The Facts
The Huskies present a strong case for the court of public opinion on if their case regarding their Blue Blood Status. There are zero teams who have more championships that UConn in the past 25 years. Since 1999 there has not been a more dominant team in the Big East, and I say that with confidence even with their 7-year stint in the AAC that didn’t go well at all. The AAC never felt right for a team like UConn they belong in the Big East and the Big East needs them. Since the Huskies have come back to the Big East they have been back to their normal dominant selves. The recruiting has picked up and they have helped make the Big East a power conference again.
During their time in the AAC the Huskies, led by Kevin Ollie made the NCAA tournament twice. They won it once and were bounced early the second time. The stint in the AAC is many of the people who don’t think UConn is a Blue Blood are going to point to. Since the 1998-1999 season, the Huskies have missed the NCAA tournament 9 times with 4 of those coming in the AAC days. There are no other Blue Bloods who have missed the tournament that many times in that span. The other negative against UConn is they have two losing records in that span, which is something that not many of the Blue Bloods on the list can say either.
There will always be those fans and fan bases who are only going to determine overall greatness by how many titles you have won. That is why UCLA will always be the gold standard of a program for so many. Well for those of you that consider titles UConn has five National Titles. That puts them in fourth place all-time behind UCLA, Kentucky, and North Carolina. The five titles tie the Huskies with Indiana and Duke and put them one ahead of Kansas. They have won enough titles to be considered one of the greatest teams in the sport. They are now a team who is not going to surprise anyone if they win it anymore.
The Huskies are the only team to win 5 total titles over the last 25 years. Yes, read that again since the 1998-1999 season, there has been no other program with the level of success that Connecticut has had. In that span, the Huskies have been to Six Final Fours and have won all 5 titles. The Huskies have made the tournament 29 times and are 30 games over .500 in the NCAA tournament all things that are on par with the others who are on their level.
This is always going to be left up to the fans and the individual fan bases the numbers speak for themselves and they should be considered a Blue Blood. I know recruits are going to consider it when making their decision. The Huskies like every Blue Blood are going to have their fair share of haters who are going to love it when they lose, but UConn like so many others in their position doesn’t lose very often. Is this a good thing for the Big East?