When was the last time UConn won the NCAA Tournament?

After a coming up short in the BIG EAST championship game, the Connecticut Huskies have turned it on in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Final Four. But when was the last time UConn won it all?

The Connecticut Huskies, a No. 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, are on the precipice of playing for the National Championship.

UConn enters NRG Stadium in Houston fresh off back-to-back thrashings of Gonzaga and Arkansas, holding the ‘Zags to a season-low 54 points in the Elite Eight. While Dan Hurley’s Huskies have made it look easy the last two games, this season has been anything but for UConn.

UConn opened the season unranked. After a 14-0 start, Connecticut rose to as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll. They followed that up with a 2-6 record in their next eight games. However, by the end of the regular season, UConn righted the ship, winning five straight games, yet lost in the Big East championship game to Marquette.

Since the start of college basketball’s postseason, UConn has steamrolled through, looking less like the struggling team at the midseason point and more like a legitimate National Championship favorite.

The Huskies have led by at least 18 points in all four of their previous tournament games, trailing for only 38 seconds the entire tournament. Over the last two weeks, UConn’s defense has allowed just a 35% shooting clip.

Depth has been key to UConn’s resurgence this year, and turnaround entering March. “Last year the lack of depth caught up,” Hurley said earlier this week. “We’re able to play at a pretty relentless fashion.”

In a Final Four that’s gained attention for its first-timers, the Huskies are the elder statesmen of this year’s quartet, having won four National Titles since 1999. A win over Miami (FL) puts them in position for another, which would be the BIG EAST’s fourth in the past 10 tournaments.

When did UConn last win the NCAA Tournament?

It’s April, the year is 2014. Andrew Garfield is still Spider-Man, Pharrell Williams was topping the Billboard Hot 100 and in just a few short days, Game of Thrones will (spoiler alert) kill-off its most-disliked character, King Joffery.

Down in Arlington, Texas, college basketball history was set to be made.

UConn alum Kevin Ollie, not Dan Hurley, trotted up and down the sidelines as head coach that season. After being left out of the Big Dance the season prior due to low APR scores, UConn returned to the postseason as a No. 7 seed.

After losing to Louisville in that year’s American Athletic Conference championship game, the Huskies earned an at-large berth to the Dance thanks to a third-place regular season finish in the AAC and resume that boasted a non-conference win over #9 Florida, among others.

Ollie’s Huskies began their March in the East Region, defeating 10-seed Saint Joseph’s in Buffalo. After their win over the Hawks, Connecticut managed to upset three straight higher seeds: No. 2 seed Villanova, No. 3 seed Iowa State and No. 4 seed Michigan State. That trio of victories propelled UConn to the Final Four, becoming the first No. 7 seed to reach the national semifinals since the tournament expanded in 1985.

UConn went on to beat Florida, again, in the penultimate round before facing off with No. 8 seed Kentucky, the lowest-combined seeding in a National Championship game in NCAA history. The Wildcats were just the third-ever No. 8 seed to play for a National Title. That year’s Kentucky team left its own stamp on March Madness, defeating Wichita State who was 35-0, the first team to enter the tournament unbeaten since UNLV in 1991.

Connecticut and Kentucky turned in a thrilling performance in front of the 80,000+ AT&T Stadium crowd. The Huskies never trailed in the game, leading by as many as 15; however, UK managed to cut the deficit to one prior to the under-eight timeout.

Much like Kemba Walker before him, the former UConn guard was the catalyst that April evening, scoring 22 points with six rebounds and three assists, earning Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors.

As the buzzer sounded in North Texas that night, Napier looked into the camera and said, “You’re looking at the hungry Huskies.” That quote sounds pretty similar to sentiments echoed by this year’s UConn team nine seasons later.

“It’s not just about the glory, who gets the points, whatever,” Andre Jackson Jr. said earlier this week. “We know what it takes to win.”

“We’re trying to be a part of history,” Nahiem Alleyne said at media availability. “We’re trying to be on the wall like those other guys.”

If these Huskies can stay hungry and win again Saturday, they’ll put themselves in position to win their fifth National Championship. Only five other teams have accomplished that – UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke and Indiana.

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