UConn basketball: 5 facts you need to know about the Huskies

UCONN is the most recognizable basketball brand in the Final Four. Here are five facts you need to know about the Huskies.

In an unconventional Final Four that has the second-highest seed total in the history of the NCAA Tournament, there is one familiar brand to basketball fans. The UConn Huskies have been a March Madness staple for a long time but have returned to prominence this season with an explosive roster and an ascending head coach in Dan Hurley.

Want to brush up on some UConn trivia before they take the floor against Miami in the Final Four on Saturday?

Here are five fun facts that you need to know about the Huskies.

UConn basketball history: 5 facts to know about the Huskies

Winning March Madness would put UCONN into rarified air

The Huskies are the overwhelming favorites to cut down the nets in Houston on Monday night, which would give them their fifth national championship in program history. That title would break a tie with Kansas for the sixth-most in NCAA history, moving them into a fifth-place tie with Duke and Indiana.

All of those titles have come since 1999, which is crazy to think about when you consider the fact that the NCAA Tournament began back in 1939. A lot of credit for the program’s success goes to former head coach Jim Calhoun, who turned UConn from a dumpster fire into a blue blood during his 26 years at the helm.

The Huskies titles came as members of two different conferences

Most college basketball fans associate UConn with the Big East, which makes sense since they were a prominent member of the original conference and re-joined in 2020. Three of Connecticut’s NCAA Championships came as Big East members but the fourth actually goes in the history books for the American Athletic Conference.

The AAC was founded as an offshoot of the Big East’s football-playing schools, which split from the basketball-only schools in 2013. UConn made the move to the AAC and won the national title in 2014, giving the American its only basketball championship to this day.

UConn’s men’s basketball program isn’t even the top program on campus

That honor goes to UConn’s women’s basketball team, which has become the prominent national brand in college basketball. Legendary head coach Geno Auriemma has set the standard with 11 national championships, including a four-peat from 2013-16, making him the modern-day equivalent of John Wooden in the coaching department.

The two programs have had overlapping success at times, winning national titles in the same year in 2004 to become the first program to win both NCAA Tournament crowns in one year. The Huskies would repeat that feat in 2014.

UConn has retired only one number for a men’s basketball player

When you consider the lineage of excellent basketball players that have worn the Huskies uniform, it is a bit surprising that they have only retired one number for a men’s player. That honor goes to Ray Allen, who had his No. 34 retired during the 2019 season.

The program has gone on record to state that they will only retire a player’s number if they are inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, so Allen could be in a class of his own for a long time. The same standard applies to the women’s program, which has only retired Rebecca Lobo’s No. 50 and Swin Cash’s No. 32, although their ranks should grow in the future when Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi become eligible for the Hall of Fame.

UConn has a historic championship on its resumé

Those 2014 Huskies made quite a mark on college basketball, riding a magical March from Shabazz Napier to their fourth national title. UConn was seeded seventh in the NCAA Tournament that year and to this point they are the only 7-seed to claim a national championship.

Only the 1985 Villanova Wildcats, who were an 8-seed, were seeded lower in the tournament than the 2014 Huskies and won a national championship. Both of those records could be in jeopardy if 9-seed Florida Atlantic wins it all this year but, fittingly, UConn may have a chance to preserve its own place in the history books.