UConn coach Dan Hurley has now become "both the face of a program he rebuilt and a sport he’s reshaping"Getty Images
UConn took down Purdue 75-60 last night in the NCAA men's national championship game, becoming the first school to repeat as national champions since the Univ. of Florida in 2006-07. With this year’s title, UConn has now won six national championships, all since 1999. That remarkable run of success has shaken the bedrock of a sport defined by tradition, allowing an upstart program to elbow its way into college basketball’s aristocracy. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said, "Maybe a traditionalist wouldn’t consider them a blueblood, but in my mind they’re a blueblood program" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/8).
In the modern era, these past two years stand alone in their dominance. It’s significantly harder now to produce title-caliber teams in back-to-back seasons. Players move on, and parity has eliminated dynasties. UConn became the eighth team to win back-to-back championships (N.Y. POST, 4/9).
UConn coach Dan Hurley has now become "both the face of a program he rebuilt and a sport he’s reshaping." Hurley is running "the most impressive thing going in organized sports" as America "watches in awe or ire or both" (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 4/9).
In the moments after the Huskies won the title, UConn students stormed out of a "packed" Gampel Pavilion, where a watch party was held, and "began flooding the campus." Fireworks "were soon set off" and at least one person was arrested "within a half-hour after the game ended." But the scene on campus "was much more subdued than last year when riots broke out" (NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 4/9).
