the freedom of being a big underdog against No. 1 seed Florida should it advance to the round of 32, far crazier things have happened in March.
“With this group and that sense of relief and sense of excitement about playing in this tournament, now that we’re in it I think we’re dangerous,” Hurley said. “I think we’re a dangerous team right now. We’ve got three guys on the perimeter that could go and get us 20-plus. We’ve got two centers that if we can get them playing well together on the same night and we get some big bench production, we’re a very dangerous team in this tournament. I think everyone feels that, and I know it’s exciting.”
Maybe that’s just Hurley talking himself into having belief in a team that hasn’t really had much of an ‘it’ factor, but it does kind of feel like a win over Oklahoma – a team that had to win some clutch SEC games down the stretch to get into the tournament – would maybe start to bring a little of that March mystique back.
And if not? That’s OK, too.
After pulling off back-to-back titles, UConn – well, mostly Hurley ‒ has been a lightning rod this year. From his viral sideline meltdowns at officials, including one where he told a ref, “Don’t turn your back on me, I’m the best coach in the (expletive) sport,” a break from the spotlight might be healthy.
“We’ve been in the news a bunch,” Hurley said, wryly. “We get talked about a lot.”
So far, they are under the radar here. But if the Huskies can beat Oklahoma, that can change very quickly.
Follow Dan Wolken on social media @danwolken.bsky.social
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