Is UConn a blue blood? ‘We have 5 nattys within the final 25 years, man’

SHORTLY AFTER UCONN beat Texas within the title sport of the Empire Basic final month, coach Dan Hurley entered the Madison Sq. Backyard press room flanked by forwards Alex Karaban and Samson Johnson. Whereas the gamers have been answering questions, Hurley’s gaze was fastened on a tv on the far wall displaying Kansas within the Maui Invitational.

“I simply wished to see what was happening,” he joked to ESPN afterward.

Now UConn is in the midst of a five-day stretch during which it is dealing with two conventional basketball powerhouses.

Blue bloods.

The place five-stars go to play: Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky. Perhaps UCLA and Indiana.

No. 5 UConn misplaced to No. 2 Kansas 69-65 Friday and faces No. 9 North Carolina on Tuesday within the Jimmy V Basic. Hurley understands the significance of those two video games for the Huskies as a program.

When Hurley arrived in Storrs in 2018, UConn’s repute had taken a major hit — and its nonconference schedule was proof of the drop-off. Match organizers and multiple-team occasion administrators have been lukewarm on UConn. Now Hurley is aware of enjoying the historic elite is an indication this system has once more reached the higher echelon of faculty basketball.

“We wished these kind of video games. … Play high-reward kind of video games and see the way you measure up in opposition to one of the best groups,” Hurley stated that night time at MSG. “You bought to earn your means into nights like that.”

As quickly because the clock hit triple zero and confetti started falling on the raised arms of the UConn gamers in NRG Stadium final April, the dialogue surrounding the Huskies’ inclusion among the many blue-blood applications of faculty basketball started.

Or ended, relying in your viewpoint.

“We’re not concerning the clicks and the social media and the bulls—. It is old skool. We have an old-school kind of program.”

Dan Hurley

By any goal measure, 5 nationwide championships in 1 / 4 century will get you into the dialog among the many 1% of the applications within the sport.

“That is No. 5,” former UConn star Emeka Okafor informed ESPN that night time in Houston. “Now we have one in each decade for the previous 4 a long time. … I do not know the way you’d deny a college who has probably the most championships previously 25 years. This may undoubtedly finish the controversy, if there was any.”

Whether or not the Huskies beat North Carolina in New York on Tuesday will not have a big-picture impact on UConn’s case for being a blue blood — and for Hurley, it issues little.

Hurley is okay being seen in another way.

“I simply suppose there’s one thing about Storrs, Connecticut, and the historical past of this system and the kind of folks that get interested in Storrs, Connecticut,” he stated. “We get proficient gamers, however they’re hard-playing guys. We’re not concerning the clicks and the social media and the bulls—. It is old skool. We have an old-school kind of program.”

Hurley additionally sees a distinct classification.

“Blue blood? We have 5 nattys within the final 25 years, man. Eleven on the ladies’s facet. We do not have to be a blue blood, we’ll simply be the basketball capital of the world in school.”

WHEN JIM CALHOUN attended his first Huge East coaches assembly in 1986, it was at a desk crammed with school basketball luminaries.

Guys who go by one title. Rollie, Louie, Huge John, P.J., Boeheim. Rick Pitino had simply arrived at Windfall a 12 months earlier. Extremely, three groups from the league have been within the 1985 Ultimate 4.

After which there was UConn, coming off 4 straight sub-.500 campaigns and a program with out an NCAA match look because it turned one of many founding faculties of the Huge East in 1979.

5 nationwide championships in 25 years? Calhoun wished to get out of the 8-9 play-in sport of the Huge East match.

“We simply wished to get good within the Huge East,” he stated.

Early on, UConn wasn’t in a position to recruit in typical Huge East strongholds. Villanova owned Philly and recruited New Jersey. St. John’s and Syracuse have been battling in New York Metropolis. Georgetown had the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia hall. The very best gamers from the state of Connecticut have been going elsewhere.

As a substitute of getting the second- and third-choice targets of its rivals, UConn determined to go nationwide — and promote the convention as an alternative of the varsity.

