UConn Basketball: Ranking all 6 of Huskies' total national championships
By John Makuch
1. 2023-2024, Not Just Blue Bloods
Is putting the most recent championship a case of recency bias? Probably, but this one is important because of its impact on the program, and how the team was built, and there should also be several NBA guys on this team.
The Huskies held the No. 1 spot in the nation for a ton of time this past season and ended up with only three losses all year. This success was after losing around half your roster, and a situation where Dan Hurley had to use the transfer portal to his advantage. He already had Stephon Castle coming in, but the addition of Cam Spencer from Rutgers really solidified this team as contenders yet again.
The season did not begin with all sunshine and rainbows either, Donovan Clingan dealt with a foot injury early on and even aggravated it against Seton Hall. Castle also dealt with a knee issue that kept him out of the loss to the Kansas Jayhawks. But this adversity prepared them, and the Huskies would dominate from there on out besides one loss to Creighton.
The Big East Tournament was a cakewalk for them, and so was the NCAA Tournament. They were a one-seed and the narrative was that they were in a tough region, but that was not a factor whatsoever. They made quick work of Stetson and Northwestern, dismantled San Diego State and Illinois, and did the same to Alabama in the Final Four. They then would have a matchup against fellow one-seed Purdue.
This was seen as the game where somebody could give UConn a fight, but that was not the case. Despite Purdue having Player of the Year Zach Edey, this was only close during the first half, and they coasted to back-to-back titles.
This championship is not just a back-to-back, it makes them beyond a blue blood, winning six championships in 25 years is one of the more impressive feats we have seen in the history of college basketball, especially with three different head coaches and completely different eras of college basketball.
Now that the story is told for now, it is clear that UConn basketball is one of the top programs in the entire nation, not just now, but in the history of the game itself.