Did UConn Basketball have the easiest path ever to an NCAA Tournament title?
UConn Basketball won its 5th national title in program history by beating San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament finals. Was this the easiest path ever?
The start of the NCAA Tournament championship game looked promising between UConn Basketball and the San Diego State Aztecs. The Huskies were a clear favorite, around seven points per betting odds. But the Aztecs looked to be a threat early on, taking a 10-6 lead.
Unfortunately for the Mountain West program, UConn’s defense stifled them. UConn Basketball forced San Diego State into not making a single field goal for over 13 minutes in the first, which turned the game into a blowout. The Huskies took care of business in the second half, en route to winning the 2023 national championship.
The question now is whether this was an easy path to a national title or not. They won the first five games in the NCAA Tournament by at least 18 points, including dominating efforts versus Gonzaga and Miami. It was boring but were the teams they played any good?
Where would UConn’s path of 13, 5, 8, 3, 5, 5 rank in terms of “easiest” for a champion?
— Steven Karr (@SKarrG0) April 4, 2023
This is not a slight toward UConn, btw. The way they’ve played, they would beat every team in the country the last three weeks. Genuinely curious is there’s been an easier seed-line road.
Look at who they played to get to the title. The first weekend was against a pair of mid-majors in Iona, who had a distracted head coach in Rick Pitino, and Saint Mary’s, who had an injured Alex Ducas in the second half.
The Sweet 16 featured an 8 seed in Arkansas after they upset No. 1 Kansas in the round prior, before dominating another mid-major in Gonzaga after Drew Timme got his 4th foul early in the second half. Even in the Final Four, the Huskies took care of a 5 seed in Miami that was the best in a historically down ACC.
UConn Basketball defeated San Diego State and actually made history by beating three different 5 seeds on the way to winning it all. I would argue that all paths are different and offer their own level of difficulty. Statistically, the 1990 UNLV team had the easiest path, with the average seed of their opponents being a 9. The Huskies were at 6.3.
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No matter what the “path” was, UConn Basketball is the national champion. And that’s all that everyone will remember from the 2023 NCAA Tournament.