Will History Repeat for UConn Basketball?

10 years. That is the magic number for the UConn basketball program. The Basketball Capital of the World has won dual championships in 2004 and 2014. This year, both programs have what it takes to continue the trend in 2024.

Before the festivities of First Night on the campus of UConn, Danny Hurley leaned back on the wall and just soaked in the question about what it means to be the Basketball Capital of the World. "The success on both side and level of players, we have the juice right now." Geno Auriemma, smirkingly, added his own answer saying, "We've done something no school has ever done, and we've done it twice. So we have a reason to brag about it, because it's true."

UConn Men's Basketball is ranked 6th in the AP Poll to start the season and the Women's team is ranked 2nd. Both starting the new season off highly respected in their area.

The Men's team is coming off of a National Championship run last season winning their fifth title in program history. The freshman class that is coming to play for UConn is loaded. Headlining that group is Solomon Ball, Jaylin Stewart, and Stephon Castle who have been praised since coming to UConn. In a media event in September, head coach, Danny Hurley had this to say about his freshman group, "Solo has really caught up to speed...we feel great where all the freshman are right now." Hurley also pointed to the fact some of these freshman will see starting minutes and will also play pivotal bench minutes to replicate the depth they had last season. Sophomore center Donovan Clingan said he is "really excited what we have with this team this year." Clingan mentioned that this freshman group for UConn is ahead of a lot of other freshman classes.

For the women's team, 11 banners drape their side of the Werth Family UConn Basketball Champions Center. Danny Hurley looked up at the banners and just said how "incredible and ridiculous" it is to see the program and its history. Their last championship came in 2016. Coach Auriemma mocks the critics saying, "You're either bad for basketball because you win all the time, or your dynasty is over because you haven't won in a couple years." Battling through injuries the last few seasons and other programs looking to build off the foundation of UConn Women's Basketball has laid out has made it more challenging, but it has made it more competitive. Geno Auriemma said that his previous teams have set the bar so high that sometimes they cannot even reach it.

Geno took a trip down memory lane and remembered his first years at UConn and what it was like when Jim Calhoun arrived on campus. “If you'd have asked me then, ‘Do you envision this ever happening?’ I'd say, ‘You're crazy'...The goals were so modest back then that this could have never been imagined in a million years." In 2004, Geno Auriemma won his fifth title and Jim Calhoun won his second. No NCAA program has ever accomplished this until UConn did. In 2014, the unimaginable happened. The women's program won their 9th title and the men won their 4th.

No school has done what UConn has done. Winning dual championships once in program history, let alone twice, and possibly a third.