One year ago, UConn became the first team in 17 years — and just the third team in the previous 51 — to repeat as NCAA Tournament champions. But his players’ sweat was not yet dry when Huskies coach Dan Hurley proclaimed his hope, or perhaps his intention, to stretch that streak to three. Connecticut coach Dan Hurley hasn’t avoided the topic of a historical season. That started during his post-game news conference following the Huskies’ 75-60 victory over Purdue. He said his program’s focus would be on “making a three-year run, not a two-year run.” It was a bold statement, especially given the history Hurley was setting out to make.
Three consecutive titles — a three-peat, as Pat Riley famously trademarked it — is becoming the great white whale of American sports, as the Kansas City Chiefs found out a month ago. UConn’s back-to-back titles were the first since Florida doubled up in 2006 and 2007. The Gators never got the chance at the triple; their 2008 team had to replace all five starters and didn’t even make the bracket. The last team with a chance to three-peat was Duke. The Blue Devils won consecutive titles in 1991 and 1992. Its 1993 team, featuring junior Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley lost in the second round to California and freshman guard Jason Kidd And the last college basketball team to three-peat did more than that. UCLA’s unthinkable and almost assuredly unbreakable streak of seven consecutive titles ended in 1973.
With a Thrilling Win Over Gonzaga, UConn Proves That It’s Still a Contender
Dan Hurley was all smiles as the Huskies upset Gonzaga, 77-71, at Madison Square GardenUConn’s efforts at a third consecutive title would be hard enough without Hurley setting the bar so high. His approach was far different than the ones his predecessors had taken. “In the seasons after we won a championship, we never talked about defending. It was always about pursuing,” former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told Hoops HQ.
Krzyzewski, though, has no criticism of Hurley’s tactic. “Connecticut has earned that target and they’re embracing it,” he said. “It’s a superb program with rich tradition. They have a foundation of belief and accomplishment to believe they’ve got a chance. When you have new players, they’re not always accustomed to the level of intensity of your opponent when you’ve won two consecutive titles. Teams are trying to make their mark against you.”
It wasn’t long ago that it looked like the Huskies were well-positioned to pull off this feat. UConn started the season ranked No. 3 in the AP’s preseason poll. That was likely based on the Huskies’ two seasons of success and their dominance (an NCAA record 140-point margin in six victories) winning their second title. Junior forward Alex Karaban, who played on both championship teams, was the only returning starter and the newcomers were led by 6-foot-7 freshman Liam McNeeley.
The warning signs — and those teams wanting a piece of the two-time champions — appeared when the Huskies went 0-3 to finish last in the Maui Classic in late November. Just as it appeared UConn had recovered while scoring nonconference victories over Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga, McNeeley, the team’s top offensive threat, missed eight games in January with an ankle injury. Spotty point guard play and sub-standard defense also contributed to struggles when Big East Conference play started. The Huskies are No. 107 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings.
One of the reasons it has become so hard to three-peat is that postseasons have lengthened in all sports. Green Bay won the first two championships of the Super Bowl Era and before those won the NFL championship (a three-peat with an asterisk). The NFL regular season had 14 games and the Packers’ played seven total postseason games during those three championship seasons. The current NFL regular-season schedule has 17 games and Super Bowl champions must win three or sometimes four games.
The Yankees won four consecutive World Series (1936-39) and then topped that by winning five in a row (1949-53). Major-League Baseball’s regular season was 154 games (it’s now 162) and the postseason was … the World Series. The winners of the American and National Leagues decided the champion in a seven-game series. The L.A. Dodgers needed 11 victories to capture the National League’s Division and Championship series taking last year’s World Series.
The Boston Celtics dominated the NBA from 1956 to 1969, winning 10 of 12 titles, including eight in a row. The first seven of those postseasons required winning eight games via two best-of-seven series. In other words, the Celtics’ championship last season was earned with twice as many post-season victories (16) as Boston needed in winning four of their championships during the Red Auerbach Era.
It used to be that repeating was relatively common in college basketball. Five teams won consecutive NCAA titles in a 20-year span (1945-65). For those two decades, the only roster turnover was the normal march of student-athletes through the four-year education process (and freshmen were ineligible). Skipping college eligibility for professional basketball was rare to non-existent, as was a player transferring. We’re not just in a different era now, we’re in a totally different world.
UCLA’s seven-year championship run was interrupted in 1974. When John Wooden won his last championship in 1975, it was the first season that the NCAA Tournament bracket expanded from 16 to 32 teams. So UCLA’s seven consecutive titles needed just four victories each, a total of 28 straight wins. That’s not belittling what Wooden’s teams accomplished; it’s just the way it was.
Since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, cutting down the nets in the final game has required six victories. That’s 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament victories for a three-peat. And that’s UConn’s challenge starting next week.
On the one hand, it would be foolish to totally count out the Huskies. The program’s DNA contains improbable championships. UConn’s first title in 1999 came with a stunning upset of top-seeded Duke, perhaps the most-talented team of the Coach K Era. And in 2011, the Huskies lost four of their last five regular-season games before embarking on a remarkable 11-game winning streak to give coach Jim Calhoun his third and final national title. Still, what’s past is not always prologue, and given everything that UConn has gone through this season, and given the difficult history it faces, the much more likely scenario is that someone else will be cutting down the nets in San Antonio on April 7. That doesn’t mean Dan Hurley can’t continue chasing history, but he’ll have to do it again from scratch.
Wendell Barnhouse has 45 years of experience writing about sports. His last newspaper jobs were in Atlanta, Dallas and Fort Worth. For seven years, he was the web site correspondent for the Big 12 Conference. In 2018, he was a freelance writer for The Athletic during its first season of college basketball coverage. He covered 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Overall, he’s covered nearly 350 NCAA games and 26 Final Fours.
