GLENDALE, Ariz. — As Connecticut sliced through this NCAA Tournament with ease, as it treated each opponent like it didn’t belong sharing the same court as the powerhouse Huskies, the question arose:
Where does Dan Hurley’s juggernaut stand in the sport’s history?
Over the past four decades, we have seen a handful of dominant teams. Kentucky in 1996. Connecticut in 2004. Florida in 2006-07. North Carolina in 2009. Villanova in 2018.
Merely based on how UConn has dispatched its six foes in the dance, by double-digits each time, it at least belongs in the conversation with the aforementioned teams.
What is more impressive, however, is what this program has done the past two years under Hurley, winning it all a year ago in such one-sided fashion — the Huskies’ six victories came by an average of 20 points without a single legitimate challenge — then doing it again with a vastly different roster. With three new starters, Stephon Castle, Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan. After losing five of their eight leading scorers.
In the modern era, these last two years stand alone in their dominance, expert team-building, player development and unparalleled consistency. A 68-11 record and 12 NCAA Tournament victories by double-figures.
It’s significantly harder now to produce title-caliber teams in back-to-back years. Players move on, either to the professional ranks or the transfer portal. Parity has eliminated dynasties. Connecticut became the fourth team to reach the Sweet 16 the season after winning it all — Kansas in 2009, Louisville in 2014 and Duke in 2016 are the others — since Florida in 2007 and the first to make it to the Elite Eight.
By manhandling National Player of the Year Zach Edey and fellow No. 1 seed Purdue, 75-60, at State Farm Stadium on Monday night, Connecticut became the eighth team to win consecutive back-to-back championships. It hadn’t happened since Florida in 2006-07.
Those Gators returned all five starters for their second championship. The previous team to repeat, Duke in 1991-92, had similar continuity. It’s one thing to have a bull’s-eye on your back and the pressure that comes with it. Everyone gunning for you, expectations through the roof. It’s another to do that with a new group of players who have that pressure without the payoff the previous season.
That is what Hurley and Connecticut were dealing with. A freshman in Castle starting from Day 1. A transfer in Spencer who had never won anything before. A third starter in Clingan oozing potential, but experienced only in a minor role off the bench.
“The thing that’s so impressive about UConn to me is when you have to plug in five new players and the culture and the standards with which they’re playing at has continued with three new starters, that’s really impressive,” Billy Donovan, the Florida coach during its two-year championship run, told The Post recently. “There’s different challenges that you deal with. We had to deal with the pressure of being unranked and being ranked No. 1 [after winning a championship]. They’re dealing with the pressure of winning it and having three new starters. It’s those circumstances to me that end up speaking to the character inside the program.”
In a weird way, it has worked in Connecticut’s favor. It has a roster of guys with a lot to prove, inspired by the maniacal Hurley finding ways to motivate them. He pushed the notion of his team being disrespected by it being picked to finish third in the Big East and ranked sixth in the Associated Poll to start the season. Returning starters like Karaban and Newton found themselves in more prominent positions. Clingan was now being counted on to be a leader instead of a backup. Spencer and Castle were going through this for the first time. Hurley used that to avoid a championship hangover, as a way to challenge his talented group, dangling the idea of creating history in a program where that is so hard to accomplish.
“Coach Hurley, never let the returners be complacent with what happened last year,” said Alex Karaban, one of two returning starters, said. “The new guys are hungry for what we did last year, to have that feeling. There’s no letup.”
There never was, not until the final horn Monday night. Connecticut chased another title like a scrappy underdog, outworking its opponents. There will be debates about where this team ranks among the greats.
There should be no questions of where the last two years stand — above the rest over the last 40 years. We haven’t seen a two-year run like it.