INDIANAPOLIS – Dan Hurley knew it. He knew he was just one more win away.
After beating Illinois in the first of two national semifinals on Saturday night, UConn’s head coach walked through the bowels of Lucas Oil Stadium with a swagger. The Huskies’ head coach had a smile from ear to ear — one that was formed after 40 minutes worth of yelling, screaming, the whole Dan Hurley experience.
But in the hallway outside of the Husky locker room, Hurley yelled something different.
“Yeah, motherf***er,” he said, not visible talking to anyone else. Hurley just let his emotion pour out, just like his team poured out everything they had in the victory over the Illini.
And now, Hurley is 40 more minutes of basketball from a potential third title in the last four years, Alex Karaban’s third title in his four-year college career, and the University of Connecticut’s seventh title overall.
UConn wasn’t favored against Illinois and wasn’t favored against Duke in the Elite Eight either. This wasn’t a team that had a national championship written all over it, but in a Final Four game that they were the underdog in, the Huskies had a response — every time.
If it wasn’t a big 3-pointer, it was a physical layup inside. If it wasn’t an offensive play at all, it was a key stop and rebound. No matter the situation, and no matter how hard Illinois fought, UConn maintained a lead for the final 28 minutes of action.
And that — that’s the UConn experience.
“I think we’re just a bunch of dogs, man. We’re not the biggest, we’re not the strongest, but once you get out there with us, you feel our presence for sure,” guard Jaylin Stewart said after advancing to the national title game against Michigan, who dominated Arizona following the Huskies’ win in Indy.
UConn is simply never out of contention to win the NCAA Tournament — especially under Hurley. Connecticut has won six national championships and possesses just one loss ever in the Final Four or national championship game.
Hurley hasn’t lost beyond the Round of 32 in his six tournament appearances, as when he made the Sweet 16, a national championship has been the result both times. This year’s Final Four hasn’t yet broken that trend, as history could very well be in the making in Indianapolis.
The Huskies look to become the first team not named UCLA to win three titles in four years, while Karaban can become the 10th player ever to do so after winning the title in 2023 and 2024. Legacies are on the line, and Hurley is doing so with a philosophy that might be becoming out of style as the modern age of college basketball has taken over.
The transfer portal, NIL and ever-rampant coaching rumors have begun filling the sport over the past few years, but Hurley doesn’t want that to be the reality for his program.
“We would love to be a program that the majority is homegrown boys, high school players you recruit out of high school or multi-year transfers,” Hurley said Sunday. “We want to have a lot of continuity. Our culture is unique. It’s specific. It takes a certain type of player to play for me. It takes a certain type of player to play at UConn. I think when those relationships are forged through a recruiting period as a high school player, they really buy in and believe in your program.”
Braylon Mullins, an Indiana kid who matches that description, has had a major role in getting UConn to the title game. After the national semifinal, Hurley and Mullins shared one of his classic head-butt embraces. The two’s bond is visible and apparent, with Hurley’s actions backing up his words about recruiting the right players that fit his system.
For Hurley, the proof that his way of doing things works is in a player like Mullins as a freshman, while Karaban is the mold for a four-year senior who has seen it through – a player that can help sustain success over different years and different rosters.
But Hurley’s opponent, Michigan head coach Dusty May, has a different view on how to assemble his program’s players — one that’s more closely aligned with the changes that college basketball has seen since the portal rules were relaxed.
“There’s an environment that’s right for you,” May said Sunday. “Sometimes you don’t choose the right environment from the beginning or sometimes, as people, we change and we need something different for a number of reasons. The way we choose to look at it, we’re going to bring in really, really good guys that are high achievers, that want to do it the way we want to do it.”
He defended the fact that Michigan’s top four leading scorers are all transfers, while Hurley has three of four top scorers beginning their careers at UConn is steadfast in his belief that the old way of having four-year players develop under the same program is the preferred way of doing things.
But Hurley’s method of choice is becoming extremely few and far between. Karaban is among just 22 high-major players to play all four (or five) years of college with the same program. Even UConn has just one player who fits that mold — Karaban — as even with Hurley’s mindset, it’s increasingly difficult to have a player go through senior day with just one uniform worn in his entire collegiate career.
“I think it’s super unique, and to do it in the modern era too, where college basketball has changed so much, I think it’s even more impressive,” Karaban said.
Monday night’s title game will be the UConn great’s last as a college basketball player and his last as a UConn Husky. It’s not just the end of the road, though — it’s an opportunity to cement himself as one of the all-time greats.
“It’s the reason why I came back. It’s the reason why I’ve had extremely hard decisions to make throughout my career,” Karaban said. “I’ve always wanted to come back to win, to win championships, and to leave a legacy that’s unmatched in college basketball.”
Karaban and Hurley are looking to etch their names into hoops glory, seeking to prove that the four-year model still works. That the tough, hard-nosed coach can be the most successful coach. That Connecticut is possibly even more of a powerhouse than previously thought.
“It would mean everything,” Karaban added. “Leaving a legacy like that in college basketball, it’s unheard of. It’s a motivating factor to add a national championship to this program for the guys that haven’t experienced one, and for my legacy, as well. It would mean everything to me. It would be a blessing.”
Michigan appears to be a team of destiny, but UConn might be a team of dynasty.
In a single game to decide the NCAA Tournament champion, history says UConn can never be counted out — especially with what’s on the table.
For Karaban, he can become a mythical figure in college basketball lore. For Hurley, it’s a chance to see his legend continue to grow. For Connecticut, it’s a shot at cementing its place as the premier program in the sport.
And for college basketball as a whole, it could be an answer to the question: Is the modern way of assembling a team through transfers the only shot at success?
UConn and Michigan will decide if these become fact or fiction, and it will happen in real time in downtown Indianapolis on Monday night.
