This year’s men’s NCAA tournament will always be remembered as the one where it seemed like any team had a chance to win any given game—anyone, that is, except for whichever was playing UConn. Fairleigh Dickinson beat Purdue, the second 16-seed in men’s tournament history to beat a one-seed. Princeton went to the Sweet 16 as a 15-seed. No. 9 Florida Atlantic made it all the way to the Final Four. But every team that played UConn never stood a chance. The Huskies, who won every game during the tournament by at least 13 points, put a bow on their dominant run to the national championship with a 76–59 win over San Diego State in the title game last night.

UConn is the first men’s team to ever win an NCAA championship by winning six games by at least 13 points. (Indiana won every game by at least that margin in the 1981 tournament but played only five games.) Sure, the Huskies had an easier-than-expected path to the championship due to all the chaos in the tournament (the highest-seeded team they faced was No. 3 Gonzaga), but they passed every test with ease.

UConn was the better team last night in a variety of aspects, particularly inside. The combination down low of Adama Sanogo (6'9") and Donovan Clingan (7'2") gave the Aztecs fits all night long. SDSU made just three of its 10 attempted layups. As Kevin Sweeney writes, UConn’s ability to shut down the lane was the key defensively throughout the tournament. Only Gonzaga managed to shoot better than 40% on two-point attempts against the Huskies this tournament.

Sanogo won Most Outstanding Player honors after averaging 19.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game during the tournament. (Sweeney also went into more detail about how Sanogo was the deciding factor for UConn during its tournament run.)

The center is one of several pivotal players who could be back next year. While Sweeney expects three-point specialist Jordan Hawkins to go pro, it’s less clear whether Sanogo, Clingan and Andre Jackson Jr. will also declare for the NBA draft. The players who come back will be joined by a top-five recruiting class that includes five-star guard Stephon Castle. The program’s bright future is a testament to the excellent job coach Dan Hurley has done rebuilding it. His predecessor, Kevin Ollie, won a national championship in his season year in charge, but things quickly went downhill from there.

UConn finished below .500 in Ollie’s final two seasons, then went 16–17 in Hurley’s first season (2018–19). The Huskies hadn’t had a losing men’s basketball season since 1986–87, Jim Calhoun’s first season at the helm of the program, and so Hurley was tasked with bringing the program back to those heights.

With last night’s win, Hurley helped cement UConn’s status as one of men’s college basketball’s elite programs. Its success now spans three distinct eras, with three different coaches leading the Huskies to five national championships in a 25-year span. Pat Forde writes in today’s Daily Cover that UConn “has earned its prominent place on the very short list of the blueblood programs in the sport.” The Huskies proved it on the court in last night’s win, and after the game as generations of former UConn stars soaked up the celebrations. Kemba Walker, Ray Allen, Emeka Okafor and Rudy Gay were all there—reminding everyone that few programs have had as much star power.

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The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Brandon Duhaime’s speed on his goal for the Wild.

4. Shohei Ohtani’s second homer in as many days.

3. Masataka Yoshida’s first MLB home run—an opposite-field shot over the Green Monster.

2. The 2023 “One Shining Moment” montage.

1. Jim Nantz’s sign-off after 32 years of calling the Final Four.

SIQ

On this day in 1994, which MLB player, who had hit just three home runs the year before, hit three home runs on Opening Day off Mets starter Dwight Gooden?

Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes
Pete Incaviglia
Royce Clayton
Terry McGriff

Yesterday’s SIQ: On this day in 2019, which NBA coach set a record for the fastest ejection, getting booted from a game only 63 seconds after it started?

Quin Snyder
Nick Nurse
Doc Rivers
Gregg Popovich

Answer: Gregg Popovich. He got upset about a noncall, received a technical foul for arguing with a referee and then called a timeout so he could continue berating the official, resulting in a second tech and an ejection. The record was previously held by Flip Saunders, who got kicked out just 106 seconds into a game in 2012.

Popovich was in a good mood after the ejection, though, joking around with Nuggets coach Michael Malone about the quick hook.

“We were just talking about an NBA record that was set tonight,” Malone said after Popovich interrupted his postgame meeting with reporters.

“What was the record? What happened?” Popovich deadpanned.

“Somebody got thrown out in 63 seconds,” Malone responded.

“Are you serious?” Popovich asked. “That person must have hit somebody. Somebody get hit tonight? Somebody get cursed at or anything?”

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