nothing – now not grimy resort rooms, dodgy calamari, a bus housebreaking or one in all school basketball’s maximum vaunted defenses – used to be going to disclaim Connecticut. And so a March Madness event that began with discuss parity ended with discussions of dynasty as UConn claimed their 5th nationwide males’s identify since 1999.
Not that the enjoyment used to be unconfined. “I’m still thinking about some things,” stated the Huskies’ insatiable trainer, Dan Hurley, ruminating in an interview room whilst dressed in a “Champions” baseball cap back-to-front.
“The amount of missed layups … We should have been up 18. [or] 20 at half-time. That’s just really the way my mind works.” He did, though, allow that the result was a “dream come true for all of us” – including his son, Andrew, a walk-on, who was in possession as the game ended.
In his fifth year with the team, Hurley was, as usual, animated on the sideline, cajoling, gesturing, urging and berating in his glasses and blue suit jacket, like a stockbroker pointing and yelling at screens as numbers spasm green and red, the Husky of Wall Street.
Though volcanic, the 50-year-old wearer of fire-breathing dragon boxer shorts can give the impression that he should be running a wellness spa rather than a college basketball team. He wears brown bead bracelets to keep him grounded, practices yoga and meditation, drinks mushroom coffee and lights perfumed candles in his office, such as a fragrance called “confidence + freedom” which could easily have been named in honor of his players.
“Being such an intense, fiery coach, people have always focused more on the sideline antics than my total body of work over the course of my career,” growled Hurley, who led Rhode Island to two March Madness appearances. Now he is a national champion. “There’s a certain level of validation that’s going to come from this,” stated Hurley, whose father, Bob, is a celebrated highschool trainer, and older brother, Bobby, used to be a celebrity participant who’s now head trainer of Arizona State.
“Maybe I don’t do a great job kissing the media’s ass and presenting this image that’s incredibly likable but I am who I am. I’m from Jersey City and this is how people from Jersey City act.”
This year marked the first time since seeds were first sown in 1979 that no first, second or third-ranked team reached the Final Four, and the first time that all four top-rated sides failed to reach the Elite Eight. It was only UConn’s fourth appearance in the national tournament since winning it in 2014 and the first occasion since 2016 that they progressed past the second round.
Brackets – the national mania for predicting one of the planet’s most reliably unpredictable sporting events – were even more busted than usual. Fairleigh Dickinson ousted Purdue in perhaps the biggest upset in March Madness history, a 16 seed bumping off a number 1. The University of Houston, a top seed whose campus is only five miles from Monday night’s final venue, were thumped by Miami in the Sweet 16. As for the other two top seeds: defending champion Kansas went out to eighth-rated Arkansas in the second round and Alabama lost to San Diego State in the Sweet 16.
And yet Monday’s climax, a 76-59 win for the Huskies over San Diego State, had scant shock value in the end. The outcome hewed to logic and reason. UConn’s record in national title games now stands at played five, won five, and they have more championships since 1999 than Duke, North Carolina and Kansas. Overall, only UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina are more garlanded.
Better than their pre-tournament rating implied, UConn only slipped down the seeds to fourth because of an icy spell at the turn of the year: six losses in eight games after 14 successive wins.
Recovering from that brief tailspin arguably made them a better team, though it is hard to say how resilient they are in the face of adversity because in the past three weeks they were so dominant that they didn’t need to scramble or strain.
There were some strange setbacks: a Sweet 16 hotel switch in Las Vegas because rooms were left in a grim state by the previous guests. Personal belongings stolen from their bus. A key scoring threat, Jordan Hawkins, is rendered queasy by some suspect squid.
But on the court they won all their games by 13 points or more, with an average victory margin of 20 points. “We keep our composure, man,” said Hawkins. “We have an unbelievable support system. We have an unbelievable team … It doesn’t matter what we go through, we are going to stick together no matter what.”
A 5th seed, San Diego State had by no means up to now complex past the Sweet 16 and made it to the general with two successive one-point victories, together with a buzzer-beater to stun Florida Atlantic in closing Saturday’s Final Four.
The Aztecs recovered from a 14-point deficit to overcome Florida Atlantic however most effective fleetingly threatened every other wonder comeback on Monday, mounting a gutsy second-half rally that took them to inside 5 issues in their warring parties and impressed their deafening lovers to hoist the decibel ranges. even upper – till Hawkins spoke back with a momentum-killing three-pointer.
After a brilliant or even get started, UConn regularly seized regulate. Stingy protection is a San Diego State hallmark however they struggled on the different finish, enduring an 11-minute stretch with out a box objective. A decent deficit expanded to a saggy 16 issues. The Aztecs held on with admirable stubbornness, arms gripped to the precipice, refusing to let cross. But UConn have been awesome all-round: deeper, smoother, smarter, extra poised, much less error-prone.
They transformed 24 of 27 loose throws. They had Donovan Clingan, a person who runs at opposing defenders as a mix harvester would possibly rumble towards a wheat box. At 7ft 2in the 19-year-old is a freshman of such superior altitude that once he dunks it’s conceivable that the air round his arms is a number of levels cooler than the temperature at his feet. Constantly sucking and chewing a half-in, half-out mouthguard, Clingan is an crowd pleasing prospect for NBA scouts and New England orthodontists alike.
And Connecticut may name at the guy named the Final Four’s maximum exceptional participant, Adama Sanogo, a Mali-born 21-year-old who’s 6ft 9in and contributed 17 issues and 10 rebounds on Monday whilst fasting for Ramadan.
Ultimately, the competition felt standard – which, given the way in which this event trended, felt bizarre. “We came from 14 down the last game. We cut it to five. I think there were people in the stands that thought, ‘Hey, they’re capable of doing it again’, and we were. But we ran into too good of a team, and we didn’t play at our best,” conceded the San Diego coach, Brian Dutcher.
“They’re the hottest team in college basketball,” he added. “They had their way with the entire field this tournament.”