Can the dominant UConn repeat? Lots of have tried, lots of have

• Jeff Borzello, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterMar 29, 2024, 09:37 AM ET Close Basketball recruiting expert.
  • Joined ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.BOSTON– It wasn’t long

after the UConn Huskies lowered the webs in Houston last April that Dan Hurley began thinking of the 2023-24 season. And it was going to be a season unlike any Hurley had ever experienced, as coach of the reigning national champion.Naturally, he connected to the last guy to effectively browse a back-to-back national championship push: Billy Donovan. “He said do not make it about that,”Hurley said.

“Do not chase after a repeat. Improve in the offseason as a coach, serve your players well, stay with the formula. Do not pursue the achievement. Simply do a fantastic task … and let the chips fall where they may. However do not consume over that achievement or else it’s going to make you insane. “Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Hurley and UConn have cruised into the Elite 8 and have the very best chance to repeat as guys’s nationwide champions considering that Donovan did it with the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007. The Huskies are the very first reigning champion to make it past the Sugary food 16 considering that the Gators in 2007 and they’re doing it in a more dominant fashion than last season.Their 82-52 win over San Diego State on Thursday was the biggest margin of success in a Sweet 16 game because 2017, and they have actually

won their three NCAA competition games by approximately 28.7 points. They’ve tracked for a total of 28 seconds and have actually led by double digits for 58:27 of a possible 60 second-half minutes.While the Huskies developed themselves early on as the title favorites, they’re aware of the not-so-successful history of ruling nationwide champions.The last group to do this won

it all … once again #MarchMadness @UConnMBB pic.twitter.com/sNzhz5C5mt!.?.!— NCAA March Insanity(@MarchMadnessMBB)March 29, 2024″The method the protecting champs have fared in current history, it’s sort of been against the odds in terms of the season we’re having following up the national championship,”Hurley stated after Thursday’s win.”This group has defied what past champions have actually done, and taken this program to a completely various level. “UConn isn’t running from the spotlight. “We have actually been getting everybody’s finest shot all year,”senior guard Hassan Diarra stated a day earlier.”We walk with the self-confidence of being the No. 1 general seed and we understand it

‘s an advantage to do that.”‘You guys need to go back up the mountain once again'< img height="320" width="

570″src=”https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39829845/”/ > Andy Lyons/Getty Images In the 2006-07 offseason, Donovan was trying to find ways to convey a clear message to his team, most of whom had actually returned, consisting of all 5 beginners: This season is a new

season. This season is not last season.He brought in distinguished sports sociologist Harry Edwards and former New England Patriots coach Costs Belichick, who had won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004. Edwards drew a mountain with a basketball at the top.”The quicker you realize that the ball has rolled all the method back down the mountain and you’re starting off similar to everybody else, 0-0, “Donovan recalled Edwards stating. “The idea of safeguarding

national champs … you’re not protecting anything. You already won that a person. This is completely new.”You guys need to go back up the mountain once again.

And you can’t go back up the mountain the exact same

method. “2024 Men’s College Basketball Champion Odds Belichick, meanwhile, revealed the group a horse race. He offered the background and statistics of each horse, the jockeys and the previous finishes. And as the horses got in the stretch run, Belichick paused the race and asked a simple concern: Which horse is going to win– the

one wearing yellow, the one who previously won a huge race, the one with a certain jockey?None of the

above.”It’s the horse that runs the fastest,”Belichick stated

, according to Donovan.”The horses have no concept what’s going on. You much better put your head down and run the race.”Nearly 20 years later on, it still resonates with Donovan’s former players.”Coach Donovan kept us focused,”stated Taurean Green, a starting guard on both of the Florida title teams. “He would do an excellent task of bringing us right back to reality and just keeping us in the moment.”