“We needed to do it a distinct means,” Calhoun stated. “I used the Huge East as a lot as anything. Play in Madison Sq. Backyard, play in opposition to one of the best applications and gamers. The entire concept was to go everywhere in the nation. You need to play in that league? How about you come play for us and beat them.”

“[Jim Calhoun] was an incredible developer of gamers. He obtained gamers that have been a bit beneath the radar and made them into higher gamers.”

Jim Boeheim

Jim Boeheim had a front-row seat for UConn’s emergence as a school basketball energy. As Syracuse’s coach for Calhoun’s total tenure — and earlier than and after Calhoun’s time in Storrs — the Corridor of Famer noticed the state of the Huskies’ program within the early Nineteen Eighties in addition to the 5 nationwide championships.

“They offered out the Hartford Civic Heart after they have been dropping,” Boeheim informed ESPN. “Invoice Guthridge as soon as informed me the No. 1 factor you need to should construct a program is a fan base. No. 1. And so they had that. And [Calhoun] noticed that. And he energized it. He was an incredible developer of gamers. He obtained gamers that have been a bit beneath the radar and made them into higher gamers.”

From 1986 on, it will be arduous to discover a extra profitable program than UConn. The Huskies made it to the Candy 16 or additional within the NCAA match seven occasions between 1990 and 1999, falling one sport wanting the Ultimate 4 on three separate events.

Tom Moore, who was an assistant coach beneath Calhoun from 1994 to 2007 after which rejoined this system beneath Hurley in 2018, felt that momentum when he arrived again on campus.

“All of the heavy lifting had been carried out. It was buzzing,” Moore stated. “Coach Calhoun was within the prime of his profession, he wasn’t going wherever. It was solely a matter of time earlier than we broke by.”

Calhoun and UConn capped off an unimaginable rise with a nationwide championship win over Duke in 1999 … and one other title in 2004 … and one other in 2011. The Huskies turned a staple within the nationwide dialog, rating within the high 10 within the AP ballot in 17 of 21 seasons between 1990 and 2011, producing 15 first-round NBA draft picks throughout that stretch.

This system then entered a interval of uncertainty following Calhoun’s retirement in 2012. Kevin Ollie, who performed beneath Calhoun and was an assistant from 2010 to ’12, was tabbed as his alternative — first on an interim foundation after which completely just a few months later. However UConn additionally left the Huge East for the American Athletic Convention in 2013. Ollie, in 2014, guided the 7-seed Huskies to a nationwide championship.

After lacking the NCAA match in three of 4 seasons, together with back-to-back sub-.500 campaigns in 2017 and 2018, UConn parted methods with Ollie and employed Hurley away from Rhode Island.

If the objective was to get a modern-day model of Calhoun, it was arduous to get nearer than Hurley.

“I do not know if I’ve met anybody with extra aggressive fireplace [than Calhoun] — perhaps till I met Dan,” Moore stated. “They’re comparable by way of their degree of focus, the concentrate on their staff, on their program, their degree of competitiveness.”

UConn returned to the Huge East in 2020 — with that the Huskies additionally have been returning to their Calhoun roots beneath Hurley: Being powerful, gritty and blue collar.

“Danny was born with a chip on his shoulder,” Calhoun stated. “All he needed to do was beat out a Corridor of Fame father and an All-American brother. I feel it carries over. Danny and I will not be alike in every part, however we’re each very emotional and passionate guys.”

UConn’s ascension to the summit of the game was once more accomplished final spring, when the Huskies dominated their means by the NCAA match and captured one other nationwide championship.

“I do know there have been sufficient guys that turned this job down due to, ‘How are you going to be good at UConn?'” Calhoun stated. “Clearly, we turned out fairly good.”

THE CONSENSUS IS Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Duke are the true blue bloods. They’re the 4 winningest applications in school basketball historical past, often producing NBA gamers and coming into every season with Ultimate 4 expectations. The histories of UCLA and Indiana are steeped in nationwide championships and Ultimate 4 appearances, however lack of current success means they do not make everybody’s record.

