2023–24 UConn Huskies men's basketball team explained

Year:2023–24
Team:UConn Huskies
Sport:Basketball
Conference:Big East Conference
Short Conf:Big East
Coachrank:1
Aprank:1
Record:37–3
Conf Record:18–2
Hc Year:6th
Assoc Coach:Kimani Young
Champion:NCAA tournament National Champions
Big East tournament champions
Big East regular season champions
Empire Classic champions
Prev Year:2022–23
Next Year:2024–25

The 2023–24 UConn Huskies men's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Huskies were led by sixth-year head coach Dan Hurley in the team's fourth season since their return to the Big East Conference. The Huskies played their home games at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut and the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Huskies finished the season 37–3, 18–2 in Big East play to win the regular season championship. They defeated Xavier, St. John's, and Marquette to win the Big East tournament, receiving the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Receiving the No. 1 overall seed, they returned to the National Championship game for the second straight year and defeated Purdue to become the first back-to-back National Champions since Florida (who won the tournament in 2006 and 2007).

The season was marked by a number of records at both the program and national level. UConn set a program record for regular season wins (28) and total wins (37) in a season, and became the first Big East team to win 18 conference games.[1] In the postseason, they became the first team since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 (therefore requiring six victories to win the championship) to win every game by at least 14 points, breaking their own record of winning every game by 13 points set the previous year.[2] They set additional records in the NCAA tournament for largest combined margin of victory in all their games with 140 points; and by extension, the largest average margin of victory of 23.3 points per game.[3] This has led many to call them the best team in UConn history[4] [5] and among the best college basketball teams of all time.[6] [7] [8]

Previous season

The Huskies finished the season 31–8, 13–7 in Big East play to finish in a tie for fourth place. As the No. 4 seed in the Big East tournament, they defeated Providence in the quarterfinals before losing to Marquette in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 4 seed in the West region. They defeated Iona, Saint Mary's, Arkansas, and Gonzaga to advance to the school's sixth Final Four and first since 2014. They defeated Miami and San Diego State to win the national championship, the school's fifth title since 1999, and were only the fifth men's team to win all six of its games by 10 points or more.[9]

Offseason

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure
3 G 6'3" 180 GS Senior Graduated
Nahiem Alleyne 4 G 6'4" 195 Senior Graduate transferred to St. John's
Richie Springs 13 F 6'9" 235 RS Junior Transferred to Quinnipiac
21 F 6'9" 245 Junior Declare for 2023 NBA draft/undrafted; signed with Chicago Bulls
24 G 6'5" 195 Sophomore Declare for 2023 NBA draft; selected 14th overall by New Orleans Pelicans
Yarin Hasson 30 F 6'9" 205 Freshman Transferred to Southern Indiana
Emmett Hendry 41 G 6'3" 155 Freshman Walk-on; transferred to Alliance
44 G 6'6" 210 Junior Declare for 2023 NBA draft; selected 36th overall by Orlando Magic

Recruiting classes

2024 recruiting class

Schedule and results

|-!colspan=12 style=|Non-conference regular season|-!colspan=12 style=|Big East regular season|-!colspan=12 style="|Big East tournament|-!colspan=12 style=| NCAA Tournament

Source[10]

Rankings

See also: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: UConn men’s basketball sets multiple regular season win-records with 74-60 road victory at Providence .
  2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/04/most-dominant-ncaa-tournament-champions/
  3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/04/most-dominant-ncaa-tournament-champions/
  4. Web site: Is this the best UConn men's basketball team in program history? The numbers don't lie .
  5. Web site: Ray Allen said the 2024 Huskies are the greatest UConn team of all time. .
  6. Web site: Putting UConn's dominant run into perspective: 'They are the best team I've ever seen' .
  7. Web site: Connecticut joins elite group of best men's NCAA national champs. Who else is on the list? .
  8. Web site: UConn's second straight national title comes in dominant style, cementing the Huskies as a modern dynasty .
  9. News: Giambalvo . Emily . 2023-04-05 . Analysis National champions usually have to break a sweat. U-Conn. barely did. . en-US . Washington Post . 2023-08-22 . 0190-8286.
  10. Web site: 2023–24 Men's Basketball Schedule. uconnhuskies.com. 29 August 2023. en.