“It put some stuff into point of view for those guys,”Donovan included.” They were brave. They went all out. “‘It’s mental tiredness more than anything ‘On to the next one. #MixForSix|@keybank pic.twitter.com/CNk0SfINiv!.?.!— UConn Guys’s Basketball(@UConnMBB) March 29, 2024 UConn isn’t the first team to win a championship game and find itself as the preferred to run it back the following season. The Duke Blue Devils won the title in 2010 and were a 1-seed in 2011. The Villanova Wildcats won championships in 2016 and 2018 and were a

1-seed in the year between those titles. More just recently, the Baylor Bears were a 1-seed the season after winning the 2021 champion and the Kansas

Jayhawks were a 1-seed last season after winning all of it in 2022. However all four fell well except going back-to-back, with Duke the just one of that group to even

get out of the NCAA competition’s very first weekend.”It’s psychological tiredness more than anything,”previous Villanova coach Jay Wright informed ESPN. “Every game you play throughout the regular season, every game the opponent is playing the nationwide champion. Even if there’s brand-new guys on your team, they feel that pressure, they feel that it’s their challenger’s greatest game. “Baylor coach Scott Drew had similar beliefs on how tough it is to get rid of the reality that every challenger is circling around the game on their calendar.Top stories of the week from

Get exclusive access to thousands of premium short articles a year from leading authors. – MLB payroll tiers: Cheap groups, big $$$ “- Which NFL groups still have lineup holes?”- NHL draft: Ranking the top 32 potential customers “More ESPN+material””You have to have a great deal of things go your way to win a championship game, “Drew said.”It’s hard enough to do it with getting a team back that’s gifted

enough and is on the exact same page enough to win all of it, but then also dealing with everyone’s finest shot and the included pressure that goes in. However most of all, you have actually got to remain injury-free which’s tough to do in today’s game also.”Donovan handled the same problems throughout the 2nd national championship season. And it reached the Gators down the stretch of the regular season, when they lost three of 4 games in SEC play, all on the
road. He recalled opposing student areas getting
into the arena 90 minutes before games all season to chew out and provoke his team.

“I needed to change a great deal of things, “he stated.”It was the Super Bowl in our conference. I stated,’All those trainee areas are waiting on you– we ain’t coming out. ‘We would not come out till there were 30 minutes on the clock. They can sit there for an hour and a half. However heat up like you’re prepared to go win this thing. “Possibly it was because Florida brought all five starters back from its first nationwide

champion group, however the Gators seemed to take pride in being the enemy and having a target on their back.” We loved challenges, man,”Green stated.” We loved the pressure. We were competitive. We enjoyed it. We had the ‘us against the world ‘mentality. We flourished and we embraced it and we were never scared of the motion.”Depth is the distinction play 1:57 How Dan Hurley has gotten his players to buy in at UConn coach Dan Hurley discusses his team’s NCAA competition journey so far and how he gets his players to buy into his difficult coaching.So can UConn do it? Can the Huskies become the first string in practically 20 years to win back-to-back national championships and additional engrave themselves into college basketball lore?Wright thinks so.”What I see in Connecticut that’s different is their depth, “he stated.” I think the mental fatigue caught up to us in the competition. … Their depth can minimize that mental fatigue. They had guys get injured throughout the year, and they appear more fresh mentally to me than we were at that point and they have more depth than we did.”It’s a totally different group from a year earlier, which has actually

assisted preserve a few of that hunger. Gone are stars Adama Sanogo, Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson Jr., replaced by star transfer Camera Spencer and

prospective first-round draft picks Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle.”A lot of those returners returned wishing to go do it again and help the new guys experience a championship game,”Spencer

stated Thursday.” If you’re competitive, which I absolutely know UConn is, you’re not going to psychologically relax, “Wright stated.” You’re going to take on every challenge throughout the regular season,

which UConn did.

“Donovan pointed out one of the most mind-blowing stats from his 2 championship teams: The Gators were 18-0 in removal games over those 2 seasons, winning every SEC tournament game and NCAA tournament game. UConn won’t match that– it lost in the Big East tournament semifinals last season– but the Huskies have actually because rattled off 12 straight elimination-game wins, consisting of the 2024 Big East tournament champion and after that dominating all three of this year’s NCAA tournament opponents.Hurley has spent practically a year ensuring his team comprehends that last season’s champion indicates nothing for this year’s team.”We’re not going to be able to trade that in for anything tomorrow night versus the group we faced in 2015 in the finals, however we bring the self-confidence,”he said before Thursday’s game.” Our company believe.

We think we’re expected to win these games.”What’s left? A little history and a big tradition. And 3 more games. “We have ‘we’guys,”Hurley stated after Thursday’s win.”These guys right now are leaving a tradition in a location that’s difficult to leave a tradition.”