Jude Magnotti ’26
EE Sports Columnist
For the first time since 2014, the UConn Huskies are back on top of the college basketball world. With UConn’s 76-59 victory over San Diego State on Monday, the Huskies were crowned national champions for the first time in almost a decade.
They have claimed their 5th championship and fully asserted themselves as a top basketball school for years to come. However, it has been over 9 years since they even got to the final four. What took them so long to get back on top?
Well for one, any good players UConn has had in recent years have left for the NBA. Players in college rarely stay four years anymore and UConn has struggled to keep the recent talent they have had.
This along with a combination of bad coaches and unlucky moments kept UConn from replicating its 2014 success. Fortunately for them, in 2023 UConn assembled a talented roster around players like sharpshooter Jordan Hawkins and big man Adama Sanogo.
They even had some valuable role players like Andrew Hurley and Andre Jackson who were able to step forward and take up bigger roles this year.
They have an extraordinarily deep bench, and because of this, plenty of points have poured in without their starters on the floor. This allows them to not just build up big leads, but also keep them at the same time.
However, it is not just a roster that gets you to a championship. UConn coach Dan Hurley was phenomenal all year in leading his team. His tactical brain and ability to get players prepared for big moments was the perfect skill set that UConn needed to win and they did.
UCONN just won its 5th national championship. This ties them with Duke and Indiana for 4th all-time in tournament championships. Despite this success though, how is it that UConn’s men’s basketball program finds itself overshadowed? Simple, their women’s program is no less than one of the greatest dynasties ever in sports.
While the UConn women did not make it to the final four this year, they snapped a 17 year streak of final four appearances. Yes you heard that right–17 straight final fours! During this run they have picked up a casual 11 championships with 4 more finals appearances.
In an era where women’s basketball has not quite had the same popularity, it means it is the women’s program that completely destroys the men’s program in terms of accolades.
Luckily for the men’s program, with this championship, UConn men’s is finally starting to separate itself from its prestigious women’s program.
However, there is something interesting about these teams. Just looking at these accolades you can not help but wonder: why doesn’t Connecticut have an NBA team?
The states of most other great college programs have teams, why not CT? As a Connecticut resident myself, I can tell you that it is an amazing basketball state. It is immensely popular here and almost every other house has a basketball hoop outside it, and I know several others besides me who would be ecstatic if we got a team.
Unfortunately, the reasoning behind it comes down to one thing: CT is a very small market. It would be very difficult for an NBA team to pull in enough revenue to keep a team operational. Not to mention the fact that besides Hartford, Connecticut is basically deprived of any real cities. It would be more in the league’s best interest to put teams in big markets who love basketball just as much as Sealtle, or Las Vegas.
Is it still possible? Yes. But is it still likely? No. Until then, the basketball fans in CT will continue to cling to UConn as their outlet for basketball, and if they can consistently contend like their women’s team, then there’s no doubt in my mind UConn will be the best boys and girls college basketball program in the country PERIOD.