The UConn Huskies won against the San Diego State Aztecs 76-59 in the 2023 NCAA National Championship for men's basketball on April 3, 2023. The Huskies found themselves playing dominant throughout the Tournament, with an average win margin of 20 points, reportedly the fourth-largest average win margin, according to ESPN. In fact, their total win margin in the tournament would've beaten the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats' record year (21.5 points of average win margin) if they happened to win against San Diego State by 26, Yahoo! Sports points out.
Despite being a 4 seed, UConn looked far and away the best team in the tournament and the best team in the country. Overall, the Huskies went 31-8, going 11-0 in early season non-conference play. Their eight losses all were against Big East teams, a testament to how strong the conference has become over the years. Despite these losses, UConn still was always top of the country, with ESPN reporting "The Huskies were No. 2 in adjusted efficiency margin from the start of the season until Dec. 30. They dropped to No. 30 from Dec. 31 until the end of January, when they lost six of eight games. But since Feb. 1, they've been No. 1 -- No. 2 in February, No. 1 in March and, of course, No. 1 in April."
Junior forward Adama Sanogo was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. He contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds to the title game victory, just behind teammate Tristan Newton, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Throughout the season, Sanogo led the Huskies with 17.2 PPG and 7.7 RPG. Sanogo and center Donovan Clingan were both heavy forces in the post during the national championship game, contesting inside shots. The two players' efforts led to "the Aztecs to miss all five of their layup attempts in the first 20 minutes."
Sanogo's efforts were all done despite observing Ramadan, an Islamic holiday meaning he could not eat or drink until sundown for weeks. "He's obviously cemented himself into the pantheon of greatest, obviously, the greatest big guys with all the production and back-to-back First Team All-League, and now this," said Hurley about Sanogo, as reported by CBS Sports, "to have the national championship just puts him in a position in one of the most storied programs in college basketball. He's an all-time great."
San Diego State, accustomed to coming back from large deficits in this tournament, was able to bring UConn's lead down to 5, yet the Huskies' star guard Jordan Hawkins put up a three to allow the Huskies to get comfortable again and run away with the game, and the title. "Coach drew something up for me," Hawkins said, as reported by ESPN. "I know he trusted me to make that shot. I had to make it. Easy part. All credit to my teammates for getting me open on those screens and Coach for trusting me."
The win is UConn's fifth NCAA championship, having gone 5-0 now in National Championships. These titles were won under three different coaches, with Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2011), Kevin Ollie (2014), and now Dan Hurley (2023). Many college basketball fans now believe UConn should be considered a "blue blood", a title given to historically great and successful basketball programs. The colleges most fans accept as blue bloods would be Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, and UCLA. Villanova, Louisville, Indiana, and Michigan State are programs that some fans may also put into blue blood conversations.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports certainly believes UConn has now solidified themselves as a blue blood program with this championship win. Norlander writes, "The Huskies won every NCAA Tournament game by 13 points or more, only the fifth team in history to do so. The four final rounds — which are supposed to be the four toughest games — saw UConn hold opponents to under 35%. No team had ever done it until this one. And no team until this UConn group won five tournament games by 15 points or more."
Norlander believes the success of this UConn team parallels that of other blue blood programs, specifically a historic UCLA squad and a recent North Carolina team. "Non-Big East teams never stood a chance against this group this season," Norlander states. "UConn won 17 games outside of Big East territory and won those games by 24-plus points on average, all of them by 10 points or more. The only other teams to ever do that were legendarily great: 1966-67 UCLA and 2008-09 North Carolina. Blue bloods, of course."
It's true that UConn should be considered a blue blood program. They've won five national titles now, tying their total with Duke and Indiana, and only now trailing North Carolina (six titles), Kentucky (eight titles), and UCLA (eleven titles) for the number of championships. In fact, something to note is that the Huskies actually have more championships than fellow historic program Kansas, who only have four championships under their belt.
Dan Hurley helped turned this program around quickly. In the 2019-20 season, still in the American Athletic Conference, second-year coach Hurley held a famous press conference after a 61-55 loss versus future Big East rival Villanova, stating a premonition. "People better get us now. That's all," Hurley said, reported by ESPN. "You better get us now, because it's coming."
As for the future of this championship-winning Huskies squad, this offseason will be huge. Star guard Jordan Hawkins was an elite shooter and should get first round looks for the 2023 NBA Draft. Adama Sanogo still has two more years of eligibility left and despite being UConn's MVP, he does not have major athleticism and hasn't shown himself as an elite defender yet and could surely benefit from another year at UConn. Guard Andre Jackson has length and all the tools to be a good NBA player, with CBS Sports writing, "Jackson's career 29.3% 3-point shooting mark leaves something to be desired from an NBA standpoint. But in terms of versatility, tools and intangibles, the former four-star prospect is an NBA-caliber player." With this, it seems likely majority of the Huskies' first-round title-winning team will run it back to defend their title in 2023.
The UConn Huskies are ranked first in ESPN's annual "Way-Too-Early" Top 25 rankings, for the 2023-24 season. The Huskies also open the new season with Caesars Sportbook's best odds to win the 2024 championship, with 12-1 odds. Kansas, UCLA, Duke, and Kentucky follow this with the next best odds.
Watch the 2023 Tournament's "One Shining Moment" montage here:
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