Just before practices begin at the University of Connecticut, coach Dan Hurley likes to throw up multiple half-court shots to try and sink at least one of them. Once he hits one, he immediately lines up for another, hyping himself up by saying ‘Who’s the king of two-in-a-row?’ to which assistants reply ‘You are’ before he inevitably misses.
If Hurley hitting two half-court shots in a row is improbable, then winning two national championships in a row must be unfathomable – the basketball equivalent of Absolute Zero. No one had done this since Florida in 2007 and in this day and age of NIL, keeping kids around to pull off such a feat never happens.
But improbable, unfathomable, and Absolute Zero as it may be, those odds are now all laughed at by Dan Hurley, the King of Two-in-a-Row. Because that’s what he is now, the first man since his mentor Billy Donovan to win consecutive national titles.
He did that with ruthless scheming, efficiency, tough practices, and buy-in from a group of players he kept together through fear of poaching by other coaches and through one transfer portal acquisition who embodies his energy to a T. They swept through the Big East Conference, losing only two games en route to both a regular season title and a conference tournament title.
And now he has the Big One, again. Hurley’s Huskies got it done in Phoenix, knocking off Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers in a national title game for the ages that ended with UConn winning its sixth crown in 25 years to tie North Carolina for the third most all-time.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. MORE TO FOLLOW.