How does UConn stack up? For a quantitative perspective, ESPN took eight completely different applications — Kansas, UNC, Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Indiana, UConn and Villanova (which was inching towards this dialog beneath Jay Wright) — and regarded on the previous 25 seasons in six completely different classes: general document, regular-season convention championships, NCAA match appearances, Candy 16 appearances, Ultimate 4 appearances and nationwide championships.

Then we ranked the eight faculties in every of the six classes, awarding eight factors to this system on the high of every class and lowering the factors till we gave one level to this system on the backside. Right here is the pecking order for the previous quarter century:

1. Kansas: 42 factors

2. Duke: 41 factors

3. North Carolina: 37 factors

4. Kentucky: 32 factors

5. UConn: 25 factors

6. Villanova: 24 factors

7. UCLA: 20 factors

8. Indiana: 6 factors

UConn is true outdoors the massive 4. But when the blue-blood group fluctuates sufficient to maneuver UCLA and Indiana to the skin trying in, is UConn the brand new member?

The Huskies have the strongest case of anybody.

Boeheim would not suppose a case must be made.

“100%. There is not any debate.” Boeheim stated. “It is [based on] document, not what you understand. It is what you do. And so they’ve carried out it on the courtroom.”

Longtime adversaries on the courtroom, Boeheim and Calhoun see eye to eye on the matter.

“For successful championships within the final quarter century, we’re one of the best at it,” Calhoun stated.

“We do not have this 100-year historical past, however we have outperformed — if the measuring stick is nationwide championships — each blue blood within the final 25 years,” Moore added.

UConn’s case rests on titles. And over the previous 25 seasons, the Huskies have probably the most nationwide championships within the sport and are tied for probably the most Ultimate 4 appearances. Moreover, UConn had this success beneath three completely different head coaches.

“If that’s the time period predominantly used to establish one of the best basketball applications within the nation over a time frame, then I do not know the way you do not embrace UConn,” UConn athletic director David Benedict stated. “It is occurred with three completely different coaches. So it is not nearly one individual. It is about a whole lot of good coaches and a extremely good program. … How we have gone about it’s completely different than each different college.”

“They’re in Storrs, Connecticut. I am not going to get them mad at me; I am positive it is a good place. However to win three nationwide championships, in that scenario. It is an incredible accomplishment to win at Kentucky or Duke or Kansas; it is rather a lot completely different successful in Storrs, Connecticut.”

Jim Boeheim

“I do not suppose there’s any doubt,” Huge East commissioner Val Ackerman stated. “The problem is staying in there, staying up there. I feel that is actually the check of this system and the energy of the tradition that is been constructed right here. Are you able to maintain that success when the icons step away?”

The argument in opposition to UConn’s standing as a blue blood facilities round its lack of historical past earlier than Calhoun and the years in between the nationwide championships.

Calhoun pushes again on each.

“We have lasted. We have had a few lulls, however we’re not the one ones,” Calhoun stated. “For the youngsters, historical historical past is likely to be 10 years — or final 12 months’s champions.”

Since he retired in 2012, nevertheless, the Huskies have missed the NCAA match greater than they’ve appeared in it. They went 4 seasons and not using a match look on the finish of Ollie’s stint and the start of Hurley’s. UConn did not get out of the primary weekend of the match, nor was it ranked contained in the AP high 10 at any level between the 2014 and 2023 seasons — seasons during which the Huskies received a nationwide championship. The college has simply 4 regular-season convention championships previously 25 years and hasn’t received one since 2006.

“It is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately enterprise,” Moore stated. “When you’ve gotten one, two, three consecutive dangerous years, individuals overlook fast. You need to be entrance and heart, 12 months in and 12 months out, if you wish to preserve that elite standing.”

And that is going to be the most important key for UConn as a program shifting ahead. Sustaining the success on a yearly foundation, constantly being ranked close to the highest of the game and successful video games each March prefer it did beneath Calhoun. Competing for five-star recruits, competing for Huge East championships.

