UConn's dominance and the challenges of repeating as national champion

cut down the nets in Houston last April that Dan Hurley started thinking about the 2023-24 season. And it was going to be a season unlike any Hurley had ever experienced, as coach of the reigning national champion.

While the Huskies established themselves early on as the title favorites, they're aware of the not-so-successful history of reigning national champions."The way the defending champs have fared in recent history, it's kind of been against the odds in terms of the season we're having following up the national championship," Hurley said after Thursday's win.said a day earlier."We walk with the confidence of being the No.

"It's mental fatigue more than anything," former Villanova coach Jay Wright told ESPN."Every game you play during the regular season, every game the opponent is playing the national champion. Even if there's new guys on your team, they feel that pressure, they feel that it's their opponent's biggest game."

"I had to change a lot of stuff," he said."It was the Super Bowl in our conference. I said, all those student sections are waiting for you -- we ain't coming out. We wouldn't come out until there were 30 minutes on the clock. They can sit there for an hour and a half. But warm up like you're ready to go win this thing."

So can UConn do it? Can the Huskies become the first team in almost 20 years to win back-to-back national championships and further etch themselves into college basketball lore?"What I see in Connecticut that's different is their depth," he said."I think the mental fatigue caught up to us in the tournament... Their depth can minimize that mental fatigue.

"If you're competitive, which I definitely know UConn is, you're not going to mentally relax," Wright said."You're going to take on every challenge throughout the regular season, which UConn did."

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