The men’s basketball national championship is returning to the basketball capital of the world.
On Monday night, the UConn Huskies cemented themselves as a no doubt about it, blue blood program. With a 76-59 win over the San Diego Aztecs, the Huskies won their fifth national championship, all five coming since 1999.
Monday night’s game was also a continuation of what the Huskies showed throughout the entirety of the NCAA Tournament. Complete domination. Out of the game’s 40 minutes, UConn led for over 34 minutes – and San Diego State’s last lead in the game came with just over 16 minutes remaining in the first half.
The NCAA Tournament’s most outstanding player Adama Sanogo recorded his fourth double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Tristen Newton who is just under a year removed from announcing his transfer to UConn had a double-double of his own with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
For head coach Danny Hurley, it’s his first national championship. He joins his older brother, Bobby Hurley now as NCAA Champions. While Bobby has not won an NCAA Championship as a head coach, he won two titles with the Duke Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992. Their father, Bob Hurley was a four-time national champion high school coach as well.
But as stated above, for UConn, the championship also means the program has fully cemented themselves as a college basketball blue blood. Despite numerous down years in the process, the Huskies since 1999 have won five national titles, tying them for fourth most all time alongside Duke and Indiana.
The only schools that have more are UCLA, Kentucky, and North Carolina and are now ahead the likes of Kansas, who won their fourth in 2022 as well as Villanova, Louisville, and Michigan State who have two each.
With Danny Hurley at the head of the program – it doesn’t appear that the Huskies will be going anywhere anytime soon either. They’ll return multiple key pieces in all likelihood next season and will have a legitimate chance at repeating as national champions.
With that being said, here’s how Twitter reacted to the Huskies’ fifth national title on Monday night.