“We’re going to have the ability to proceed to trip the Coach Hurley wave right here,” Benedict stated. “All of the issues are in place to proceed to construct on the legacy that Coach Calhoun constructed. And he received three of them. And hopefully Dan will have the ability to problem that accomplishment.”

From Boeheim’s perspective, UConn simply being on this dialog is an accomplishment — the dearth of historical past makes it much more spectacular. Successful titles and going to Ultimate Fours is a part of the decades-old material on the different blue bloods.

“He is virtually by no means listed as one of many nice program-builders. However he is most likely No. 1. He did this at Connecticut,” Boeheim stated of Calhoun. “They weren’t that far faraway from the Yankee Convention. They have been on the backside of the Huge East. They’re in Storrs, Connecticut. I am not going to get them mad at me; I am positive it is a good place. However to win three nationwide championships, in that scenario. It is an incredible accomplishment to win at Kentucky or Duke or Kansas; it is rather a lot completely different successful in Storrs, Connecticut. I do not suppose he will get sufficient credit score.”

The recruiting and having gamers chosen within the NBA draft are trending in the proper course. The Huskies had a top-five recruiting class in 2023, signing a bunch that included five-star recruit Stephon Citadel. That they had a lottery choose within the 2024 NBA draft in Jordan Hawkins, and Andre Jackson was picked within the second spherical.

Despite the fact that they misplaced out on nationwide No. 1 recruit Cooper Flagg to Duke, two extra ESPN 100 prospects are headed to Storrs subsequent fall. Citadel and Donovan Clingan are projected lottery picks within the 2024 NBA draft.

And for Hurley’s half, he has been pushing a no-complacency narrative because the Huskies left Houston with their newly printed T-shirts and caps.

“While you win a nationwide championship, you realize your means works. … We’re totally conscious that folks need what we have now,” Hurley stated earlier than the season. “I am concerning the work and I am concerning the desperation to do it once more and attempt to make historical past this 12 months.”

NOV. 27 SHOULD HAVE been a celebratory day for UConn basketball. The Huskies dominated New Hampshire for the higher a part of 40 minutes, rolling to an 84-64 win — their twenty fourth consecutive double-digit win over a nonconference opponent, breaking the NCAA document set by North Carolina in 2008-09. It was a benchmark Hurley and his gamers admitted was at the back of their minds within the days earlier than the sport.

However the Huskies weren’t content material with a 20-point win and a 7-0 begin. Hurley and Moore every picked up technical fouls within the ultimate minutes, and Hurley stated after the sport he was “seething,” presumably concerning the officiating that despatched New Hampshire to the free throw line 29 occasions within the second half.

“While you take the courtroom, we deserve the respect from everybody on the courtroom {that a} nationwide championship staff deserves. After which we have to play as much as the usual, too,” he informed reporters following the win. “We are the nationwide champs. I have been on the opposite facet enjoying the nationwide championship-level groups. There is a respect you earn once you win that, that you just form of ought to get. That I see different individuals get, and have gotten, and proceed to get.”

Nonetheless looking for respect epitomizes the UConn blue-blood debate.

From a outcomes perspective, 20-point victories and unbeaten begins are the expectation in Storrs. However whereas being perceived as a blue blood may not have a tangible affect on wins and losses, there is a standing that comes with it, one which will get you within the door in recruiting battles and is value perhaps even an additional whistle or two throughout a sport. A repute that garners a bit preseason consideration — it was noticeable that UConn did not get a single first-place vote within the preseason Huge East ballot or a participant on the preseason All-Huge East First Group.

Not having that cachet is motivation for Hurley and UConn.

“Whether or not we get as a lot hype as different nationwide model applications that, within the final 25 years, have not carried out as a lot as us by way of producing huge outcomes, we’ll come into the season perhaps with extra of a chip on our shoulder — or perhaps two chips,” he stated earlier this fall. “And perhaps that is why this system’s been as profitable as it has been.

“As a result of we do not carry complacency.”