Getty Image / Gregory Shamus
All year long, college basketball media and fans stated that this was a year without a truly great team. The quality of play has been down in general, and with star players spread out across many teams, nothing was resembling a team to look back on and consider all-time great. That is, until UConn went on a complete tear in the NCAA Tournament
The Huskies have been dominant leading up to the Final Four. UConn won their first four games of the tournament by an average of 17.5 points, highlighted by an absolute demolition of perennial power Gonzaga by 28 points, 82-54, in the Elite Eight.
Danny Hurley’s bunch was really good for stretches in the regular season, too. UConn was undefeated in non-conference play, including a fifteen-point drubbing of Alabama, who spent most of the year at number one. But, they lost seven games in the Big East en route to a fourth-seed. The way they’re playing, though, that seems to have more to do with the strength of the Big East and injuries to key players than it did with poor play.
UConn took on Miami (FL) in the Final Four Saturday evening, and they impressed again, winning 72-59, with the game never really being in doubt at all.
UConn ended the half with this grenade hammer set pic.twitter.com/vAcakoznJm
— Jason Fang (@kodahox) April 2, 2023
Big man Adama Sanogo led the Huskies with 21 points. UConn coach Danny Hurley attacked Miami all night when they switched smaller defenders on to him.
Adama Sanogo dominates to lead UConn to the National Championship:
– 21 PTS
– 9-11 FG
– 10 REB pic.twitter.com/ahBubvtjwm— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) April 2, 2023
Everyone was impressed by their strong play, and Twitter was buzzing with UConn love.
Pretty dominating performance by UConn throughout the entire tourney.
— Kurt Geiger: Parody (@ketgeiger) April 2, 2023
UConn is unreal
— Aaron Rogers (@RazorbackRed88) April 2, 2023
UConn is about to win the whole damn thing. That's awesome. They're back.
— Ruthie Polinsky (@ruthiepolinsky) April 2, 2023
And, some are comparing UConn to some of the great teams to run through the tournament, like 2018 Villanova.
I see UConn is on that 2018 Villanova path
— Sam (@samhuppert) April 2, 2023
UConn still has work to do, however, as they will have to beat San Diego State on Monday night to win the national title. A win would be the Huskies’ 5th championship, all since 1999. The next closest teams since 1999 are Duke and North Carolina, with three each.